Gibberz Creations

Accessories for your Xmas elf

The Channel Threat

I am writing this explanation of my piece in order to explain to those who do not know that we do, in fact, have both a Clandestine Channel Threat Commander and a Minister for Immigration Compliance. The Dept. for the Salubriosness of Great Britannia was of my own making. Sounds good though. It is also the case that I did not have a clue what I was doing when I first started this blog. That includes the need to give a background to my articles. I have also made a few changes to this article. Please enjoy.

Dan O’Mahoney, you’re the CCTC:
A Marine brought in to guard our seas,
Against marauding bands of life jacketed savages
Who “our green and pleasant lands” would ravage.

Danny, get on your “chariot of fire”
and unleash Britannia’s superior force,
To repel the mighty Armada of the foe,
Paddling over in their tiny boats.

Hail Clandestine Channel Threat Commander,
Get your act together, please do not dander.
Fetch your “bow of burning gold”
But be sure you point it straight and bold.

Your country needs a steady hand,
Our perspicacious Government agrees
That your fight on the beaches of our lands,
Will save us from those Herculean miscreants.

We know that the Ministry for Immigration Compliance,
Will always be there for a handy alliance,
With our Clandestine Channel Threat Commander
And the Department for the salubriousness of Great Britannia.

Shirley Gibson 30.09.2020 copyright

Craftwork by Gibberz Creations

Baby Layette

Poppy Day 2020

As red as the blood spilt on battlefields,
The poppy It’s tale to tell,
Of the young ones lying so far from home,
Freed now from their living hell.

There’s no marching feet and wheelchair spin,
The Cenotaph to salute,
But we’ll remember in our hearts,
Those other marching boots.

So many young ones in their youthful zest,
Signed with their crosses on the line,
Who would’ve known they’d die, tied to a post,
Their light extinguished, no more to shine.

Some lie secretly underground,
The tunnel their muddied resting place,
After the walls crumbled into dust,
And they were claimed by Mother Earth’s embrace.

We remember the young who served on land, sea and sky
For their country to retain its pride,
But, through their role in our narrative,
Too many of them paid the price.

The poppy fields of no man’s land,
Hold testament to the stories,
Of comradeship and unbroken bonds,
In our country’s pursuit of glory.

Yes, we remember their sacrifice
And, in our ongoing plight,
We turn to the young once again,
To help us to fight this fight.

But the young will survive this time,
And, when they do,
There will be poppies abounding,
And life will renew.

Shirley Gibson 28.10.2020

Xmas from Gibberz Creations.

Christmas table runner with matching place mats, wall hangings also Lola’s first Xmas blanket and Advent calendars. Not to forget the reindeer food

More Xmas Goodies

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Xmas Fair

As there will not be any arts and craft fairs this year, Wendy has set up a virtual event.
check her Facebook page for other Xmas treats Gibberz Creations.

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Reindeer glitter is edible

“SAMBO”

If you drive along the road from Overton to Heysham, Lancashire you will come to the Village of Sunderland Point, a small village which consists of a row of Georgian houses looking out over an estuary; a sanctuary for many seabirds. The road leading into the village is flooded twice a day at high tide so beware. Sunderland Point was also a prominent port for ships trading in sugar and tobacco particularly those ships that were too big to traverse the narrow waterway leading to the larger Port of Lancaster

If you take a short walk out of the village along a lane overgrown with blackberry bushes and trees, you reach a green field where you will find the grave of a young black slave who was named “Sambo”. It is said that he came to Sunderland Point from the West Indies in 1736 on board his Master’s ship where he served as a cabin boy. “Sambo” was left there when his Master sailed off on a smaller boat to Lancaster on business.

While his Master was away, “Sambo” died. One theory is that he was so stricken by his Master’s abandonment of him that he died of a broken heart. Another is that he wasted away and died from an illness against which he had no immunity. It is said that he died in Upsteps Cottage, No1 The Lane.  It is not known whether or not his Master eventually came back for him. I suppose that the whole truth is now lost in the mists of time

“Sambo” or “Samboo” [As stated on his grave stone] was buried in open windswept land looking out towards the Irish Sea. Soon word spread about this little grave in unconsecrated ground and people started to visit the village looking for it.

One such visitor was the Reverend James Watson, a retired headmaster from Lancaster who visited the site in 1795. He was so taken by the stories about “Sambo” that he proceeded to collect money for a plaque upon which he had a poem that he had written engraved.

James’ brother, William Watson, was actually a prominent Lancaster slave trader making the epitaph written by James on Sambo’s headstone all the more compelling :

Full sixty years the angry winter’s wave,
Has thundering dashed this bleak and barren shore,
Since Sambo’s head laid in this lonely grave,
Lies still and ne’er will hear their turmoil more.

Full many a Sand-bird chirps upon the Sod
And many a moonlight Elfin round him trips

Full many a Summer’s Sunbeam warms the Clod
And many a teeming cloud upon him drips.

But still he sleeps — till the awakening Sounds
Of the Archangel’s Trump new life impart

Then the GREAT JUDGE his approbation founds
Not on man’s COLOR but his worth of heart

The Reverend James Watson’s verse on the grave was written in 1796, and can still be seen. The content is a forerunner of Martin Luther King’s famous oration in 1963:

“I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the colour of their skin but by the content of their character.”

To Tricia

There’s the tree now.

She sees a beautiful silver sheen on the blackness of the Tay
A tree stands up in silhouette as if pointing the way
For Tricia running along with zest
Her heart a pounding in her chest

In the distance the dolphins leap
Gliding and diving into the deep
Watched over by the gulls who call out
Their musical murmurs clearer than shouts

Does their freedom mock our solitude
Or are we the mockers with no excuse
Who thought the world was ours to use
But our beautiful land we did abuse

The spring is here and black birds nest
The cherry blossoms flower
They speak of the fleeting nature of life
Love, sorrow and power

So thanks to Mother Nature for this cheer
And welcoming us as guests
Now we must use our power
To give back what was lent
Shirley Costello Gibson 04.04.2020 copyright

Wendy’s Fairy shoe

Gibberz Creations