A Poem For Birkenhead

The project to write a poem for Birkenhead is now completed. Jim Bennett wishes to thank all those who took part and provided words, ideas and encouragement in producing the finished poem. Five City Arts, the WEA and the Arts Council sponsored the event. The poem was first read by Jim at the opening, by Paul O'Grady, of the New Lawries Centre in Birkenhead. It has since been read at a concert by Dean Friedman at the Pacific Road Theatre in Birkenhead and plans are advanced to hold a public reading in Birkenhead Central Library and to permanently display the poem at the Lawries Centre

Jim Bennett and Paul O'Grady at the launch of "A Poem for Birkenhead"

A Poem for Birkenhead (2005) Collected and structured by Jim Bennett

first came the monks to row the ferry cross the Mersey pursuing God and fighting tide with all their strength then docks took root here growing on the river side Morpeth and Egerton The Great Float and the Alfred home to liners and merchantmen submarines and war ships built with blood and bone   that’s how it was   we gave our name to bravery with “the Birkenhead Drill” and the ships we built sailed every ocean of the world and every day the city woke to the echoes from the ship yards that mingled with the other sounds of life; fog horns on the river church bells in the town the clatter of the first trams in the world    that’s how it was   we marked time by the firing of the of the one o clock gun gave ideas to the planners of New York and in a city that grew from the legacy of Laird there are parks and buildings Woodside and theTunnel Grasshopper and Pacific Road recycled into use to serve another generation

that’s how it is   now its people make it vibrant noisy exciting stately full of the hustle and bustle of life   it’s friendly peaceful it’s crying and laughing restored and rejuvenated full of character and characters history and buildings it’s demanding and demented full of hope   it’s where we go to school and work and play and live it’s Home and it’s the world that’s Birkenhead   that’s how it is

Copies of the poem are available, while stocks last, printed on postcards, free of charge from

Alex Whittle - awhittle@wea.org.uk

For further information about the project please contact:

Lethal Communications on 0161 237 5252

Catharine Braithwaite 07947 644 110 or Shelagh Bourke 07971 819 016