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Writer's pictureMark Bird

The Old Rec. of Uttoxeter - a poem about childhood playgrounds and parks

Updated: Jul 2, 2023

We all have that place, that only we know. The Old Rec. in Uttoxeter was that place for so many of us from town where we learned how to be citizens of the future. It was our teeth-cutting playground - usually a place of wonder. Sometimes not.


So, I've written a simple list poem, in no particular order, of memories that refuse to vacate my head whenever I think of my childhood playground.


This is a poem for the people of #Uttoxeter past and present; a poem about the playgrounds of childhood


As they say: You had to be there!

The Old Rec.


The old big slide

The backy ride

The bumpy slope

The screams of hope


The witches hat

The hungry gnats

The fishing nets

The wellies wet


The sticklebacks

The mossy cracks

The minnow catch

The seconds snatched


The rolling hills

The daffodils

The daisy chains

The grassy stains


The legs off ground

The Stoke train bound

The secrets told

The green and gold


The Lido’s yells

The distant bells

The jump-off swings

The lovesick flings


The climbing frame

The rounders game

The prickly hedge

The winter’s sledge


The waterfall

The old school hall

The cows in streams

The long lost dreams

The stagnant pond

The broken bond

The inner tube

The Rubik’s cube


The nuddy mag

The lads that brag

The shelter gone

The did that’s done


The Poohsticks race

The toothy face

The moment’s tick

The names that stick


The paddling feet

The summer’s heat

The balls in tights

The bats at night


The pigeon’s coo

The feeling blue

The bonfire night

The graveyard fright


The tightrope bar

The first seen star

The rope swing tree

The scabby knee


The place we knew

The days we grew

The childhood trek

In our old rec.


Mark Bird


The waterfall on the Old Rec.
Bramshall Road Park, Uttoxeter: The Old Rec.

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