Each night in my mosquito net

Quite a while since the sun went down

Cloaked in a gown of clinging sweat

I dream once more of my old hometown

Nottingham roads with their street lights

Outshine all India's glorious sights

No tropical flower, however rare

Smell as sweet as the scent of the Home Brewery air

Nor can any temple pagoda or pillar

Compare with the ageless Be-Ro villa

Tuneful more than the jungle birds call

Is the robin that chirps on the Be-Ro yard wall

While native wines, blended in curious ways

Wouldn't beat the ales served in The Grove or Five Ways

To that which falls on Oxclose Lane

No palm tree, continuously swaying in state

Can compare with the poplars at our garden gate

While no noise sounds sweeter to my ears

Than that when the Daybrook bus appears

Soon the time will come to cover every mile,

To a mother whose face I can see all the while

Although group seventy is still far away

Eventually I will come home to stay

Each night in my battered mosquito net

Quite a while since the sun has set

East or west the scenery will never compare

With that of my home in good old "Daybrook Square"

To Mam from your ever-loving son x

This poem was written by my brother Les when on his National Service with the RAF in India in 1945-47. Sadly passed away 1984.

BRIAN CUNNINGHAM

Arnold

Impossible, they said, for human beings

To put on boots that stood on blades of steel

Then step on sheets of ice and skate around

Or flop about on lakes, just like a seal.

But boys and girls liked danger, put on skates

For challenge was the thing that made them thrive

Young people risked their necks and broke their arms

Invented sayings like, "Skate on thin ice".

In fur coats, muffs and bonnets that were warm

Edwardian ladies dressed up nice and smart

Then skated round and round the frozen ponds

Whilst men sold heated chestnuts from a car.

Modern days brought skating-rinks and shows

Where glamour girls leapt round in scanty dress

Loud music, pantomimes and competitions

Where skaters sped around, under duress.

Then, something happened, dancing quite unique

From duo, skating like we'd never seen

Superb performance, finest in the world

Their names of course, Jayne Torvill and Chris Dean.

JOAN WALLACE

Abel Collin's Homes

Derby Road

Beeston

Google it! Google it! Is today's refrain.

Look in Wikipedia, it'll have the name

Of anything you need to know, download or to glean.

It can be drilled, it can be searched at the broadest broadband speeds.

You want to lose some hours and get absorbed in what you do?

Then log on and get online for the net is there for you.

Just ask Jeeves or Yahoo, MSN tells all,

News, views, all to amuse – you will be enthralled!

Social networking is now the thing, when raising one's profile,

Connecting friends old and new, through cyber space and time.

So blog it, post it, share it, on Myspace, Facebook and Flickr,

On LinkedIn, YouTube, Bebo, and not forgetting Twitter.

JOSEPHINE STONLEY

Wollaton