Charlotte Peters Rock - Songs

CV - Reviews below

2010-09-21T12:47:00.000-07:00

Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Exhibition photographs

Letter of Recommendation here
Extensive CV below
CV - 2010 Charlotte Peters Rock
telephone +44 (0)156 572 2738
email: charlottepetersrock@tiscali.co.uk
Main Web Site: http://charlottepetersrock.blogspot.com/

Born - Birmingham, England
Began to write - and then perform - about 30 years ago.
Computer literate. I design and update web sites.
Updates between 2002 and 2010
Have continued to publicise the sacrifice of those who served at RAF Cranage during WW2
Have continued to perform and take part in Llandudno Victorian Extravaganza First May Bank Holiday each year. Portraying figures from history such as a Suffragette (2007) one of Rebecca’s daughters (2008) Newsboy telling the Disaster of the Royal Charter(2009) Queen Elizabeth of Roumania (2010)
New for 2010 - I’m running an extensive Fringe Event, composed of displays of stories and songs on walls, fences, hedges, up trees and in windows, etc
Goostrey Arts Fringe - 02/03 - 20 October 2010 - will take place as displays on the walls of the Crown and the Red Lion. Also at the Trading Post and Goostrey Home and Leisure Craft Centre. Goostrey Community Primary School will have full displays in both playgrounds, on fences, walls, trees etc.There will also be displays on the Main Road,with the Amazon as a main theme.
I am currently speaking to Northern Rail about a display on Goostrey Railway Station.
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WRITING
Poet/Performer - Singer/Songwriter - Content broad-ranging. Including history from across the world, from the present to the distant past. Songs mainly based on Old and New English Folk song tradition - but not exclusively.
Competences
1. create original writing around chosen historical subjects and places
2. initiate writing by others, of all ages and abilities
3. perform, before children, teachers, mixed-age audiences and international guests
4. teach the art of performance, to both children and adults
5. lead public performances
6. write, design and exhibit work in many venues, both as Framed Exhibitions and 'Poetry Explosions'
7. initiate design and display by students.
8. design and mount displays of students' work
9. promote and organise poetry events alone or with colleagues
10. work on Committees which organise literary and music events
11. write on The Art of Poetry in arts magazines
12. perform poetry and songs on local and regional radio
13. conduct Seminars and Workshops at University level and for Teachers and Lecturers.
14. publicise events on a local, national and International scale

Numbered Content:
1 Single Venue Exhibitions Special Exhibitions of Poetry at Public Events across various towns and cities in UK and Internationally
2 Special Events Other Events
3 Broadcasting - Published work - Committees
4 Poetry publications and books of poetry
5 Committees
6 Comments received on - Along the Silk Route - Flying Free

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SINGLE VENUE EXHIBITIONS OF MY POETRY- framed and unframed - mostly for one month at each venue - though some exhibitions were longer. In that case, the poems exhibited were changed each month. Each exhibition consisted of up to 300 poems - depending on the amount of wall space available. Each poem was chosen vary carefully with the consideration that all ages and kinds of people were likely to read it, during the month of the display.
2002 By special invitation of Dr Lyubov Ivanovna Sokirkina, Head of Department of English and Multicultural Studies, Saratov State University - and Conference Director of the National Association of Teachers of English (from across the Russian Federation), NATE - exhibition of my poetry and songs for the Conference. Called Poetry Broadcast - The Whole World Over, it included many poems and songs from throughout history and across the world - including English dialect poetry and song, child poems, animal poems - and others about Russian history, particularly during World War 2. (January/February).

By invitation of Pro-Vice Chancellor on Research, Professor A A Sytnik, Saratov State University, and of the Conference Director - Exhibition of my poetry and songs, Poetry Broadcast - The Whole World Over, (History section), for the Conference: Museums and Information Technology. (February).
2001 Exhibition of my poetry and songs at The English Centre, Saratov University, Volga Region, Russia. Called Poetry Explosion The Whole World Over. 13th May - 30th June.
Exhibition, Salty Tales and Undercurrents, (with Alan Collinson) - at The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - a Llandudno Festival Fringe Event - (June/July)
2000 Exhibition, Inns, Chandlers and Undertakers, (with Alan Collinson) - at The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - a Llandudno Festival Fringe Event
1999 Exhibition, The Poetry Explosion - at The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - a Llandudno Festival Fringe Event
1998 All exhibitions of my poetry, below in this section, were for one month. They were in Main Town Libraries, (unless otherwise stated), in Cheshire, Lancashire, Yorkshire, Derbyshire, Greater Manchester and North Wales.
By request of Louanne Collins, Director of Macclesfield Museums Trust, and her Education Officer, I wrote poetry based on The Marianne Brocklehurst Collection at West Park Museum, Macclesfield; also it spanned the whole time - and place - of Ancient Egypt. It was exhibited as 'Marianne's Treasure Trove', and linked to performances and workshops, which I ran at West Park Museum. This exhibition was extended for one month, at the same venue, into a new exhibition of my poetry, which was based on world history and archaeology. It was called, 'Out of Egypt and into History'. I mounted further exhibitions at Llandudno Central Library and The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno, as Llandudno Festival Fringe Events- for the month, in celebration of National Poetry Day.

1997 This was a very busy year for mounting exhibitions - which I would not like to repeat. Venues included Holmes Chapel*, Wilmslow*, Macclesfield*, Glossop, Wath-on-Dearne, Sheffield City Centre, Knutsford, Crewe and Macclesfield.
To celebrate the month of National Poetry Day, I mounted 15 exhibitions of my poetry, across Lancashire, Cheshire and North Wales, for the month, (up to 300 poems in each). They were at the full Library complex in and around Lancaster and Morcambe; also at New Mills, Alsager, Chester City Centre, and Middlewich.
By request of Gill Entwistle, Lancaster Library Network Area Librarian - exhibitions at all 10 libraries in the Network, at Lancaster Central, Morecambe Central, Bolton-le-Sands, Carnforth, Heysham, Hest Bank, Caton, Halton, Silverdale and Warton. And at The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - a Llandudno Festival Fringe Event During November, I set up a second exhibition, (extended, by request of The Arts Librarian, into my third exhibition, for the whole of December; with a complete change of poems), at The Language and Literature Library, Manchester Central Reference Library - a Manchester Poetry Festival Event
I mounted a second exhibition at The Pump House Museum of People's History - a Manchester Poetry Festival Event. And another, which ran for two months at The Heritage Centre, Knutsford

1996 (*By Request of Barbara West, Library Area Manager) At Poynton*; and - to celebrate National Poetry Day - at Alderley, Bradford Central, Congleton* and The Language and Literature Library of Manchester Central Reference Library. A framed exhibition at The Pump House Museum of People’s History - a Manchester Poetry Festival Fringe Event
1995/1996/1997 Long term framed exhibitions of my poetry, at various venues; changed every few weeks - at Telford's Warehouse, Chester; The Hawk Inn, Haslington; The Newton and Kings Arms, Middlewich; The Frog and Tommy Duck's, Manchester: The Puzzle Hall, Sowerby Bridge; Doctor Brown's, Huddersfield; Oscar's, Macclesfield;

FREE-RANGING EXHIBITIONS OF MY POETRY, AT PUBLIC EVENTS ACROSS VARIOUS TOWNS AND CITIES, AS NAMED BELOW usually consisting of a range of 6 - 32 different poems - chosen - and sometimes written - especially for public display at each particular festival. By agreement with owners of Public Buildings, prominent Shop Windows, Cafes, Information Centres, Arts Centres etc. my poems were displayed where the general public could read them, for at least one month. (Did they read them? Oh yes! - sometimes for up to a year)

1995 October - My poetry exhibited as ‘The Poetry Explosion’ at 100+ venues all over Manchester City Centre - including libraries, Free Trade Hall etc. - a Manchester Poetry Festival Fringe Event
Also exhibited at 50+ venues all over Chester - a Chester Literature Festival Fringe Event
Also exhibited at 18 venues in Newcastle-under-Lyme - a Six Towns Literature Festival Fringe Event

1996 October/November - and separately to the above My poetry exhibited as ‘The Poetry Explosion’, at 100 public venues all over Manchester City Centre - Official Display Poet to Manchester Poetry Festival

1997 My poetry exhibited at 65 public venues in Buxton Town Centre, to publicise the festival - Official Display Poet to Buxton Festival Fringe My poetry exhibited as ‘The Poetry Explosion’, at 50+ public venues all over Lancaster - for Lancaster Library Service

1999 My poetry exhibited as ‘The Poetry Explosion’, at 100 sites across the Borough of Conwy - Official Display Poet for Llandudno Festival Fringe

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SPECIAL EVENTS
2002 January/February - RUSSIAN FEDERATION Invited by Conference Director - Dr Lyubov Ivanovna Sokirkina to Conference of National Association of Teachers of English (Russian Federation), (NATE), held at Saratov State University, Saratov, Volga Region, Russian Federation.
Sunday, 27th January - 12.45-13.45 - Building X Room 503WORKSHOP 1 - Presenting a Living Language. A workshop on Dialects of The British Isles, including past and present English usage in Britain.
Monday, 28th January - 14.30 - 16.30 - Building X Room 108SEMINAR - during panel 1 of the joint NATE and ECA discussions Global English for Global Understanding, presented a paper A Healthy Mongrel Tongue - Learn English? What for? Covering the entire history, spread - and change - of the English language
Wednesday, 30th January - 10.00-11.00 - Building X Room 202 WORKSHOP 11Presenting a Living Language - A workshop of English from Britain, covering dialects, British history, world history, Russian history and excitements of the language.
5th - 9th February Building IX - Room 218by invitation of Saratov State University Pro-Vice Chancellor on research, Professor A A Sytnik, and the Conference Director
CONFERENCE - Museums and Information Technology
Wednesday, 6th February Building IX - Room 218 - 13.00
PAPER TO CONFERENCE Using Museums and Information Technology to bring history to life, in poetry and songs
Detailing the use which I - and others - make of the information which museums, across the world, hold and enter onto the internet, for use.

OTHER SEMINARS, TALKS AND CONTACTS DURING THIS VISIT.
Visits to three Secondary Schools - to speak and discuss the history of the English Language - and to perform my poetry and songs.
School No. 34 - also presented a set of my songs about Russian Women flyers, who fought in combat during WW2 to the only Museum devoted to these fliers.
Gymnasium No. 3 - also presented copies of my poetry/songs.
Physico-Technical School - Lyceum No 1 - also presented copies of my poetry and songs etc.
Also SEMINARS - for students and teachers of Saratov State University and teachers from Saratov Oblast - Speaking on history of the world - and Russia - and of the English Language. Discussions and performance of my poetry and songs.
Also The House of Culture - Visit - by arrangement - to exchange music and information about folk music and customs in Britain and Russia.
Also visits to speak, discuss and perform poetry and songs to private classes of students of English, in various parts of the city.

2001 8th - 22nd May Invited to Saratov University, Volga Region, Russia, to conduct Seminars on English Folk Festivals, Traditions of English Folk Song; and to perform and discuss my own Folk Songs and Poetry. I conducted 32 hours of Seminars during one week, and was invited back to work with National Association of Teachers of English (NATE), at their Conference which will be held during January/February 2002.

2002 29th August - 5th September - Mut zur Ethik Conference, Feldkirch, Austria - Invited to Speak to Conference, about the British Foot & Mouth disaster and perform my song Foot & Mouth - Pie in the Sky. Also wrote and sang Sweet Water (about mis-use of the world's water resources) and Building Norilsk, (about slave labour used to build this Arctic City).
November Invited Mut zur Ethik Conference in Wil, Switzerland and Germany,to speak on the situation of refugees - in particular in respect of Afghans - and to sing two songs about this, Afghans and Don't Kill the Starving

2000 July - Stokesay Castle - for Shropshire County Museum Services - designed, wrote and performed my poems, stories and songs at a special event for English Heritage Week-end. This event was staged inside The Great Hall of Stokesay Castle; a fine Medieval Castle with a Jacobean Gatehouse. A mixed range audience was lead through the entire history of the castle, its inhabitants, its area and its relationship to English history of the times, from 1000AD to the present day, by the use of my original songs, poems and stories.
As a spin-off this work was extended into local schools, where pupils were also invited to write their own work and understand how medieval history related to the entire panoply of world history and their personal history. Again this was approached using poems, songs and stories, taking in Roman, Greek, Viking, Celtic and other periods.

1998,1999 & 2000 - Mythstories Museum, Shrewsbury - I gave performances of my poem-stories and songs, on various dates, at the museum, to museum staff and managers, and the general public. Poem-stories were taken from three of my poem series - Along the Silk Route - Celts, Romans and Vikings - American Time Slip.
By invitation, I gave performances of poetry and song, at various venues around Shrewsbury Town Centre, during the 'West End Words' Literature Festival.

1998 & 1999 - For Macclesfield Museums Service - wrote and performed poetry and songs, based on The Marianne Brocklehurst Collection of Egyptology, which is housed in West Park Museum. Initiated writing and performance in children from a series of local schools. Led their performances before teachers, museum staff and managers, The Mayor and other Civic Dignitaries. Also set-out , printed and published numerous bound copies of their work for presentation and sale at their school.

1998 July - October Creative Arts Partnership in Education Project (CAPE) - working with senior students at Egerton Park High School (now Arts College), Manchester, for CAPE. Prepared 60 Year 10 Humanities students, to investigate and write around a Geography Project, as Resident Poet. Accompanied them to Castleton, in The Peak District, where we studied the geography, history and mythology of the area, and specifically of Peak Cavern, where rope-makers lived and worked for 150 years, in spite of the fact that the whole cavern flooded to the roof, regularly. The rope was for use in the local lead mines. We wrote songs, poems and stories following the visit. I introduced them to computer-aided design and display techniques and helped them to set out their work in a pleasing manner; and organized and mounted a grand exhibition of all their work in the Amanda Jane Turner Suite. Coached a chosen few in performance techniques, and led them in a performance for school managers and international guests.

Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Exhibition photographs

OTHER EVENTS WHICH I ORGANIZED - AND SOME AT WHICH I PERFORMED

2001 August- Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - Performance
Market Drayton Folk Festival - Guest Performer
October
Worked with poet, Vernon Scannell, performing his poetry for Knutsford Literature Festival
Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - Performance
Ran Northwich Folk Club
December
Cottage Loaf, Llandudno - Special Christmas Performance - by invitation.

2000 Invited back to perform at The Victorian Extravaganza, Llandudno.
Performed at the newly inaugurated literature festival in Knutsford, alongside authors such as P D James, Nina Bawden, Joanna Trollope, Margaret Drabble, etc - Knutsford Literature Festival Event
Performed at The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno, and organized two large parties to celebrate the start and end of The Fringe; also performed again at The Belmont Hotel - Llandudno Festival Fringe Events

1999 By request, I performed my poetry and songs at The Victorian Extravaganza, Llandudno
I organised two Folk and Poetry Events - by request - at Nantwich Canal Boat Festival - Nantwich Boat Festival Events
I performed at The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno; and at a Le Café in Craig-y-Don; at The Library and The Belmont Hotel; in all giving 9 separate performances, two of which were large parties for performers, to celebrate the start and end of The Fringe - Llandudno Festival Fringe Events

1998 - By request of The Chief Librarian, Lynne Jones, I ran a Creative Writing and Performance Workshop at Llandudno Public Library, North Wales - under Academi Cymraeg (the Welsh Arts Board) - a Llandudno Festival Fringe Event
Performed my poetry and songs at The Ocean - Lounge, North Wales Theatre, Llandudno.
At The Cottage Loaf, Llandudno, Performed and ran Performance Parties for other performers. I also performed at two cafes and at The Belmont Hotel, (for blind and partially-sighted people) - Llandudno Festival Fringe Events
Organized and performed - with others - in a public poetry performance event on The Moor, in Sheffield; also entertained The Mayor and Mayoress of Sheffield - an Off The Shelf Festival Event
Organised and performed - with others - a public poetry performance event in Market Square, Lancaster - a Lancaster Lit-Fest Fringe Event

1997 Performed at Telford's Warehouse, Chester (Arts venue), The Everyman Theatre Bar, Liverpool (Poetry venue), The Irish Centre, Liverpool (Poetry venue), and at The Bluecoat Gallery with Liverpool Poets Performed with Puzzle Hall Poets at The Puzzle Hall, (Poetry venue), Sowerby Bridge; and at Buxton Museum with The Milton’s Head Poets- for Buxton Fringe Festival
Organised and performed - with Chester Writers and The Salt Town Poets - at The River Band Stand, Chester, as a summertime public performance
I studied poetry writing at Ty Newydd, Taliesin Trust, North Wales - with Kevin Crossley-Holland and John Lyons; and ran poetry writing and performing workshops at The Cornerhouse (Arts Centre), Manchester.
I ran poetry writing and performing workshops around the costume displays at Platt Hall Museum Costume History, Manchester.
I organized and ran Manchester Children's Charity Poetry Marathon, Arndale Manchester, over 6 hours, at The . Arndale Centre, Manchester. Centre, as a charity event - audience over 10,000. I MC'd (with help) and performed at little at this event. Other performers were Manchester children, whom I had encouraged by running free writing and performing events, at libraries across the area, in conjunction with Manchester City Library Services. They performed their own poems. Other performers were our special guests, Councillor and Mrs Carroll, The Lord Mayor and Lady Mayoress of Manchester, who each arrived with a poem to perform; Professor Cary Cooper of Manchester University of Science and Technology, who performed a selection of poems which were enhanced with visual aids; Mr Walter Kershaw, the renowned mural artist, who performed and stayed to draw other performers; Antigua Joe, poet and calypso singer, who sang and performed and was an indefatigable MC; Bernard Aaron, composer of classical music, who played for us; Michele McKay and Fran Devine, Education Librarians, who performed children's poetry and promoted the Manchester Library Services, to the general public, Peter Hood and Linda Edwards, folk singers; singers; Clive Hopwood, Storyteller; Levi Tafari, rap poet; and others. - a Manchester Poetry Festival Event
By invitation, I ran poetry writing, performance and display workshops for local school children, at Buxton Library, Derbyshire, leading to a performance at the library and a schools display for National Poetry Day.
By arrangement with Chester City Council, I organized and ran a public performance event at The Town Hall Square and The Old Crosses, Chester, with other poets from Liverpool Poets, for National Poetry Day

1996 Organized and performed at The Last Hour, Withington, Manchester - June/October - with our new group of Over the Road Poets
Performed my poetry and songs, at The Wilbraham Arms, Nantwich - a Nantwich Folk Festival Event
Organized Chester Writers and The Salt Town Poets into a public poetry performance, in The Grosvenor Centre, Chester. Also performed my own work. - a National Poetry Day Event
Ran a Poetry Workshop and Performance Event at Telford's Warehouse, Arts Centre Chester - a National Poetry Day Event
Performed for Chester Writers, at The Stafford Hotel, Chester - a Chester Literature Festival Event
A Winner of "Out Loud" A Performance Poetry Event, organised by Bradford Public Libraries - Judge, Ian McMillan
Performed my poetry at The Platform, Central Library, Bradford
Organized and ran a 12 hour Poetry Marathon, Parrs Wood, Manchester - for charity - with Manchester Poets and other poets of all ages. Special Guest, Les Barker - a Manchester Poetry Festival Event
Organized, and ran, ‘John Lyons and Local Poets in Performance’, at The Victoria, Manchester, - a Manchester Poetry Festival Event.

1995 Founder member of The Salt Town Poets
October - - organised and MC'd BBC, Radio Stoke Poetry Evening at Shraleybrook - also performed
Organized and performed with two other North-West Poets at Dukes 92, (First Fringe Performance Event of Manchester Poetry Festival )
Performed at Selwyn's Poetry Fringe, Manchester - a Manchester Poetry Festival Fringe Event
Also, during these years I have performed at poetry and folk venues, right across the North of England and Wales.

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BROADCASTING etc
2002 - January/February - appeared in performance on Saratov Broadcasting Service and Saratov TV (Russian Federation)
Local and regional radio and television, in various parts of England, on numerous occasions during the past few years.

1997 - Awarded the Oppenheim-John Downes Memorial Trust Bursary - in recognition of my poetry writing - and to further my display work, to bring understandable poetry to the general public.

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PUBLISHED IN POETRY PUBLICATIONS
Tandem
Psychopoetica - Hull University
Poetry and Audience - English Department, Leeds University
Poetry Manchester
South Magazine - and numerous others
Also Manchester Evening News

PUBLISHED WORKS
TIME TRAVEL - 1 - Along the Silk Route
TIME TRAVEL - 2 - Celts, Romans & Vikings
TIME TRAVEL - 3 - American Time Slip
TIME TRAVEL - 4 - Marianne's Treasure Trove
Living in the World (long poem - possibly unique rhyme scheme?)
Child Poems - books 1 and 2
Flying Free CD - 15 songs and 3 poems
Also shared space on
The Millennium Tapes (2)
and
The Millennium CD for Northwich Folk Club

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COMMITTEES ON WHICH I HAVE WORKED
1997/8 - Buxton Festival Fringe
1999/2000 - Llandudno Festival Fringe
2000/? - Chester Folk Festival
2001/2009 - Knutsford Literature Festival

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COMMENTS RECEIVED - in respect of performance, poetry and songs

1995 (work) ..like that of Edith Sitwell.. - Professor Germaine Greer - Royal Exchange Theatre (work)..like Stevie Smith.. - Steven Waling, journalist, City Life, (Manchester arts magazine)

1998 October - CAPE Project, (following a study by National Foundation for Educational Research)
Press Release - March, 1999 - see web site at http://www.arts.orguk/directory/regions/north_west/what_happ/19990309.html "Kids Get Creative in Manchester and Leeds" (The key partners are North West Arts Board, Yorkshire and Humberside Arts Board, Leeds LEA, and the Greater Manchester LEAs Salford, Trafford, Tameside and Manchester. Cape also receives funding from the European Social Fund, the Lottery Arts for Everyone Fund and the Granada Foundation) Ref: Egerton Park High School, Denton, Manchester In Geography, poet Charlotte Peters Rock accompanied Year 10 students on a field trip to Castleton in the Peak Distict, with workshops before and after the trip. The students own poems are now on display in the school. This partnership was one of the more unusual. Even the teachers found it strange when Charlotte started singing in the middle of the caverns. The students response was, 'She's weird Miss'. 'But', says Geography Teacher Justine Mason (Head of Department), 'Even the less able and disaffected students, as well as those who were initially resistant to the idea, managed to write something and positively achieve'. 'Doing poetry on a GCSE field trip is not de rigeur', says Deputy Head, Ian Fenn, 'what's important is that the work is cross curricular, it's not just about art. We value creativity - we're bidding for Art School status - but we don't just want to focus on art, music and drama which are already strong areas. trying to get creativity into other areas - out of the comfort zone. Through CAPE we're creating an impact on the whole curriculum, not just expressive arts'.******

COMMENT ON
TIME TRAVEL - Along The Silk Route, cassette and booklet (pub. Manatee Press 1999 - ISBN 1 901998 19 2) - "..poem-stories set along the Silk Route from China west to Afghanistan - over a period of thousands of years. ..to read and hear..remarkable poems. I am always happy when the dry facts of archaeology are treated with respect and accuracy, whether in drama novels or poetry. ..(they) have given a voice to the voiceless and ..'let in the light'. - Dr Paul G Bahn, (Cambridge, 1979) - noted Pre-historian, author - and editor of various broad-ranging books on archaeology

..extraordinary experimental work. I was fascinated by..different types of rhythms and rhymes - most thought provoking and I was taken to many different worlds. Both Living in the World and TIME TRAVEL were quite magical in completely different ways..allowing me to be an explorer in your world. - Benedict Allen - Explorer and video-maker to the BBC - author of 'The Edge of Blue Heaven', and numerous other books based on his explorations in Mongolia, Namibia, Papua New Guinea The Amazon etc.

..we enjoyed reading and listening to..Interesting stuff - and very effective reading.. Geoff Lowe - Founder Editor, Psychopoetica, Dept of Psychology, University of Hull

Along the Silk Route is a fascinating journey. This sequence brings to life a kaleidoscope of pictures, with its stories set along the trails from China to Western Europe. The poems are finely wrought and rich with imagery, and the introductory notes add helpful background. This is a collection for savouring, with resonances which will remain in the mind long after the work has been put aside. - Alison Chisholm -BBC, Poetry Consultant

I have seen Charlotte working both as a singer and performance poet on many occasions. She has a unique talent and an ability to communicate with a variety of audiences. Her Berlin Cabaret style songs are especially memorable and her Ice Maiden (NOTE : see Frozen Princess in Along the Silk Route) poems are as intriguing as they are appealing. What is more Charlotte is, as they say, a trooper, totally dedicated to the art. Michael Raven - British Composer, Musician, Author, Poet

COMMENT ON
'Flying Free', CD - 15 songs and three poems
I should quickly note that her account of British domination of Northern Ireland (in the appropriately punned "Our Bloody Language") is hard-hitting and to the point: "We English had an empire, it's just Ulster now that's left, and the city's Londonderry in our language." A very fine song, this one.Rock is a rough and pleasant singer, and she's able to handle the several accents she puts on.This disc came over the transom, and we had no responsibility to cover it (Canadian folk magazine - covers mainly Canadian Folk - CPR) I wouldn't be surprised to find myself singing some of these songs sooner or later... "I built a castle in the air and watched it fade away.... but I think that readers who like unaccompanied ballad singing and storytelling would find it appealing. - George W Lyon - The Canadian Folk Music Bulletin

The CD has..good design..recording quality..does justice to Charlotte's singing voice. Charlotte is a wildly imaginative poet, not an operatic talent..(but)..I have paid good money to hear a lot worse in folk clubs and festivals...the range of her voice is well matched to her performance. Often witty and thought provoking, this is material many folk performers would envy, and the delivery would be beyond most.Technical tricks are used sparingly throughout. Recommended. - Flos Headford - Shreds & Patches - Autumn 1999.

This is a CD demonstrating the breadth of material written and performed by this unusual poet/singer. The range from Irish story telling in the Lugh; though Marlene Dietrich style Berlin cabaret in Rudolph's Folly and Jews in Berlin is remarkable. All the pieces are unaccompanied which seems to work because of the range of Charlotte's characterisations. Both songs and poems are included, Mogsy's Stories being a tribute to Richard Walker - whose death I mentioned earlier this year. Poppin at Uncle's is a Lancashire style narration/song about the pawn shop, whilst Our Bloody Language is a protest song. Walkin Backwards is a story about a seagull, presented in the style of Nora Batty. There is even a haunting Innuit Call Song. Overall his is an entertaining mixture of material - on this showing I'd definitely recommend seeing Charlotte live. - Dave Leverton - Editor - Avon Folk Diary - October 1999.

..some of you Midlanders may well have seen her perform. You'll have had a pretty nice evening if this CD is any sample because she has a very wide-ranging repertoire..I'm not the world's greatest poetry fan but her first (of three) offering here is almost a song, such is her delivery. I suppose you'd call her a performance artist because she makes no bones about changing her delivery to suit the piece. Thus we move from Ireland to Lancashire to Germany. her voice is (I hope I'm forgiven), almost overpowering at times, so raw an edge and deep tones does it often develop.. The material is eclectic (I don't like the word but needs must). And sometimes the switch of style and theme is almost overwhelming - in the pleasantest way of course. This is a clever lady who has no qualms about showing her feelings in both writing and performance; even on a studio session she manages an enviable degree of verve, seldom attained by many performers in a live set. She gives you no mercy as she makes point after point, sometimes with subtlety, sometimes almost threateningly. She deserves a lot from this CD but I suppose someone will ask 'where's the lurve songs?' and others 'where's the guitars?' and pass her by. They'll be wrong to do so for such are not needed here. - Doug Porter - Folk On Magazine - http://www.dougporter.freeserve.co.uk/

Cheshire based Charlotte Peters Rock is, according to the notes accompanying this intriguing CD, a performance poet and singer-songwriter who admits that folk song is a fairly new departure for her, although you'd never guess it from the confident performance she displays here..this is a very enjoyable and very varied album of unaccompanied songs and tales. - Jim Marshall - Editor - The Folk Diary - 180 - 5.11.99

Charlotte Peters Rock is a poet and songstress who was a regular performer on the town's (Bolton) acoustic circuit (brave lady) and has now gone on to bigger things, performing her work throughout the north west and beyond. There's some interesting material on here. If you see her live then you'll definitely want a copy of this album. - Alec Martin - Bolton Evening News - also of Buskers Ball - http://www.busker.freak.com/

Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
Exhibition photographs

Some Exhibition Work

2010-09-21T11:35:00.000-07:00

Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
CV & Review & Comment

Main site
Poetry site
Song site
Child Poems site
CV & Review & Comment

The Royal Charter - 1859

2009-05-10T11:18:00.000-07:00

Australia - back across the sea
The Royal Charter brought the people home
To Liverpool where they will always be
Remembered well although they didn’t come

One autumn night in 1859
A storm blew up - the worst that century
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay

Joe Rodgers swam to bring a line ashore
He fought the waves and rocks that dreadful day
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay

A bosun’s chair was rigged to save the lives
A human chain was paid out in the sea
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay

Just forty-one were rescued from the ship
Four hundred - near five hundred - died that day
The Royal Charter wrecked just off the coast
Near Dulas Bay and close to Red Wharf Bay

The Moelfre twenty-eight men were so brave
The Rector Steven Roose Hughes broke his heart
Recording all the ones they could not save
For relatives who waited at the port

The Royal Charter - full of lives and gold
In sight of land was wrecked by raging wave
The bodies washed ashore were dead and cold
Along the coast - with no more left to save (rpt)

Moral
Returning home from Goldfields in the south
Don’t sew the weight of gold in hem or seam
Shipwrecked you’ll drown as water fills your mouth
Your ‘rich return’ a thwarted distant dream

C 2002 Charlotte Peters Rock

2009 is the 150th Anniversary of the Royal Charter Storm, when numerous boats and ships were sunk on the night of 26th/26th October 1859. The Royal Charter ran aground on the rocks at Moelfre, on the north coast of Anglesey in North Wales. It was returning to Liverpool from the Goldfields of Australia. The Royal Charter was one of he most modern ships in the world when it was built on Deeside in 1854.
see:
Great Orme site click 'back' to return

MPs and expensive manure

2009-05-10T10:44:00.000-07:00

Become a politician
Buy the vote - stick in the pin
Trotters in the trough and snout in swill
Late Lordling with ambition
Taking all the public in
Ruling by corruption greed and skill

And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take

Shout loudly of sedition
Blame the rest and lie to win
Servant of the people – mainly you
Colluding with rendition
Cover-up in lies and spin
Keep your secrets out of public view

And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take

Line up – in competition
Public theft ‘is no great sin’
Change the law to make your theft ‘their will’
Creep silent round suspicion
‘Brass it out’ – take aim – begin
Blame the rest – and get in with your bill

And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take

Expensive recognition
Means you take on the chin
Trough and swill - and elevation too
Ermine-clad ‘patrician’
Still the cash – and still the gin
Now the right to trade your title too

And here’s the way to gobble up the truffle
And there’s the way to greedy-grasp the cake
Hope no-one understands – its no mere trifle
This murky long career is on the take

(Repeat for as long as you can return to office)
© Charlotte Peters Rock

Now think.. should I dance?

2007-11-20T15:42:00.000-08:00

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edinburgh accommodation

Col-Sgt P Humphreys CGC (Conspicuous Gallantry Cross - Bosnia 1995)

2007-11-14T10:19:00.000-08:00

Over the top it wasn’t
They never were down in a trench
Their Saxons were out in the open
And there was no place to re-trench

It’s a curious job - this policing
The whole population needs calm
To get on with strange-normal living
You’re there to see they take no harm
ch
Sgt Humphreys was out in Gorazde
Not fighting but keeping things calm
Patrolling around Vitkovici
Just there to see they took no harm
ch
The Bosnian snipers were killing
And stopping the peace and the calm
Three hours he fired straight into Serb guns
To see that their guns did no harm
ch
And that was the 20th of April
Vitkovici relaxed into calm
People got on with their living
And no-one came to any harm
ch
A village just west of Gorazde
Where fire shattered convoys and calm
Sgt Humphreys turned on a great fire shield
To keep the food convoy from harm
ch
Delivering women in labour
To hospital - safely - and calm
Sgt Humphreys - the Fusilier Policeman
Ensured that his men took no harm
ch
In presence of mind and aggression
In spirit and coolness and calm
Conspicuous Gallantry earned him
The Cross for ensuring no harm

Over the top it wasn’t
They never were down in a trench
Their Saxons were out in the open
And there was no place to re-trench

+ repeat last verse and chorus)

2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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PQ-17 to Murmansk - 1942

2007-11-14T10:11:00.000-08:00

In 1942 - in June - the merchant ships formed up
Loaded to the gunnels with their planes and guns and tanks
Enough to serve an army - 50,000 in the field
The PQ - 17 formed up in ranks

Fifty-six from Rekyavik - nine columns in the sea
Thirty-five were merchantmen - the rest their guardian fleet
Seven knots - or eight - with planes and u-boats looking on
Crossed QP - 13's returning beat

Air attacks were sinking ships too slow to fast-escape
Tirpitz out of Trondheim - thirty knots along the breeze
Admiral Pound - in London - over-ruled his naval staff
Ordered convoy-scatter to the seas

Merchantmen - with no defence - abandoned to their fate
Fanned to north and east - and south and east - to stay afloat
Aiming in to Russian ports or aiming out to ice
Targets in a duck-shoot - sunk by rote

Empire Byron, Carlton, Daniel Morgan, Honomu
Navarino, Bolton Castle, Paulus Potter sank
Earlston, Pankraft, River Afton, Samuel Chase as well
Zafaron and Fairfield City sank

Peter Kerr and Pan Atlantic and John Witherspoon
Alcoa Ranger, Olopana, Hartlebury too
Aldersdale the oiler, Empire Tide the CAM-ship sank
Hoosier and El Capitan and crew

All the Barents Sea was scattered with their life-boat men
Desperate men with frostbite and with death upon each mind
With no food and baling ocean - aiming in to land
Fearful of the day and what they'd find

Washington and high explosives - deck ablaze - was left
Gun crews in two lifeboats pulled for ten long days - or more
Waving off their would-be-rescue-ship they watched it sink
Rigged their sail and rowed to meet the shore

Ayrshire - armed for battle - herded three ships to the ice
Silver Sword, Ironclad and Troubadour the three she caught
Repainted white they blended in to skirt the Barents Sea
Stealthy - crept across the reach the port

Murmansk closed - Archangel aimed for - crossing the White Sea
Eleven battered ships made landfall - ports and rocks and bays
Stalin's greeting accusation - "Letting down the War"
Stopped the convoys til the Autumn days

Zamalek and Rathlin - Bellingham and Northern Gem
Ocean Freedom, Azerbaijan, made the port at last
Ben Harrison and Silver Sword, Ironclad and Troubadour
Winston Salem the last ship that passed

PQ - 17 a gallant group of ships and men
Paid the price for bad decisions - leaving them as prey
Took the deaths and took the blame for all their grand success
They helped to win the war in their own way

Latterly all men were honoured for their convoy-run
Gauntlet-run for years across the German ships and planes
When Murmansk - that Hero city - told what they had done
Honoured them for Soviet battle gains
(rpt each last line)

2001 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Forgotten People

2007-11-14T10:07:00.000-08:00

The storage rooms of Liverpool
The terraces and high rise places
Stock the people found alone in death

They're picked up two or three a month
From terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death

And no one here knows who they are
The terraces and high rise places
Hide the people found alone in death

No paper proof nor relative
In terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death

A batchelor A widower
In terraces and high rise places
Still the people found alone in death

And sometimes awkward spinsters lie
In terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death

Now spare a though for awkward ones
In terraces and high rise places
They're the people found alone in death

They're picked up two or three a month
From terraces and high rise places
Forgotten people found alone in death

2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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The Gander

2007-11-14T10:03:00.000-08:00

And the boys chase the gander
Out of time and far from home
And the boys chase the gander
In the green field (rpt)

They go to school in some strange land
And learn to speak the language
The language of the schoolyard
Rough-and-tumble
They go back to the old folks home
And watch the television
And sometimes it shows battles
Bombs and bloodshed
ch
At week-ends they are taken out
To Camelot and swimming
Where everyone is laughing
And not fleeing
They wonder when they'll go back home
They saw on television
That now have stopped the battles
Bombs and bloodshed
ch
They hear their parents talk at night
They know they must go back soon
Men with guns once made them walk
For their safety
And sometimes they have nightmares now
They watch the television
And play like boys from battles
Bombs and bloodshed

And the boys chase the gander
Out of time and far from home
And the boys chase the gander
In the green field (rpt x 3)

2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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2007-11-14T09:59:00.000-08:00

Survivor of The Wells Lifeboat Disaster - (when the lifeboat, Eliza Adams, was upset)
12th October 1880

Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet

Twenty-eight young orphans and ten widows
Were left to mourn the loss of those brave men
So now I tell you - Nothing marks their passing
And Wells will never see their like again

The bodies found still lie there in the churchyard
No monument commemorates their life
The whole town and their children need a solace
Each widow must be proud she was a wife

And I'm the one who's left alive to tell you
The one who left the sea - and still has breath
We need a monument to all these brave men
Whose bravery resulted in their death"

The photograph beside the old memorial
Shows Tom - a big old man who had his way
He raised the money for a new memorial
To honour them It still stands there today

Captain Thomas Kew - he wrote a letter
"Dear Friend, Eliza Adams was upset
Of thirteen men - just two of us were rescued
Will Bell died - but Tom Kew has not gone yet"

2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Lancashire's Pits - C1910

2007-11-14T09:52:00.000-08:00

A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha

Pretoria killt three undred men
An more an more in 1910
Pretoria kilt three undred men
I Lankisha
ch
Westhoughton's tremour moved the ground
An pit wives trembled at the sound
Westhoughton's tremour moved the ground
I Lankisha
ch
The Winter Solstice - shortest day
Became Westhoughton's longest day
The Winter Solstice - shortest day
I Lankisha
ch
The fust wun owt wuz fifteen years
Shawled wimin's eyes wur filled wi tears
The fust wun owt wuz fifteen years
I Lankisha
ch
The last wuz brought in March to ground
An wimin's grief wuz spread around
The last wuz brought in March to ground
I Lankisha
ch
Wun man fower suns wun wuman lost
Wen yew burn coal jus count the cost
Wun man fower suns wun wuman lost
I Lankisha

A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha
I Lankisha
A thousand men a year were killed
I Lankisha

2000 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Ritalin Johnnie

2007-11-14T09:47:00.000-08:00

He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
His head was always full of ideas
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
Now Johnnie doesn't run any more

Johnnie used to play his games alone
He counted toes and gurgled at the moon
He bounced around his dinner
And he set the world alight
He woke up every morning far too soon
ch
Johnnie used to run to feed the ducks
He ran into the water and he stood
He dribbled water all around
And made the puddles splash
Our Johnnie wasn't good at being good
ch
Johnnie didn't learn to share his toys
His trucks were rammed into the cupboard door
He always got excited when
The postman came to call
Now Johnnie doesn't see him any more
ch
Johnnie's doctor drugged him into calm
And no one else would dare to say him nay
'Professionals know what they do'
And teachers don't complain
When Johnnie's life is swept out of the way
ch
It's time to learn to cope with children's need
For life and dreams and flying in their head
They're singular and need to grow
In every way they can
Without their 'self' they might as well be dead.

He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
His head was always full of ideas
He was a bright lad little Johnnie
And he ran around the room
Now Johnnie doesn't run any more

2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Our Bloody Language

2007-11-14T09:44:00.000-08:00

Ah the Gaels all call it Derry
but we English won't play fair
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

Now we English had an Empire
It's jsut Ulster now that's left
An their city's Londonderry in our language
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

When the Vikings came to Derry
Their long seige was hard to fight
Then their second city flourished
Call it Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

An Sir Henry Dowcra gave it
To the London City men
As the Ulster-fat plantation Pride of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

Yes we stole their name of Derry
And imposed our London ways
We destroyed their Ulster Kingdom Captured Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

Ay our ethnic-clean plantation
Dispossessed their Gaelic Earls
Threw their native people groundwards Out of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

We moved in our English settlers
And our settling Scots as well
To remove all trace of Derry out of Derry
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

Ah the Gaels all call it Derry
It's as old as Longhand Lugh
And we English march across it with our language
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

Well we English lost our Empire
It's just Ulster now that's left
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered
An it's in our bloody language that it's altered

1998 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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RMS Leinster - October 1918

2007-11-14T09:34:00.000-08:00

When the greatest war was over
When the battle drums were worn
When capitulation rumbled
Then the dreadful deed was done

Out of Kingstown on the Irish Sea
Carrying the Royal Mail
Came the Leinster - ship of liberty
But her liberty was frail

Bright and early one October day
Nineteen-eighteen - steaming well
Passed the Ulster on her inward way
Just before the first blow fell

With no escort steamed the Leinster on
Filled to cross to Holyhead
Seven hundred souls and seventy-one
Troops and people - on she sped
ch
One torpedo struck her starboard aft
Struck the mail and killed the men
Leinster listed as her fragile craft
Lifeboats lowered down and then

People struggled to escape from her
She sank fast and violent
As the next torpedo finished her
Taking people - down she went

SOS her sister Ulster cried
SOS she's sinking fast
Seal and Mallard steamed up to her side
Desperate people breathed their last
ch
Leinster sank as little ships arrived
Helga - Sprightly joined to save
Two hundred people and fifty-six survived
Taken - battered - from the wave

Don't forget the Leinster and her crew
Don't forget the fusiliers
Captain Birch and Lizzie Healy too
Purser Rowlands and the years

Years of peace beyond the greatest war
Years of grief for Leinster's loss
For the loved ones who had gone before
For the ones who tried to cross
ch

2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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SS Waratah

2007-11-14T09:32:00.000-08:00

Out from Australia steamed SS Waratah
Cross the Pacific her stack belching smoke
Two hundred souls and eleven aboard her
Passenger travellers and sea-faring folk

Below Madagascar she steamed into Durban
SS Waratah of Blue Anchor Line
Over her smoke trail the gulls - in abandon
flew calling of jetsam at sea - mighty fine

Her captain one Josiah Ilberry shuddered
He said she was tender not stiff in the seas
When the waves hit her her stem-to-stern shuddered
She struggled to right herself struggled to please

The ship was in port for supply and more fuel
And people admiringly said she was grand
They had no fore-knowledge of how she would struggle
Where Argulies Current swept round Durban land

The Clan Macintyre - near the Bashee Coast - saw her
Bound out for Capetown then Britain she was
When the storm hit her it sank her and beat her
She fell down a hole in the ocean because

When the waves roar down the Mozambique Channel
Sixty-six foot waves rage right overhead
Sunk in the troughs are the holes in the ocean
SS Waratah lies all her souls dead

SS Waratah for Britain would never
pass where the Zora mouth pours to the sea
Think of her sailors and passengers ever
Lost to the Black Hole - sunk under the sea

2000 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Salacious Urban Fish

2007-11-14T09:28:00.000-08:00

'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
swum mainly in despair
and slutty underwear
collecting lies and scaring out the century

But Oh the fish
expected life was good
Yes the fish
connected to the universe (rpt)

'Salacious urban fish'is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
spreading mythic cashfrom credit driven stache
Acquiring fashion clashing dull accessory
ch
'Salacious urban fish'is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
mortgage pinned and tied
in freedom piscicide
out spent and underfunded his philosophy
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
culturally aware
self-serving and unfair
to any friendship other than a pleasantry
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
in silences he died
no fishes by his side
nor any who appliedfor his anatomy
ch
'Salacious urban fish'
is a tasty little dish
made mostly out of wishes to the contrary
Apply a curry sauce
its too late for remorse
eat up this fish descendent of the peasantry

But Oh the fish
expected life was good
Yes the fish
connected to the universe (rpt)

2006 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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The High Arctic

2007-11-14T09:24:00.000-08:00

Our ships are locked high in the Arctic
Our ships are locked high in the ice
Our ships are locked high in the Arctic
Now let me give you some advice

Don't sail the High Arctic for pleasure my lads
Don't come where the polar bear play
Don't sail the High Arctic for pleasure my lads
You'll wish you had all stayed away
Ye freeze to death earning your pay

Tall towers of ice in the Arctic
sweep spirally south in the flow
Tall towers of ice in the Arctic
and silent ice-death down below
ch
We worked through the ice on long warp-lines
We sawed through the ice-tongues to pass
We worked through the ice on long warp-lines
and ached for the southern green grass
ch
The snow blinds our eyes in its brightness
and wind-freeze takes all warmth away
The snow blinds our eyes in its brightness
There's no hope of pulling away
ch
With tack running low in the galley
the hunting men haven't returned
With tack running low in the galley
it seems all our boats have been burned
ch
I'll think of my Maudie forever
And how will my little ones be
I'll think of my Maudie forever
I wonder if she'll think of me
ch
The ships are two coffins half-buried
Dead sailors are froze to the decks
The ships are two coffins half-buried
Two High Arctic frozen ship wrecks
ch
You'll find us one year in these ice-tombs
one year when a sharp thaw sets in
You'll find us one year in these ice-tombs
The frozen ship wreck and its kin
(ch + last line of chorus is sung three timesthe last time ending on a long drawn out fr-ee-ee-ee-ee-ee-eeze)

1999 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Tales of Alfie

2007-11-14T09:20:00.000-08:00

Wen Alfie went te war the sed
Wid manage in the end
Te kip uz an ur childer fed
Wi wat wi ad te spend
An wi wur naicely off the sed
Wi jus ome faires te tend
But fires settled tuw a dullish red

My Alfie marched away te war
An nivver wonce luked back
Ah dunt know wot the tuke im for
Ees useless that's a fac
But Monty came an Monty sawer
An Monty felt the lack
Of opeless buggers id beind the duwer

So Afie wen tuw Egypt's land
Protectin yew an me
Ee sailed the sea an saw the sand
An let the Germans be
Ee played the trumpet in the band
An sat beneath a tree
An sent a letter sayin laife wuz grand

Then Alfie wen tuw Italy
An moaned abowt the sun
Ee add iz tea at alf past three
An nivver saw a gun
Ee wrote complainin bitterly
That laife wuz not much fun
An came ome lukin sort a soldierly

Since then eez worn iz onour
On iz ribbons in a row
Ee maight a bin a gonner
But - a man - ee ad te gow
Eez quaite the Prima Donna
Wen iz ead it settles low
Az drink teks ovver each tale iz a winner

My Alfie's nivver been a won
Te gi the truth a chance
Ee tells the bar iz latest con
Ee sez ee fought in France
An wen iz beer iz nearly gone
Eez in thur wi a chance
Wi all the tales of all the wars eez wun

Ah wudnt gi im up fur nowt
Ai ad five years a peace
An all mi kids live roun about
An wun of umz iz neice
Ee knowz she iz wiout a doubt
But watched iz traibe increase
My Alfie didn't wonce complain nur shout (rpt verse)

2004 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Waltzing with William

2007-11-14T09:16:00.000-08:00

I looked to the sky where my William had flown
I sighed because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won

The drone of the engines I counted them down
Relief in the grey light of dawn
And there was my William his great duty done
Home safe in my arms as my own

Then I was waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
Until that terrible day

I looked to the sky where my William had flown
I sighed because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won

The drone of the engines The crash of a plane
And grief in the grey light of dawn
And there lay my William his great duty done
Lost out of my arms as my own

No more I'd go waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
After that terrible day

I looked at the uniform he had outgrown
I cried because William had gone
Flown out in the night as I wandered alone
To wait until William had won

I picked up his tunic with sleeves hanging down
And stood in the grey light of dawn
I hugged William's tunic its great duty done
Now held in my own arms alone

Then I was waltzing with William
Waltzing the long night away
Waltzing the fear out with William
Until that terrible day

2003 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Alcock and Brown

2007-11-14T09:13:00.000-08:00

John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown
in nineteen-nineteen made a flight of renown
They flew Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland’s field
and landed in Galway their victory sealed

In sixteen short hours of thick fog and ice
These daring young fliers discarded advice
Brown - on the wing - scraped the height gauges clean
They flew up-side-down in their fog-bound machine

But Alcock saved both from a watery end
by great flying skill and great effort to send
two brave pioneers~ and their aircraft to fame
Atlantic sea crossed all ahead of the game

When Lindberg crossed later than Alcock and Brown
he landed in France and said - as he came down
The way was made clear by this Alcock and Brown
Now planes and not airships will cross with renown

When you fly the sky don’t forget who they were
They showed how the fly the Atlantic the pair
who flew more by instinct than certainty then
were British and proud and the finest of men

John William Alcock and Arthur Whitten-Brown
in nineteen-nineteen made a flight of renown
They flew Vickers Vimy from Newfoundland’s field
and landed in Galway their victory sealed

1999 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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Cranage Airmen - Defenders of Peace

2007-11-14T09:08:00.000-08:00

They flew over Liverpool
In clouds of smoke
And flowers of flame
They flew over Liverpool
To keep us safe
They played the game

But it was no game at all
Their lives floating high
Dying to save us all
They fell from the sky
ch
They came from across the earth
To win the world war
Showing what they were worth
Returning no more
ch
In Liverpool people saw
In gratitude there
Those men in their ariel war
To lift their despair
ch
But sixty years on who knows
Remembers their game
Their airfield is gone - who goes
To think of their name
ch
Those boys are all dead or old
Defences are down
Yet still all their gift was gold
Their bravery shown
ch
From Byley remember still
Young men in their prime
Winning by force of will
Remember their time

They flew over Liverpool
In clouds of smoke
And flowers of flame
They flew over Liverpool
To keep us safe
They played the game

2002 © Charlotte Peters Rock

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