Whun tha hale o Ulster gret

Scarce heard amid the guns below.

Ye micht think it gie an odd aboot mae stertin mae blethers wae tha weel kent wurds o John McCrae tha poet frae tha Graet War. Weel here is tha rayson o it a, hae bane boarn nigh seeventy year syne, whun A wus naethin mair wean A aye hard tha folk roon aboot taakin aboot tha battle o tha Somme that tane place on tha 1st o July 1916. Noo maist femelies in North Entrim an deed tha hale o Ulster forbye wud hae kent o sumboady wha had gein thaur life in thon slaughterin match. Mae ain granfeyther wus yin o the few wha made it baak frae Flanders fiels an tha mair he niver wud taak aboot it, whun A axted him what it wus lake he jest sed, ‘ Ye wudnae hae wanted tae hae bane there syn’. Noo A know that Ulster wusnae tha only place that sacrificed thaur young tae tha caase o freedom.

Alang wae tha 36th Ulster Division in tha furst war wur tha 16th Irish Division frae tha Free State. Mae granfeyther sed tha men frae tha Free State wur amang the best sodjers iver tae weer karky.Mann its odd tha wye folk kan come thagither in a time o war baith tae fecht an baith tae greive thagither. Aff coorse Ulster haes loast mony mair heroes since in tha Second War an in tha far aff killin fiels o Afghanistan at tha minute, naw tae menshun a tha guid men an weemen wha loast thaur lives in tha ‘troubles’.Onywye am rammelin a bit, but ye see July tae me is a time whun A aye mine that yins wha left hame frae tha humble hamesteads o Ulster tae gae aff tae fecht for freedom. Fredom’s naw free an dasnae cum chape an wae shud aye mine that. A hae had tha honour tae stan on tha hallowed grun at tha Ulster tower in France mair nir yince noo an luked ower Thieval Wud an mine ye it fair brings ye doon tae size whun see what these men dane for is. Wae shud niver allo oorsels tae forget for if wae forget oor past wae hae nae future.

Tha Poocher july 2013.