Pictures of Bermondsey & Rotherhithe

MEMORIES OF A NOSE

Paul, please find attached a copy of a poem composed by a friend of mine that used to live in Bermondsey Street, back in the 1950's. His name is Tony Dobson, and I know he wouldn't mind me sending it to you for review. I thought you could have some fun with it by having people guess the names of the factories from where the odors came? Try it yourself, just to see if you can come up with a few old Bermondsey smells.

Best regards: Pat Long

Memories of a Nose

Roasting COFFEE exotic TEAS
carried on the river breeze

down cobbled stree and arches dim
imported WINES export GIN

PEPPERS, SPICE and LEATHER HIDE
on the South THE BERMONDSEY side

Where WILOW WOOD and SOUPS all mixed
were impregnated in the house's bricks

MALT from BARLEY HOPS from Kent
pungent VINEGAR from the chimneys vent

JAMS and CHOCOLATE fresh BISCUITS baked
aromas of far eastern DATES

PEPPERMINT, ANISEED, COCONUT sweets
drifting down the narrow streets

CUSTARD and JELLY did combine
with CORK and ROPE and SISAL TWINE

Copper vats of fresh brewed BEER
complete with GLUE upon the air

PERFUME for ladies wrist
CANADIAN CORN the millers grist

The grinding stones within the mills
The moaning grain upon the wheels

Ingredients born on wind and surf
from every corner of the EARTH

All brought together here by sea
To the factory
THAT ONCE WAS BERMONDSEY

Tony Dobson

Mum - Tony Moorcroft

I thought I would send you something I wrote when my Mum died.
The garden tree bit is a reference to the house where she was brought up in Ernest street / Cannon-Murnane road.
Hope you like it
Tony Moorcroft

To Mum

All the things that I could remember,

You could always remember much more.

Some things you told me were hard to believe,

Like the day you told me you saw the Thames freeze.

You used to tell me the old garden tree,

Is still standing there in Spa park.

But all I can see when I look that way now,

Are your memories of Bermondsey fading in the dark.

Sometimes I wonder if I would have liked,

To have lived the life of your times,

You saw the bombs, the smogs and the strikes.