I do not like big cities
Full of crowded streets
Give me the quiet villages
Where town and country meet
Where people have green spaces
And hills that they can climb
And gently flowing waters
Creation in its prime
The cobbled streets of Tyldesley
Were built to house a force
Of hard working people
For mine and mill of course
No gardens for these servile folk
Just two up two down
And bingo and a pint or two
To help the world go round
But Tyldesley folk still had their dreams
And allotments to their name
And many folk kept pigeons
Or fishing was the game
And football too and rugby
And cricket in its time
The dark satanic mills escaped
Escape too from the mines
Brian Fahy
17 January 2023
+ A report today tells us how green spaces are vital for health, and how people who can access green spaces are less dependent on prescription drugs.
My home town of Tyldesley was built up to house people for the mines and the mills: Row upon row of terraced houses with no gardens. But the people found a way to live a more natural life by keeping allotments and pigeons and greyhounds, and fishing and sport. The streets where they lived were ugly, but their own spirits were alive and in love with beauty.
A new estate was built after the war, houses with gardens back and front, and set among fields. I was fortunate to grow up there, just a mile from the old town. I could see the grim streets but I escaped them.
Erris Poetry 