William Thompson : Low Country Poet : Poems from 1916

About the Book

Ballyfrench townland, County Down, is the most easterly point in Northern Ireland. Thompsons have lived there for generations.

When William Thompson was a wee boy, his oldest brother Robert went to sea. A few years later, in 1911, Robert drowned in an accident at Gloucester Dock in England. He was just 20 years old, and William was only 9. It had a devastating impact upon the family. A local man wrote a memorial poem about Robert which was framed and hung on the wall in the family home. But the family were poor and Robert's body was never brought back home to Ulster. He is buried in Tredworth Road Cemetery, Gloucester.

Then in 1916, a distant relative - James Thompson - was killed at the Battle of the Somme. So William, aged just 15, wrote a memorial poem which was also printed up and framed, and was given to James' family.

And so it went on. William wrote hundreds of poems which were published in local newspapers. But the most lasting legacy of his poetry was that he went door-to-door around the Ards Peninsula, selling small booklets of his poems for sixpence each. The money he raised was donated to the RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution), and helped to fund the new local lifeboat at Cloughey. William knew the sorrow of losing a loved one at sea - he wanted to do what he could to prevent others going through the same pain.

So the book is a family memorial to William and his poetry, and also a fundraiser for the RNLI. It's how William would have wanted it. Make sure you get a copy!

Monday, 17 March 2008

Three of the original booklets

Here are the scanned covers of three of William's poetry booklets, which he sold door-to-door around the Ards Peninsula to raise money for the Cloughey lifeboat. These were kindly donated by Bertie Kelly of Portavogie who had kept them since he was a boy.

Monday, 10 March 2008

The Book is Launched!

Pic of Glen and me, with Emma Gibson, Fundraising Manager of RNLI and two of the Donaghadee lifeboat crew. Simon from Harrison Photography took this shot a few Fridays ago.

This will be sent to the press later this week, so keep an eye on the local papers!

We're also sending a free copy to every school on the Peninsula - hopefully some of them might run a lifeboat-related competition, which the RNLI have agreed to help with and judge.

Wednesday, 5 March 2008

The Book's on Blue Peter!

BBC TV were in touch with Glen a few weeks ago for copyright permission to read extracts from the book on the tv show. It's already on Blue Peter presenter Andy Akinwolere's 4th March 08 video blog entry! Click here to see the short clip - it even mentions Glen's kids Lucy and Evan - it was them that sent the book to Blue Peter in the first place!

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