Ode toDoncaster

Oh Doncaster! You haven’t ever changed. You remain a familiar comfort, no matter how far I stray. Sometimes I think I miss you, but sometimes I know I don’t; you hold things that are dear to me and things I wont forget, you are where I learnt to walk and fall and to run to rise to flee. There will always be a part of you that finds itself in me. Is it my voice do you think? A slightly northern twang? Or is they way I hold myself like a Donny man?.

I’ve never once felt like that, I’m not quite part of the pack. The idea of staying lost in the same-ness of home was enough to make me not look back. As you have probably gathered we are no longer together, I went in search of new adventures but unfortunately no better weather. The rumours are true, like a Goose in wintertime I headed south.

Its different to what I’m used to, the lager here is pricier! You have no idea how much I miss my twenty pound one nighter’s. I miss the buzz of hall gate and the haze of sterling in the air; I miss those weekend pub shifts with bouncers everywhere; I miss the taxis-circling town just shy of four am; I miss the place I laid my head in order to see it all again.

Its funny the things we think of, when we think of home. I think of all the times I went swimming, mainly at the Dome. I remember days in frenchgate shopping centre going round and round, never really buying anything if its over five pound. We could go and ransack Primark and eat Cooplands for days and then we may head to down to Sandall park to smoke a little haze, you’d sit and pull out a rizla and give your mate a smile it really is the perfect place to forget for a little while.

I remember your schoolyards in my formative years; I was indeed different from the rest of peers. School was a white wash of people and ideals and I was constantly reminded of these differences and fears. I’ve heard people say “small towns breed small people” but I can’t agree, ignorance is a choice and the choice lies with you.

I’ve lived the very life you breath into us from the day we walk your streets, I’ve also seen the life you offer where some kids don’t eat. We can blame it on the system; we all know that that’s a joke. What’s not funny is a community that’s flat broke.

There are new additions to this town my dear and they are there for you to see, can’t you see those food banks on the high street? Fewer Bobbies on the beat. It’s saddening to read that were voted in the top ten of worst places to be.

You were a captain of industry and travel but we’ve let it be forgotten and now with all our Covid troubles it’ll be harder from the bottom. But I live in hope that some day we’ll prevail; and soon be toddling to the pub for a pint of ale. We’ll be back in the market square hunting for a deal and then too trusty Relish for a hearty meal! You’ll be back again in force, you Donny soldiers with your pride! You’ll bring mayhem to silver street with club stamps on your hands! With absolutely tons of time for Sunday dinner with your nan!

Community can make you better listen to it and serve it, start to pick at its foundations and you will unnerve it.