One thing about developing this spoken word website is my own personal discovery of lesser known yet most accomplished writers. Those that are skilful not merely in the art of composition but in putting together words that can leave the reader or listener with a greater breadth of understanding about life and also elevate them to a higher emotional level.
Such is the work of Lake District poet Tom Rawling. I was first made aware of Tom through Cumbrian writer, John Murray who asked whether I would consider featuring Tom on my website. I did not need to consider this for long. Although I had originally intended to develop the website primarily for North East writers, I was delighted to extend the boundaries. I soon wondered why I and many others had never heard of this poet. Obviously a secret treasure hidden deep in the hills from whence he came.
Tom was born in Ennerdale, then Cumberland, in 1916 and spent his childhood around the family farm of How Hall. He left Ennerdale as a young man, returning for family visits and for his great passion of fishing. However, it wasn’t until his retirement after thirty years of teaching away from Ennerdale that he began to write poetry, drawing from his rich boyhood experiences and his time serving as a soldier in World War II. This resulted in several collections to his name before his death in 1996. Well done to Michael Baron, Stan Buck and The Lamplugh and District Heritage Society which has recently put together a collection of Tom’s poetry in the book How Hall Poems and Memories, A Passion for Ennerdale together with a CD of Tom himself reading some of his work.
These are beautiful poems about a beautiful part of the world, some deeply moving, but all without pretension or romanticism. In them I found a great respect and sensitivity to the environment as well as total honesty about the crudeness and brutality that Tom observed in nature and farming as he grew up in a remote area of the Lake District in the 1920s. The book
How Hall has been thoughtfully arranged with Tom’s own recollections of his time there together with photographs of his family and surroundings which give a wonderful context in which to place this poetry. Listening to Tom’s voice on the CD only enhances this appreciation.
The book and CD are available to buy online from bookscumbria.com
Or by post: Book - £8.50 and CD - £6.00 including p&p (UK)
Send a cheque to
Lamplugh and District Heritage Society
Owsen Place
Lamplugh
Workington
CA14 4SQ
Click below to listen to Tom reading Bridge End
Bridge End by Tom Rawling
Click below to listen to Tom reading I can’t put it all on a Picture Postcard
I can't put it all on a Picture Postcard by Tom Rawling
Click below to hear Tom reading Two Swifts at Standlake
Two Swifts at Standlake by Tom Rawling
You can also hear Michael Baron read Tom Rawling's work at A Poetry Reading The Words by the Water Literature Festival at The Theatre by the Lake, Keswick on Friday 12th March starting at 7pm in The Studio.
At the same festival, John Murray who has recorded for this site will also be talking to Sue Allan about Comedy, Cumbria and Dialect on Monday 8th March at 11am, also in The Studio.
