Abingworth Hall

By Joy Hedges

What more could you want than Abingworth Hall,
Where a very warm welcome is given to all,
By Heather, the manager, who learns all our names,
She even kills wasps and plays other games!
The staff are so friendly and helpful at each
Scrumptious meal. The chef could teach
A few things to Jamie and Stein, whose cuisine
Is far way beyond that of mine!

If you like music you cannot go wrong:
The 20-strong choir sings all day long.
David conducts the verse ’’con brio’’,
With Christopher makes a brilliant duo.
Christopher plays with sensitive skill,
In tune with David, yet laughing still.
The music is lovely to learn and not hard,
It’s ‘’always there for you’’ writes Rutter the bard.
‘’Elijah’’ has treats long forgotten by me,
Such treasures these arias again to see.
‘’The Lord watching over Israel’’
Gets voted by most as ‘’Go forth and tell’’.
To sing with Chopin is pure delight,
And ‘’Ave Verum’’ reaches spiritual height.

The walks divide into easy and hard,
Led by David and Bryan with watchful regard.
Their humour is catching, their knowledge is great
Of history and landscape; there’s time to wait
And enjoy wild flowers or meditate
On ‘’earth’s wonders, its live willed things’’
That surround us, unheeded till we grow wings
To fly from our prisons in towns or at work,
Where we forget such pleasures and shirk
From singing and walking and swimming each day
But HF provides these in a wonderful way.

The concert on Wednesday‘s surprisingly good:
David Hilder recounts the pitfalls that could
Afflict us old fogies when memories fail
And we can’t find objects we leave in a trail!

The grandest finale there could be
Is Matthew and Chris playing harmony
On two pianos at full throttle both,
Awaking the audience from any sloth.

You can see from this tale I’m thrilled to be here,
And hope to meet up with you all next year!