1st Prize (visit for two to the Weald & Downland Living Museum) Emma Richards’ Memories of Centurion Way text and some lovely photos.
“Thoughts of Centurion Way
I used to walk home along the Centurion Way from my secondary school (Bishop Luffa) and cycle along it with my family and friends. After being cooped up in school for an entire day, it was my personal bliss to be able to get out into the countryside for a little while and to soak up the sun and sit on the bridge over the stream at Whitehouse Farm (sadly the bridge has now gone and the stream has been straightened out).
Although I always had a foreboding that Whitehouse Farm would be built on, I never imagined that this part of the Centurion Way would no longer exist. Like most people, I only try to capture images of that which is transient, what one might lose. Photos are memories. But they are no replacement for the Real Thing”
Emma Richards”
2nd Prize (On Your Bike book of cycle ways in Sussex) Poem by Tony Wheatley
CENTURION WAY
(Part of Chichester’s historic, rural, pedestrian and cycle path, built on a former railway track, is threatened with re-direction because of a proposed housing development.)
Centurion Way, Centurion Way,
Clanging of armour along the highway.
Centurion Way, Centurion Way,
Echoes of steam engines making headway.
Free as the air now on two wheels or legs
We fresh-faced pilgrims seek nature’s nest eggs.
And though we are free from the sounds of the past,
Kindred spirits of old round us still are cast.
For happy and healthy and safe is the Way
As our bodies and minds and our spirits portray.
Freedom is fun both for young and for old,
We’re transported through history both known and untold.
In fine Devil’s Ditch and Brandy Hole Copse,
From their sturdy oaks and sweet chestnut tops,
Our earthly angels flap their wings,
Blackcaps chirrup while a blackbird sings.
O’er gorse and honeysuckle bloom
Fritillaries float and twist and zoom.
Painted ladies hold their sway
Dancing and diving in stark display.
Here ancient warriors fought our cause
As did our lads against Nazi hordes
We build another entrenchment now —
In battle, we Brits do not kowtow.
This peaceful path, protect, preserve
And future generations serve.
Put soles in the footprints of yesterday
And boldly march the Centurion Way
Tony Wheatley
Limmer Crib, Nyton Road, Aldingbourne
Chichester, West Sussex P020 6TX
Tel: 01243 543811
tony@whea.co.uk