Looking through our tea towel drawer
(It’s not often that I do)
I saw there were some tales to tell
And all of them quite true.
The first towel is of Devon and speaks to me
Of my wartime days as an evacuee.
Then later when at peace once more
Of holidays spent on its seashore.
The next towel’s of Suffolk in pictures displayed.
I bought it near to Flatford Mill
At a coach trip break when we’d time to kill.
The places on it so finely displayed
Was just the thing to show to others the scene
Of some of the places we had been
As through Constable Country we weaved our way
On a most interesting and enjoyable day.
Now comes a towel bought in Chalfont-St-Giles
A place from Wokingham just some twenty-five miles.
In this Bucks village, in the Chilterns fair,
John Milton lived, and his house is still there.
T’was this poet’s house we had come to see
And we also enjoyed a tasty cream tea.
The village I found of some interest too
But more time was needed for a closer view.
The towel that’s next is a reminder for me
Of two churches I knew as they used to be
Which are now united together as one,
A job not easy when it has to be done.
A new church was then from these two formed.
This celebratory, fund-raising, towel
The church produced to mark the day
Of this new church’s special anniversary
For it had now lived for twenty-five years
From a start thought doubtful and full of fears
That the joining of these faithful folk
Would not be for them an equal yolk.
But God has blessed this union.
A good example of what can be done.
The youngsters at our local church
When re-building started did their bit
And produced the next towel
Which was quite a hit.
It showed their faces and names there on
And really was a bit of fun.
It did the trick – the towel sold well.
Another success story I’m pleased to tell.
Amongst our towels are two colourful ones.
Bought on holiday when abroad in the sun.
From them Madeira flowers smile at you
As you dry the cups and a plate or two.
Lovely memories we have of that Isle
Nice to have towels like these in the pile.
There’s a towel we had that’s no longer here
Worn out with use, it was binned I fear.
We bought at a Lifeboat House?
On it a lifeboat cut through a wave
Steadily on course one more sailor to save.
Yes, it was from the RNLI we bought this towel
In support of a most worthy cause
Keeping folk safe by coast and on shore.
They save so many from a watery grave
Those fishermen who are so strong to save.
So end my thoughts on our tea towels.
Each has had a story to tell
And you now know them all as well.
The people, the places, the thoughts they bestir,
The situations in which they occur.
Just ordinary tea towels they may very well be
But they each have so much meaning
for me.
Jim Horsnell
