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John Douglas Poem

M

mhemery

master brummie
I first came across this poem by John Douglas about 35 years ago and I,ve loved it ever since,it was in the sunday mercuryIMG_0001.jpgIMG_0002.jpg here,s the original and my transcript hope you enjoy it all the best michael
 
love those poems but I didn't know they were written by John Douglas. at family get togethers, we would always recite the first one and see who sounded the most Brummie. It was always a good laugh.
 
st.evenlucy said:
love those poems but I didn't know they were written by John Douglas. at family get togethers, we would always recite the first one and see who sounded the most Brummie. It was always a good laugh.
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Hi evenlucy, That must have been very enjoyable, have you heard this one by John Douglas called 'A Walk down Old Summer Lane'

There's a grey cobbled street that we knew dear,
In the old days, just me and my Jane
A back-to-back slum, in old Brummagem
and we called it our Summer Lane.

We only had eyes for each other,
As we strolled and we'd kiss once again,
Then we'd go hand-in-hand, through that dear 'Promised Land
For a walk down old Summer Lane.

As sweethearts we strolled in the twilight;
In the halo of street lamps aglow,
To a drab little house, but so dear to our hearts,
It was 'home' in those days long ago.

Now you're gone and I live for that moment
When we'll meet and we'll kiss, me an' Jane
And vow our true love, in that Heaven above,
As we once did in old Summer Lane.

Brookieboy
 
st.evenlucy said:
OOhh, that bought a tear to my eye, very poignant. I will have to get a copy of his book on poems.
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Just to let you know that poem came from John Douglas' book, 'A Walk down Summer Lane' and was at the very end of it, I don't know if he has written a book of poems, there is nothing to suggest it in his book; I have a feeling that this was the only book he ever wrote, the book was reprinted and published by Methuen London Ltd. 11 New Fetter Lane, Londonj EC4P 4EE in 1984, hope this helps.
Brookieboy
 
thanks for that info brookieboy, will try to get a copy of "A walk down Summer Lane ". I have heard of John Douglas before, and thought he had written a few books on Birmingham.
 
If he has I have not got them, have been collecting books on Birmingham for many years, if I see anything on Brum I buy it, the only other Douglas that I know of is my friend Alton Douglas who has done very many books on Brum, I have supplied him with quite a few photographs and other things to put in his pictorial books, of which his latest book has just come out, namely 'Birmingham in the 70s & 80s' if you do see any books by John please let me know.
Brookieboy
 
Brookieboy said:
Hi evenlucy, That must have been very enjoyable, have you heard this one by John Douglas called 'A Walk down Old Summer Lane'

There's a grey cobbled street that we knew dear,
In the old days, just me and my Jane
A back-to-back slum, in old Brummagem
and we called it our Summer Lane.

We only had eyes for each other,
As we strolled and we'd kiss once again,
Then we'd go hand-in-hand, through that dear 'Promised Land
For a walk down old Summer Lane.

As sweethearts we strolled in the twilight;
In the halo of street lamps aglow,
To a drab little house, but so dear to our hearts,
It was 'home' in those days long ago.

Now you're gone and I live for that moment
When we'll meet and we'll kiss, me an' Jane
And vow our true love, in that Heaven above,
As we once did in old Summer Lane.

Brookieboy
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hello norman what a lovely poem..bought a tear to my eye...our mom and dad met each other in summer lane in 1943 both aged 14...they were together for 66 years..

lyn
 
Just googgled John Douglas A walk down Summer Lane the book is expensive to buy so I looked for it on the Bromsgrove Library site they don't have it but Rubery and Wythall do but its better to purchase one then pass it on.
 
Astoness said:
hello norman what a lovely poem..bought a tear to my eye...our mom and dad met each other in summer lane in 1943 both aged 14...they were together for 66 years..

lyn
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Thanks for that Lyn, seems I have a lot of catching up to do, was traipsing around Spring Hill when I was 14, walking up the M. Run (dare I say that word now Roy has got himself into a bit of a bother, is there any words we can write or say without being labelled?
Here is another couple of shorts from his book, Kids leaving school on Friday for holidays:-

We break up! We break down!
We don't care if the school burns down!
No more reading, no more sums,
No more teachers smacking our bums! Hooray!

Mr Brooks is a very nice man,
He goes to church on Sundays,
And prays to God to give him strength,
To smack our **** on Mondays.
Reading, writing, arithmetic,
But never forgets to use the stick.

Enjoy Norman
 
i like that one too norm...we used to sing...

we break up we break down
we dont care if the school falls down
no more english no more french
no more sitting on the old school bench..

funny how these things spring to mind...

lyn
 
Brookieboy said:
Re Quote #1 - John Douglas was the author of 'A Walk Down Summer Lane' first published in 1977, reprinted in 1978 and 1984 and wrote several poems in this book. Hope this helps.
Brookieboy
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Thanks for the info Brookieboy I must get my self a copy. Michael
 
Thanks mhemery for that poem it is in fact the poem that starts at the beginning of his book, I do hope you can get a copy it is fascinating reading: when we were kids in the 30's we would be wary of going into anothers ?(Territory) if we did we went in two's and three's and kept a sharp lookout.
Brookieboy
 
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