Here is a picture to remind us that summer will come sometime.

My Love Of Essex Rivers

My Love of Essex Rivers


Since an early age these South East Essex rivers and the surrounding countryside have been deeply in my heart, some of the places I love most of all the many parts of England that I know. The glory of the skies, the salt marshes, the small towns and pretty villages, the salty breezy air of the riverside quays and the peace to be found all have their place in my memories. I think I would be a very different person without those memories. All the years I have lived in London have not taken them away.
I have an extremely early recollection of a visit to Maldon. This was a Sunday School treat as far as I remember. I recall a steep hill and a shop full of little souvenirs where I bought a small china kid with a sixpence that I had to spend. I still have the kid in my china cabinet and here it is. I must have been about seven or eight years old when I went on that trip.

Halcyon Days

This is Mr Swanborough rowing Joe and me across the River Crouch
in Essex many years ago. As far as I remember the dog belonged to
Mr Swanborough.

A Nostalgic Dream of Essex Rivers

Wide open breezy distance,
Tremendous skies, rippling water,
Sailing barges, hard working carriers,
Now rich men’s pleasure or a holiday-maker’s dream,
Muddy creeks, large and small,
Sea walls to stem a flooding river’s ravenous desire for space,
Heat of the sun’s unshaded strength
Or twenty miles on a bicycle in teeming cold rain.
Wild wind, gentle zephyrs,
Skylarks winging their way heavenward
Then flashing down to the nest beneath.
Busy little towns with riverside quays
And mile after mile of banks to walk.
Mud, mud and yet more mud as the tide recedes.
Be careful not to slip!
There’s Othona’s fortress, not visible,
But stones translated into St. Cedd’s dream,
St Peter’s on the Wall.
At Stone empty cargo ships loom through a haze of heat
Awaiting the return of prosperity
While children play on the beach.
Time passes but nostalgia endures.

This poem is a memory of childhood in the 1930s during the Depression. I remember ships empty and laid up during that time. They were high up in the water due to being empty of cargo.

Salt marsh

I am so glad to know that some of the land by the River Crouch in Essex is going to be allowed to revert to salt marsh. It will take a very long time, and maybe I shall not see it, But I am glad to think of it happening. I love that part of the world.