The new year dawns on fresh creativity. I have joined up to support my local preservation railway. Chasewater is a lovely line – a couple of miles of standard gauge colliery railway that runs regular services at weekends and midweek. There’s two brilliant little tea rooms, a G-scale layout and a shop, and some wonderful bits and pieces of railway history.
In the shed at Brownhills West there’s also a museum comprehensively maintained and catalogued by devoted volunteers. They have memorabilia from local and national rail of all ages.
My plan for 2026 is to create some art from this. I’d love to explore some of the themes of preservation – salvage and restoration. I want to play with words and music and possibly write some new songs. So I began with a simple poem drawn from ideas I’ve been toying with for a few months since the Santa Trains in November when I stood on the platform and played carols with some friends from Beacon Community Church.
So here it is – my very first poem of 2026. With sincere hopes that your year is bright and prosperous, and that I can add to this soon.
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