Bessie Bool's Poem about Childhood Memories of Seavington
The poem below was published in the Seavingtons’ News and was composed by Bessie Bool (Nee Singleton) who was, presumably, one of the scholars from the, long closed, village school and now lives in Ilminster
I was born at Seavington,
And recall my childhood joys,
Of rambling, climbing, playing games,
With the village girls and boys.
The village pond when Winter came,
On ice we’d skate and slide,
White in Summer time the ducks would swim,
As frogs in rushes hide.
But sadly now the pond has gone,
No longer horses drink.
For cars are parked upon the site,
With lights that flash and wink.
To the village school we all would walk.
The first there rang the bell,
When settled in our names were called,
Then taught to read and spell.
With history, geography, and arithmetic t0 d0,
The weeks seemed long,
We could hardly wait, to see another term through.
Egg shackling came with Pancake Day.
On May Day we had fun,
We dressed and sang in country style,
As we danced with everyone.
At Christmas we sang carols.
And as a special treat,
We received a bun and orange,
As from school we did retreat.
St. Michael’s Church stood next the school,
Appearing tall and grey,
We go to Sundays every week,
To sing our hymns and pray.
There’s much more I could write about,
Of all the fun we had,
For days seemed long and sunny then,
And everyone was glad.
Still to me its really pleasant,
To recall a friendly face,
Recapturing my childhood days,
With memories of the place.
c 1981 Mrs Bessie Bool (nee Singleton)
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