'A Naughty boy from Rock Ferry' is a collection of comedy rhyme with particular relevance. It is in part,a background of my early life, set down in poetry/rhyme. This book continues my pursuit of comedy. Unlike other titles,you will find personal accounts of things from my past, long since committed to memory . The book also contains a selection of more thought provoking rhyme, and general comedy in the authors style.
Rock Ferry is a district of Birkenhead in Merseyside. In the early part of the last century, it was a gentlemans playground, providing all the trappings of a Victorian leisure area. Sadly, it has now succumbed to the need for social housing and transport routes. There is still enough of old Rock Ferry remaining to provide an insight into how great she once was.
"A Naughty Boy From Rock Ferry by Stephen J Stirk" Like the author, I too am 51 years old and occasionally I stretch my memory banks to recall some of those days of boisterous innocence of a preteen/young teenager in the late sixties. The difference between me and the author however, is that he has been able to recall much of this period in fine detail and to paint a superb account in this enjoyable mix of comic and serious rhyme and factual anecdotes. For Stephen Stirk, he grew up in Merseyside and this book concentrates on his early days around the area of Rock Ferry, the site of an erstwhile Victorian ferry service. Many of his poems are deadpan - almost dry and sometimes wry - recounts of local characters, alongside hilarious poetic anecdotes of his doings and adventures. Indeed the author put me at rest when he confesses to some of his dodgy activities - as when he and his fellow boy cubs made a personal pretty penny out of nicking lead and selling it to the local scrap... More > merchant – under the protective umbrella of bob-a-job, all aptly described in 'Scouting for Lead'. Even worse, joining the local church choir simply for an easy earner regardless of singing talent or respect for the church in 'The Wages of Sin.' Yes, it reminded me of some of my embarrassing deeds. Other hilarious accounts include my favourite, 'The Vicars Tipple' in which the vicar gradually gets hopelessly drunk through continuous sampling of the communion wine. Although the author assures the reader this last account was actually fictional, when you consider the number of churches in the UK, one does wonder if the poems may fall true for one or two? Many of Stephen's works take on a serious note – even when written in comic prose; for example, the stories of characters that simply can't hold down a job, as in 'Martin Phillips (Shelf Stacker)' or 'Owen Glyn Power.' Given that some of these poems require an appreciation of occasional terms that were quintessentially Britain in the sixties, he has included introductions to set the scene, or footnotes for terminology (such as defining the old coins of pre-decimal currency). Finally, the author includes unrelated pieces that offer temporary diversions before rejoining the main theme of Rock Ferry. Thus, I enjoyed Stephen's mulling over the differences between the orator and the writer in 'Speakers-v-Writers' and the excellent mickey-take on the Haiku in the page entitled 'A Lesson in Haiku.' All-in-all I thoroughly enjoyed this trip down Stephen Stirk's memory lane. The author has offered both light and serious depictions of his childhood for which many of us will be able to relate: I know I can.< Less
