A Tribute to Clarke Hall

Today 11 members of YTYT performed at the closing meeting of The Friends of Clarke Hall.  It was a sad occasion, such a wonderful resource gone…but it was an honour to be asked to be part of it and a privilege to be given the chance to reflect on all that Clarke Hall had offered Wakefield during it’s rich history as a place where children and families could engage in history in an entirely unique way.  What the next chapter is for the building of Clarke Hall remains to be seen but at least we feel like we had a part in celebrating it’s legacy…and the tireless work of those people who helped to bring it to life…

As it was a private performance I thought you might like to read an extract of the words in the performance.  It includes a sonnet I wrote for the occasion, because as everyone who was in or saw our performance of “Vision,” or has listened to Stephen Fry’s opinion on the matter, knows, “When other writing is too long, or too short, or too heavy, or too light…a sonnet is always just right…”  

“Our job is important and we carry it out with care.  We collect stories, precious memories, flights of fancy, tales of adventures, legends of love and loss.  We pluck them from the minds of the young, the dreams of the grown and the memories of the old.  We glean them from the places they’ve lived and visited.  Where they’ve celebrated, commiserated, loved, lost, reflected and retired.  Some minds are more fertile than others.  Some places are richer than others.

Childhood is a time of mem’ry making

A time of innocence, discov’ry too

In youth we’re not afraid of questioning

The things we’re told we must believe are true

A place that inspires us to make discov’ries

Is a golden gift of learning to be treasured

New knowledge is engraved in us forever

Profits that can’t be exactly measured

Sometimes we’re far too young to know the value

Of what’s bestowed upon us as we go

In time we come to realise what due

Is owed to what ignites desire to grow

By all the children young and old that visited

Clarke Hall will be for all time surely cherished”