Gathering Places
(tanka sequence)
Reada’s people, settling
in this valley where
the Cunnit’s waters join
forces with the Temes’,
call their town Readingum
the Saxons who settle
on the southside hill
cut down trees and burn them
by the score: spreading piles of
wood ash, they whiten the soil
the Conqueror’s men
on their fact-finding mish
come to Witelei
to weigh-up its worth and record
it in the Book of Domesday
monks seeking refreshment
come up to Witelei to taste
the waters from its springs:
as it is to their liking
they pipe it to their Abbey
wisely, Whitley growers
plant their crops around
the fresh-water springs
then harvest them to sell
at markets in Reading town
around those Spring Gardens
Victorians build terraces of
houses for people:
shops, pubs and Mission Hall
for their needs and pleasure
where the roads from Town,
Whitley Wood and Shinfield meet
Mister Blandy installs
his spring-water pump with
triple spouts and triple troughs
outgrowing the Mission Hall
Wesleyans build another
but bigger:
Whitley Hall Methodist Church
where, praising God, they gather
it was a sad time when
Whitley Pump was demolished
and the triangle
disappeared to make way
for the roundabout
it was patronised by
many working horses:
the triangle itself
with its several lime trees
and circular metal seats
such a popular
meeting point for many of
the older locals:
being used for public meetings
particularly at election times
first of the post-pump era,
we four-five-year-olds climb
Whitley Hall’s back stairs to
Sunday School in the billiard room:
we are the new Beginners . . .
~
Geoffrey Winch
In her book The Top of Whitley (Reading: Corridor Press, 2002) Daphne Barnes-Phillips details much of the history of the Spring Gardens area and Whitley Hall Methodist Church. The italicized passage in ‘Gathering Places’ is a paraphrase (in tanka form) of part of Bob Cooper’s memories as recorded by Daphne. Now retired, Geoffrey Winch lives in West Sussex. He was, however, born in Reading in 1943; educated at George Palmer Junior and Stoneham Grammar schools. He left the town in 1965. His poetry has been widely published in journals and anthologies mainly in the UK, US and online. His most recent pamphlet collection is Encounters with Oscar and Other Sequences (QQ Press, 2024), and his next full collection Reading: Around the Town of My Geneses is due to be published by the Corridor Press in 2026. He can be contacted at geoffreywinch@gmail.com