July 66 and of all places to be
You'll find us living in Germany
Date to all the English known
When football really did come home.
The World Cup's come to England
But we're abroad; a foreign land.
As everyone whose English knows
The Germans were our final foes.
We win the thing in extra time
A story I have told in rhyme.*
The best time in the Wickrath flats
But that's for now enough of that.
Alright for me; play out all day
But life in a flat; what can I say?
Margaret found it got her down.
We weren't on base but out in town.
There's other army families round
The flat's first floor not on the ground.
The girls are young to go play out
Sometimes Margaret wants to shout
Our German isn't very good
We barely speak it though we should.
'Fünf 'was Margaret's favourite word
It creased her up when it occurred.
We sometimes go to the German shops
But NAAFI if we want a lot.
There's a bus into Rheindahlen town
The biggest army base around.
We live in Wickrath around a year
When it's time to move, we shed no tear.
So now we are off to JHQ
And more of the story I'll tell you.
*The story of England's 1966 World Cup win - 'Summer of Sixty Six' was my original epic Wattpad poem and features more about our life in Wickrath.
'Fünf ' is German for 'five'. Mum just liked the sound.
NAAFI is Navy, Army and Air Force Institute. They run canteens for service families and shops for service families abroad.
JHQ stands for Joint Headquarters. Rheindahlen was Joint Headquarters for British Forces in Germany and NATO's Northern Army Group. It was a huge military base with 120,000 British, U.S. And Canadian troops and their families living there.
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Margaret's Story (Re-Release)
PoetryMargaret always talked about writing her story but could never get beyond the first chapter. Born illegitimately to a domestic servant in 1930s Brighton; the circumstances of her birth affected her whole life. Subject to emotional abuse from foster...
