Number 117, Hollycombe

Hollycombe.

Back at school I was just now;

No instructions as to how,

To do a workshop, as they say,

(So in reality just play!)

The Winter Class at Hollycombe,

Twenty seven in the room!

What a scary thing to do,

But luckily I knew a few!

I had a book under my arm,

Which gave me pleasure and alarm…!

Three children yelled ‘Roald Dahl are you?’

'You're Johnnie’s Dad!’ some shouted too!

I told them that I’d love to be,

Roald Dahl but no; that is not me!

'Charlie knows me, he was right,

But like Roald Dahl, I try to write'.

Three more faces whom I knew;

Saskia, Emma, Amy too,

So what I did, one at a time,

Was ask each person for a rhyme.

'Let’s see what rhymes we make today;

The children’s names in class we’ll say,

And maybe then we’ll add some pets,

You never know where all this gets'.

'Perhaps we’ll find a boy called Jake,

And maybe someone has a snake,

I’m sure that many have a cat,

Or mice or fish or things like that'.

'But there are other things that rhyme,

Like children who just love to climb;

I’ll bet we have a few of those,

And someone with a runny nose!'

Well, there wasn’t anyone called Jake,

But Saskia’s dad does have a snake,

Lots of them had cats or mice,

And most of them thought dogs were nice.

I asked each one to write their names,

And then we’d play some little games,

As one by one they had a try,

To find the words to rhyme them by.

Someone asked me did I know,

The meaning of her name, it’s Beau!

While someone else was busily

Explaining she was Cicely.

Next up Joao was writing Wow!

While Emma drew a lovely cow,

We tried to find a rhyme for Emma,

Which left us all in a dilemma!

There was nothing very silly,

About the rhyme we found for Lili;

All the class wanted to tell her

What they’d found for Arabella!

Then we thought for Ella-Jane

The same we’d have to tell again!

Meanwhile at the board was Lizzie,

(Everyone was keeping busy!)

Ben was keen, he didn’t wait,

And drew a lovely self portrait,

While Spider-Pig was just the thing,

Inspiring my friend Charlie King.

We all wondered what would Chloe

Write, and then saw she put 'Snowy'

On the board and squeezed it in,

Next to little Sam Dolphin.

I couldn’t find a rhyme for Ruby

She did though, a fan of Scooby,

And everybody yelled out ‘Juicy!’

When it came to rhyming Lucy!

Now I may have quite forgot,

Some of them; (there were a lot),

So may I say how sad we be,

To Toby, Matthew and Hebe

These were three we couldn’t rhyme;

We’ll have to try another time,

We all worked hard, we did our best,

And now let’s try and do the rest:

William; Tell the other Sam,

Just how sorry that I am;

That I was very nearly ready,

To finish with no sign of Freddie!

That leaves Nathan, and Emile,

And there is someone else I feel;

Sebastian was it, or Elize?

It leaves a feeling of unease.

I don’t want to leave one out;

There’s one forgotten, come on shout…

Whose name is it now I wonder?

I think I know, it’s Alexander!

Phew!

© Stephen Saunders

Pictures coming!