Local Poem Competition 2007

Inspiration wins £1,000 for Marjorie in our "Home Town" competition 2007


A poem about village life has won £1,000 for a South Yorkshire woman in a free to enter annual competition.

But there’s an unusual story to why Marjorie Beachill wrote an inspirational poem about her home village of Wath on Dearne near Rotherham.

Marjorie has only just become a UK citizen. She was born and lived most of her life in Hawaii.

“I came to Wath nine years ago,” explained Marjorie. “A new man came into my life and because I loved him so much I travelled half way across the world to be with him.”

Marjorie and husband John, are happily settled in Wath. “I can look on Wath as someone who has been here for several years but also with the fresh eyes of an outsider,” explained Marjorie, who works for the NHS.

"I have been writing poetry, for most of my life, but this is the first time I have entered a competition. I saw a paragraph in my local newspaper and when I noticed that the competition was free to enter I told myself that I had nothing to lose and plenty to gain."

“Many thousands of poems were entered for the competition and it was a difficult choice in picking the £1,000 winner,” said Peter Quinn, Managing Director of United Press, who judged the competition.

“Marjorie’s poem stood out to me as being touching, affectionate, from the heart and very endearing. She obviously has fallen in love not just with John, but with the whole village.”


MY VILLAGE

If there’s one thing you’ll learn
From Wath-upon-Dearne
It’s just how a village should be.

You can take any path,
Queen of villages, Wath
England’s beauty is right here to see.

For what once was the goal
To mine enough coal
Built a people of vitality.

And now I look around
From my house to the town
And am glad to live here and be me.

For from Hadrian’s Wall
To the tip of Cornwall
I have travelled for many a day.

Round the world I have flown
Many villages known
But when asked I can honestly say.

I shall always return to Wath-upon-Dearne
To my village, my heart’s final stay.

Marjorie Beachill, Wath-upon-Dearne, South Yorkshire