Farmers Weekly have been running a competition to find the best poem about the lonely welly. The poem was in support of National Welly Week, which is just one of hundreds of initiatives going on during Welly Week, a nationwide event raising funds for the Royal Agricultural Benevolent Institution.The winner, as chosen by Author, Pam Ayres, was Maggie Chaplin. Maggie's winning Poem goes like this:
Farmer Tustian's welly has walked for countless miles,
Squelched through muddy gateways and clambered over stiles
It's been polished by the morning dew and clarted up with dung,
And up till now its merits have largely gone unsung.
It's pushed the spade and turned the sod, heeled in the winter kale.
It's climbed the hill and scaled the fence or lingered in the vale.
On shingle nearly lost its grip and slithered on the brash,
Been stiff with cold and slick with oil or caked in bonfire ash.
It's been streaked with grease at shearing, splashed with herbicidal spray
And doused with disinfectant to keep FMD away.
It's trampled dock and thistle and scuffed the autumn leaves,
Stamped on irksome molehills, been trodden on by thieves.
It's paced both recent furrow and swathes of new-mown hay
And cracked the ice on puddles on a frosty winter's day.
It seemed this life was endless till its partner split its sole
And was no longer watertight so had no useful role.
The worthless boot was thrown away, but what then of its mate?
Its walking days were finished. It had another fate.
The farmer's trusty welly now no longer shields his tread,
Transported by an engine, it sheathes tractor parts instead.
Well done Maggie!
FRED
