In My Life

‘Before Abbey Road There Was Teme Street’ is account of the visit by the Beatles to the small country town of Tenbury Wells in April 1963 but it is more than that, it is also an account of “the places I remember, some have gone and some remain”

In opening remarks, I seemingly diminish my hometown by writing

“You see, I come from a place of no significance, a town of no importance at the end of a valley no one knows in a county ill remembered.”

But my purpose is to counterpose my home with rock n roll, to heighten the sense of surprise that people feel when they are told of this signal event.

My point in all this is not to denigrate my home, one of the most awesome and alluring, alluvial, agricultural areas anywhere.

My point is, instead, to ask why I am. Why I am, who I am and what possible influences could have shaped me, my friends and my generation. In searching for these answers, one year is more important than any other, one month of that year is pre-eminent, within that month, one day, and within that day, one event; an event I didn’t attend

In Lennon’s delightful reflective song written in autumn 1965, two years after the visit to Tenbury Wells, and just prior to the final UK tour which was to conclude in Cardiff on 12th December, he finally has the space and time to look back.

There are places I'll remember

All my life though some have changed

Some forever, not for better

Some have gone and some remain

The cattle market opposite the Bridge Hotel was an important feature in the economy of the town for many year, bringing farmers and livestock to the centre of town and filling the shops(and pubs) each Tuesday and Thursday. I would occasionally be paid by the auctioneer to drive cattle or sheep into the ring and back to their holding pen. The market was built on the site of the Tenbury Union Workhouse (1837 – 1929) and in its turn, in another sign of the times, it in its turn was replaced by ‘Tenbury Wells Tesco superstore’ in 2017. Some forever, not for better? You decide.

All these places have their moments

With lovers and friends, I still can recall

Lennon wrote these lines aged 24 and they are recent and vivid. The curious thing for me is that I am now 71 years old, I left Tenbury Wells to go to university in 1969 and yet my memories of places, lovers and friends (some are dead, some are living) are as vivid and cherished as they ever were.

Lennon returned to this theme two years later in a much more complex reminiscence in the song Strawberry Fields. By now influenced by psychedelic drugs, Lennon takes us down to Strawberry Fields, a children’s home behind his childhood home that had been run by the Salvation Army. The lyrics are dreamy and imprecise

Nothing is real

And nothing to get hung about

Living is easy with eyes closed,

Misunderstanding all you see

The words are tentative and obscure – dreamlike but powerfully evocative.

When discussing one of the signature crops of my childhood home I write:

As a small child I did a season of hop tying with my mother. It was a pungent, vivid experience of sights and smells and freedom. To this day the wafted aroma of methylated spirits fires a synapse to recall a memory of a spirit kettle brewing tea in a hop yard in the 1950s.

Reflection is a powerful tool for self-awareness whereas nostalgia can be an indulgence.

‘In My Life’ concludes with

Though I know I'll never lose affection

For people and things that went before

I know I'll often stop and think about them

In my life I love you more

In so doing he returns us to now, his current reality and an affirmation of his current love

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