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Barking, Essex

People knocking Barking, used to get me down,
Until I did some research, and was pleased with what I found,
-Elizabethan Eastbury House has garden: tea room and shop,
and there’s a chance it could have been the home of Guy’s gunpowder plot,
-Brian Poole of The Tremeloes, lived here and learned to sing,
and he’s not the only one, Billy Bragg and Vera Lynn,
-not to mention Bobby Moore, and Trevor Brooking to,
once England’s biggest fishing port, with a fleet called the Short Blue,
-Phil Jupitus, comedian also grew up here,
Tis where Captain Cooke was married, his fiancé young and fair,
There I have to leave it, one more thing to say,
William the Conquerer lived here, while building the Tower was underway!.


Martin P. Gregory  2013


Local Treasures

Barking, Dagenham, and Chadwell Heath may sound mundane it’s true,
But I have done some digging, what I have found may surprise you!,
-the first aerodrome factory in England, was in Barking near the Creek,
and at the abbey ruins long ago, the Conquerer did sleep,
Saint Margaret’s church so picturesque where Captain Cook did wed,
Beautiful stained glass windows, ("and yes, the roof still has its lead"!),
We’ve had David Essex, Dudley Moore, and Max Bygraves living local,
Millicent Martin and Sandie Shaw, with her ‘bare-footed’ vocals,
-Terry Venables, Martin Peters, Alf Ramsey, Barry Hearn,
and Hardie Amies, I’ve just learned,
has since become a Sir,
-kings and queens have visited,
Richard Attenborough, Stanley Baxter, Frank Bruno once lived locally,
"with one punch back then he’d mash you!",
And lastly Quaker, Elizabeth Fry is also buried here,
And I am signing off for now, hope this poem brings you cheer.

Martin P. Gregory 2013



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