Tree tops poet’s thoughts

ALL alone . . . the tree captured in the photo exhibition

Primrose Bank inspires Elaine

A PHOTOGRAPH of a lone tree at Primrose Bank so impressed Rochdale poet Elaine Wolfe that she composed some of her verses in tribute.

Elaine was looking at images by Peter Walker, now on show at Gallery Oldham.

Primrose Bank is the most prominent of five Gateways to Oldham housing sites across the borough, being transformed with £130 million worth of Government funding.

Peter, a former Primrose Bank resident, was commissioned by the Gateways to Oldham and Housing Market Renewal teams to record the demolition of flats and maisonettes, and the changes in the district, before new homes are built.

Elaine (65), a former office worker and home carer, and now a member of an arts group, said: “I like composing rhymes, but I have not had the confidence to have my work published. However, I was particularly struck by this photo of the tree.”

Elaine’s poem, now alongside the images and which documents the life of the tree, and what has happened around it, concludes:

“It is summer time now, I am at my best, my foliage I proudly display.

“But I miss the people who lived here, people who have now gone away.

“Primrose Bank flats have been flattened now, I am hoping that I will remain,

“Because when I see these photos of me I feel proud to share this domain.”

The exhibition runs at Gallery Oldham until June 6.