The Medway

[Bill Jones]

that is very very strange as I could not post a blank message even if I tried hard. Maybe it is a picture of a white cat in a snowstorm in mote Park which is what Hugo (my partner) just suggested me. I actually was trying to post a video of the lake that I took on my telephone.

[pete.mason]

Mine not showing anything either

[castle261]

Bill Jones - cant get your latest in ` The Medway `- old computer.

[Bill Jones]

[castle261]

                                                                  The Thames

                                                      Now the river runs north of Kent
                                                      Where does it start, I do desent
                                                    `Its up past London, they do say`
                                                    `Maybe Middlesex, or on the way`
                                                     
                                                     Let start now at Hampton Court
                                                     Where King Henry ate & fought
                                                     It`s good day out for you & me
                                                     A nice place for our - cream tea

                                                     We carry on from Richmond true
                                                     The sun shines - there`s a clue
                                                     Now we are near to the - tower
                                                     Where `Belfast` has the power

                                                     We come to the Mayors domain
                                                     New building we will not remain
                                                     Then next come`s to the tower     
                                                     A seat of such- diobolical power
                                                         
                                                     Where two Prince`s kept inside
                                                     Alas, but with no where to hide
                                                     Did they get in, the way of fate
                                                     Not through - the traitors gate
                                                     
                                                     Tower bridge opens to let pass
                                                     Our vessel that moves - so fast
                                                     To ply it`s way to pastures new
                                                     With new captain & merry crew

                                                     We pass a new dockland scene
                                                     Was warehouse`s now to flats
                                                     We come to, Greenwich village
                                                     Where people eat their spinach

                                                     From here the river flows to sea
                                                     Past Gravesend where boats be
                                                     Took day trippers on trips to sea
                                                     To Margate makes them feel free

                                                     Our journey, now nears it`s end
                                                     Past Allhallows now on the bend
                                                     We have dillied & dallied - all day 
                                                     It`s fairwell to you I have to say
                                               
                                                 
                                                 Copyright by castle 261 April 24. 2020

[castle261]

I have revised that line --- thank you, for all the comments.

[pr1uk]

Thank you for your comment, I believe John was the Minister in charge --- was he Nott --- 

Love the pun,
It would not have mattered who was the Minister on the day, but he never "shut" the yard he announced the closure

[stuartwaters]

Good read,
But
'Next the Dockyard, shut by John Nott"
No really he was the one in post that's true but the closure had been planned over many years

That's very true. When Nore Command was shut down in the early 1960s, the decision was taken to build the Nuclear Refitting Complex at Chatham as a way of safeguarding jobs there. Closure had been contemplated a century before with the planned construction of a mega-Dockyard at Northfleet, which would have replaced the Deptford, Woolwich, Sheerness and Chatham Dockyards. Those plans fell through and instead the extension to Chatham was built. Before that, closure had been contemplated in the early 1770s,  but instead, the Navy Board decided to turn Chatham into building and major repair yard.


Chatham had been being slowly and quietly run down in the years between the end of the Second World War and the announcement in 1981. In the end, the Dockyard was a dumping ground for old and obsolete warships, the so-called Reserve Squadron.

[castle261]

Thank you for your comment, I believe John was the Minister in charge --- was he Nott --- 

[pr1uk]

Good read,
But
'Next the Dockyard, shut by John Nott"
No really he was the one in post that's true but the closure had been planned over many years

[castle261]

           
                       The Medway

The Medway roams through the backwater
Lazy, bubbling, just rambling like it oughter
It meets big brother, farther down the line
Where the Isles, Grain & Sheppey recline

The ships ply their trade so far and wide
Down where Sheerness people do reside
Alas `tis now the naval base has gone
How can the trade`s lost people atone

The Medway rolls through the countryside
Through Tonbridge, Yalding, in it`s stride
Goes on past Maidstone`s, long lost zoo
Rolling on to Wouldham and Eccles too

Now it rolls into Rochester`s flying past
Where Sunderland`s were made to last
The sight of flying boats along the river
Makes the heart give such a little quiver

Gently rolls past the famous Sun Pier
The day tripper`s in their summer gear
For sunny trip`s right down to the sea
It`s Sheerness they go for very happily

Next the Dockyard, closed, was it not
Skilled men and women now left to rot
7000 people came out through a gate
What would become of them, their fate

Past Upnor Castle, built in such a rush
Only ememies were strangely the Dutch
They plundered all the ships in the dark
None was left, by George, what a lark

The Strand, the beach, just pure delight
The pool, the paddle boats, as our right
The summer sun shines for ever more
The putting green, Hi `what`s my score

Now it time to leave the Medway Towns
We have wandered within the bounds
Time to reflect now on the ebb and flow
We are sorry, as it`s nearly time, to go.

       Copyright by Castle 261.  2020