Page 14 - link magazine

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A tough job choosing winners So BRIEFLY FREE Js^
By David Watkins, from Stratton St Margaret
BBC Wiltshire Sound presenter Shirley Ludford writes
Lots of entries. The security blanket of darkness falls. they gaze at the statue.
She throws aside her parasol. A He asks the question he has asked
Lots of excellent
girlish giggle as she crouches and countless times before, `why do we
local talent! The
leaps into the air, floating through spend what little freedom we have
first opportunity for
the tree foliage and onto the roof of sitting here?'
readers to write for
the Market Hall where she cartwheels She replies as she always has, 'be-
TheLinkandforra- up the slope to perch on the first cause we have to.' She smiles at him,
dio has been a re- peak. The burden lifted from his `and because we want to.'
sounding success. shoulders, he joins her, both balanc- He accepts her answer yet again.
With only a ing on the spire, feeling like acrobats Too soon the blanket of darkness
'Swindon setting' in once more. begins to lift and both feel the inevi-
A moment, then they float over to table tug on their souls.
400 words as the
common link, the the peak at the other end of the mar- The journey back is no less swift,
ket and slide down to land, laughing, but much less fun.
subjects varied
Two of the winners receive their prizes from Mary on Commercial Road. They then He steps up onto the ball, sullen,
from childhood
Matthews, manager of sponsors Waterstones Books and run, and jump, cheering, cartwheeling As she floats past him, she gives him
memories to the Shirley Ludford. Steve Deeley, left, and David Watkins down Curtis Street. Almost in a blur, one last kiss. Then she settles once
changing face of
they find themselves in West Swin- more atop his shoulders.
the town to early days of Old Town, the days of steam, holidays, family don, gambolling over the roof of the Morning comes and their prison's
matters and unrequited love. Many of the entries, which came from all over Link Centre and finally approaching grasps holds them firm. With an
the town, are worthy of publication, but like in all competitions there are the MGM Cinema. There before inward sigh she remembers their lot.
winners to announce. them stands `Diana Dors - Film Star', The long fall had killed them both.
I shall enjoy recording the winning three entries as much as the other the bronze statue erected to the The light had beckoned but they had
judges and I enjoyed reading them. You can hear them broadcast on BBC memory of one of Swindon's most refused to walk into it. Why should
famous, best loved and much missed they! They had been having so much
Wiltshire Sound on Saturday 5 August, between 1pm and 2pm.
daughters. fun in life.
It has been a pleasure working in association with The Link and also
They settle themselves, appearing Now, they were forever fated to
linking the competition to Swindon's Festival of Literature through its co-
to sit, on the low brick wall surround- spend the daylight hours trapped
ordinator Matt Holland who was one of the judges.
ing the statue: "Diana Dors. Film within the monstrosity of a statue
Well done to all contributors - keep writing! And for those readers who
Star 1931 to 1984," she says out loud, erected in their honour, with only the
thought about it but didn't get round to entering.., watch this space! night to ease their burden.
echoing the words etched into the
plaque beneath the statue's right arm. `Oh ... please ... Come Back The
Talking, laughing, holding hands, Light!'
THE HISTORY LESSON 2nd
By Steve Deeley from Peatmoor LOOKING BACK 3z^?
Grandpa entered without knocking cut and welded, handling the heavy By Melanie Hussey from St Andrew's Ridge
and threw the curtains open. Late gas tanks as though he was eighteen It had been the new homes advertise- runners fell off the
morning sunlight streamed in. rather than eighty. I scraped and ment popping up from behind the path in a drunken
"Enough lying in bed moping, lad," sanded and prodded ineptly, always hedgerow that ruined it. I had been stupor or climbed
he said. "Isn't going to solve any- under supervision, always getting it walking through the long meadow all over each other
thing. I've got work you can help me wrong. Time and again the fragile grass, the sun warm on my arms, a in a state of inebri-
with." metal crumbled beneath my clumsi- cool breeze in my hair. Skylarks ated delirium.
The space beside me in the bed ness. In the end I threw my sander soared into the sky warbling up as We would feed ants breadcrumbs
was deserted and cold. I tried to down. far as the eye could see, and it had to watch them carry the food back to
remember the reasons, but all I could "Oh for God's sake! What the hell brought back so many memories. the colony under the paving slabs.
remember now were harsh words. I is the point of all this?" Swindon had been a village then And we would run across
felt tears coming again. Grandpa "You give up too easily," retorted in the 70s compared to what it was Mannington Rec when it was windy
snorted. Grandpa. "On everything." now. As children we had walked for flying giant kites, or looking for my
"What? You think you're the only He kept me at it every day for four miles besides shallow brooks and uncle's remote controlled model
one to have lost someone you loved?" months. Grandpa with fifty years' traced the paths of old railway lines. plane that invariably crashed. Child-
I stayed silent. Grandpa had loved experience at Churchward, showed There were hours of fascination in hood was a time of relentless discov-
one woman for the best part of forty me how to cut away the old metal and the metamorphosis of spawn to baby ery of our own environment and we
years, then lived another fifteen with- weld in new. frog, caterpillar to butterfly. We wondered just how far we could go...
out her. But I doubted that he had my Slowly, we gained a rhythm, he would watch baby starlings squab- www.swindonasitoncewas.com
feelings of angry betrayal. and I. I sanded, and Grandpa filled. bling over the last scraps of pork had just brought it all back, a virtual
"I'll wait in the car," he said, un- I primed, and Grandpa painted. Then crackling on the bird table and run reality site that showed you it all
sympathetically. suddenly the day came when it was up the lane for black jacks and fruit before the bulldozers. It had been
Grandpa drove in silent disap- finished. They pressure tested the salads. No ceaseless cravings for the wonderful until the sponsor had timed
proval. I had no idea where we were boiler, and she didn't blow. Our job Designer Outlet, we would watch in a dialogue box to tell you about the
going until he turned into the yard at was done. our uncle making fishing weights, latest development. Well, what a
Blunsdon and I saw the rusting hulks "I'm amazed," I said, and I was. "I pouring the gleaming molten metal hypocrite I was to feel so sorry that it
that used to be steam engines. wouldn't have believed it possible to into clay moulds. had all been transformed into those
I groaned. "I don't want to do patch that wreck up." We would dig red wriggling comfortable new houses, one of
this." Grandpa handed me a mobile worms out of the compost heap ob- which I had bought myself, and from
"Got something more important to phone with a determined look in his served by an astute and patient robin. which I could now watch those me-
do have we?," he inquired sarcasti- eye. It was already ringing Jane's We would fill up jars of butterflies chanical diggers chewing up real field
cally. I had no answer. number. that fluttered and bounced until our after real field! I switched off and
We set to work on part of a tank "Trim out the bad stuff and patch exasperated elders released them. got into the car - knowing how far I
engine's boiler, decayed to a delicate the holes," he said, "And you'll be We would have snail races on nan's could go was to the nearest traffic
lacework of rusted metal. Grandpa surprised what you can achieve." fermenting homebrew until the front jam on Cricklade Road.