These writings came together as part of Liverpool’s Eurovision 2023 celebrations of Ukrainian culture. The Windows Project took part in this: Michelle Sakim and Judy Mazonowicz ran poetry workshops at the meeting places of two groups of people aged over 55 and one group of neurodiverse adults.

You can see the works on our Digital Window Gallery from 23 July – 23 August.

A Blast from The Past

I was born in a small, terraced house in Wavertree. It had three bedrooms and very basic amenities, an outside toilet and one cold tap. We had no electricity – for lighting we had gas mantles that would crumble if they were
knocked. We didn’t have a fridge or washing facilities. It was like a day out when we went to the Wash House one a week!

Another once a week event was on a Sunday evening sitting in a tin bath in front of the coal fire. There wasn’t a lot of money around, but our family of mother and father and the five girls were kept well fed and dressed nicely, although we didn’t have lots of clothes.

Everyone’s door was open in those days. Neighbours were very clannish – on summer evenings we would all sit outside at one or another’s houses drinking tea and having a good old “chin wag!”

Some neighbours were poorer that others. Perhaps they would have to borrow a carving knife on a Sunday to slice the joint of meat. Or others might need to borrow a needle and thread – they would pop in now and again. One young mother would borrow a lipstick on the rare occasion she was able to go out!

The only entertainment was the radio which had to be taken to a shop to have the accumulator topped up. Shopping was done daily due to lack of cold storge and milk was delivered daily.

It was a happy life – children played together, the older ones looking after the younger. If it was sunny, we would take ourselves off to Sefton Park with old pop bottles filled with water and a big paper bag with broken biscuits. If you were lucky you could find a bit of chocolate! We stayed out all day, coming home ready for our tea – tired out. We were sent to “The City Mission” on a Sunday, probably to give our parents a bit of peace. We would be given a picture to take home. In the summer the Mission would organise a day out to Woolton Park by coach. We were each given a cardboard box containing a sandwich, a cake, and a drink. This was the highlight of our day. All in all, everyone was in the same boat, no one being any better that another.

These are some of the highlights growing up in times gone by. I hope it is of interest to whoever reads this.

Joyce Granger

Home in the Heart

Years go by,
yet the scenery stays the same
inside my mind.
Home stays inside –
with changes…
as the family grows,
and grows up.
Home is the anchor,
to return
as life changes
through the seasons,
and years.
Home is always
a home –
warm in the heart.

Maria Garvey

It’s Fab Being Me

It’s fab being me –
so I am told.
I see things differently,
except the colour of gold.
“Gold! you are bright like the sun!”
She warms me and makes me smile.
“Get down here!” says Mum,
“And don’t be a while!”

Sam Jacobson

The Home

I live in a home
where fear has no place,
where flowers can bloom
and spiders make lace –
but if I lived in place
where nothing was safe
and everyday objects
were all over the place,
I might look for a tree
and try to fly like a bird,
build a nest for my family
where they couldn’t be heard.
Because noise can mean danger,
and Danger mean death.
I’m lucky to live in home
with no fear.
I wish for the world that
the future was clear
and home was a place for all
without sorrow or tears.

Jean MacDonald

The Family

Mysteries come and go,
memories last forever.
Individuals isolate,
families stay together.
Home is where our families dwell,
people live and love.
Through thick and thin they battle on,
and finish hand in glove.
There is an end,
love and peace will reign.
Though the journey is long,
it will start again.

Norman Griffiths

Home is Where the Heart is.

Home is very different now,
it’s in another place.
Now alas, there’s only me,
and I fill up the space.
In my old house a piano stood
and I practiced very well.
My mum, my teacher used to say,
“Try again” and “Again!”
But girls and football changed my mind.
A musician? – No, not me.
For all the practice that I did,
something else I had to be.
But now I’m old, and active less,
the one thing that I know,
home is where the heart is,
and that’s what I want to show!

Norman Griffiths

Nelly’s Story

I’m 92 and one of fifteen children mum had, which included one who died and a set of twins. Mum had nine boys before she had a girl.

We lived in Everton in the 1930s where families rented one room in a big house and brought their family up sleeping, eating, and living, in that room. Sometimes in the evening we would all sing around the very highly polished piano in the parlour.

Only one of my brothers learnt to play music on the piano and when he started work at fourteen, he bought an accordion.

After getting married he fathered seven boys and most of them grew to be self-taught musicians, sometimes playing together with a couple of my dad’s brothers. They played as a band, Uncle Eddy played the drums, someone else played the banjo, they all played and were all good musicians. Although they didn’t get paid, they were very popular, especially with the women!

None of my other brothers and sisters had music in their families, just the one.

Nelly

Thoughts on “Home” and the Piano

Home is where I live, with all my doubts and certainties;
where I’d love to play in instrument, but I can’t –
despite having to conduct the Liverpool Philharmonic at
ten.
I bought a piano for my great grandson, but he gave it
away.
I have heard him play – it’s rubbish.
My cleaner has a 6-year-old daughter who plays,
but I’ve never heard her.
I have offered her sweets, but her Mum says no.
Her mum looks after me.
I need looking after but I don’t trust enough.
My ego is way too big.
A young lady said to me “Do you like to help people?”
“Yes” I replied.
“Why do you deprive others of the privilege?” she asked.
Today I listen to music,
but I don’t press the “Help!” button for help
because my ego is large

Tom McGuiness

Away From Home

I visit Claire in Wales.
Claire is Rubie’s mum and
mother-in-law to Max!
She lives on the beach
and we like to take a long
walk in the soft sand.
Splishing and splashing in
the sea, watching the seagulls
fly high in the sky.
As we smell seashells on
the sea shore
This makes me happy …

Ashley

By the Sea

The water, the waves,
the beauty, the peace.
Time stands still.
Don’t want to go home –
it feels so good.
Everybody needs peace,
no everyday life.
We look for peace.
Peace, one day soon.
Home, our home.

Frank Gibbons

Circumstances Unforeseen

A very sad lady –
she has lost everything.
Her home, her family
and her country.
She has no hope,
and all hope has gone.
Will it ever return?
She is not the only one.
She looks fearful
and forlorn, because
her country is ‘war torn’.
I know just what she feels!
Sadness, grief, and loss.
I am losing my home
through circumstances unforeseen.
Two dearly loved brothers
quickly taken from me
by a horrible disease.
Only photographs and memories
now remain…
but not the people themselves.
Life doesn’t seem fair,
and so full of pain.

Ken Finley

Home Is…

Home is…
playing ball with my dog Chester in Calderstones Park…
listening to “The Wanted” in the garden…
roast beef dinner with the family with Jaxon and Jaden.
Mum is always there.
Mum makes it home.

Carrie Johnson

Health, home, loving…

Mum is loving care of me..
I am Mum and Dad
walking on the beach.
Walking on the beach of me.

Annabel Barlow

Closely Knit Pebbles

Sitting on a crowded bus,
open the windows I can feel the heat.
I can barely breathe in here –
so packed I can’t even see my feet.
We’re all closely knit pebbles on the sand,
all of us passengers on this land
Getting off and crossing over,
heading down the lane –
people walking in their droves
trying to shelter from the rain.
We’re all closely knit pebbles on the sand,
all of us passengers on this land.
Eurovision fever hits the city –
all kinds going on in town.
Liverpool’s, back on the map –
it’s worthwhile coming down.
We’re all closely knit pebbles on the sand,
all of us passengers on this land.

Smell hot doughnuts in the air,
the sun has now come out.
Music rocks out from the Euro village –
hear the people shout.
We’re all closely knit pebbles on the sand,
all of us passengers on the land.
The friendliest people in the world,
greatest place on earth to roam.
So proud of my city Liverpool –
glad to call it home.

Melanie Cavainger

Stones

My son married a girl
from Bogner Regis.
The beach has stones,
all different colours.
I collected them.
Put them in my pockets
until the sides of my cardigan hung low.
I held more in my arms,
till they ached.
We made patterns
in what sand there is
in that place.
Then took them home to my front garden.
We used the colours for a different pattern,
then cemented them in.

Nelly McDonald

Buildings

Two buildings could show Disney plays.
They have windows, signs,
with wood in front.
A rectangle of glass.
The shows could be anywhere,
I watch Disney shows at home –
with Auntie Jackie.

Paul Rigby

Mathew’s thing!!!

ACE place is my space –
this is where it all takes place.
Bringing me happiness, meeting new friends out and
about.
Diffing and weeding, mowing, planting and sowing.
Shining and glowing, to-ing and fro-ing, trees blowing in
the wind.
Birds feeding on the wing, that’s my thing.
My name’s Mathew… KERCHING!!!

Mathew

Life

Not too far and not to near –
I feel safe at home.
I love my friends –
I’ve known them all my life,
in school, at work
and all the way to ACE.
We make rocket plants, vans and planes.
Growing tomatoes, buttercups
and rhubarb sprouting over
the mushrooms smell like mustard.
The titanic planter waving the Union Jack.
It shouldn’t have been built in the first place!
Liverpool, my home.
I feel joy and happiness
living my life!!

Michael O’Hanlan

Looking at the Sea

Looking at the sea,
I think of windsurfers,
skimming stones,
ice cream and rock,
building sandcastles.
Home makes me happy
with my Mum
and falling asleep
to dream of angels,
football and cowboys.

Kevin Randles

Home at Last

New beginnings every day,
yet still we want to stay
with the old.
There’s lots…. Take the leap –
walking, singing, dancing,
playing an instrument,
travelling on a train or boat!
Somewhere you could act the goat!
Let your hair down without a frown,
then go with someone down the town!!

Carol King

The War in Ukraine

The buildings get blown to bits,
we will rebuild them.
So many people have fallen,
the world looks on and prays for us.
The world sings to us.
We fight for our people,
we fight for our land.
So many heroes have fallen,
the spirit of the dead are with us.
God holds our hands.
Yea, though I walk through the valley
of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me.
God bless us and keep us.

Frances Paul Gibbons

The Future

My home will soon be lost….
just a memory – that’s because
I must move on
to a brand-new chapter of my life.
Hopefully, no more anxiety and grief,
but a life full of happiness and belief
that the future can only be better,
because this is what I deserve.
I have been through a lot in
the last three years.
So much grief,
so many tears –
but here’s to the future,
whatever it brings.
Let’s hope it makes us all
start to sing!

Ken Finley

My Home is More

My home is more than
four walls and a roof.
My home is much bigger than that.
My anchor,
it changes with time,
yet stays the same.
It gives me a source of belonging –
different people, different faiths, different lives,
warm, funny, compassionate, welcoming –
an old friend.
In times of need or troubles
we all unite, support, laugh,
and cry together.
It fills me with pride to call
this place, my home
Liverpool!

Maria Garvey

Home

If home is where the heart is – where is my heart? Is it merely a muscle that has been imprisoned in a ribcage that in itself has been cut and ripped open – exposed for all the world to see, then knocked back together with staples to ensure it does not fall out and get lost. Is my home an orphanage where I am ostracised from my peers because of this and then excluded from my fellow orphans because race and/or religion. Where can I turn? Is my home my environment or my culture, where I am forced to see my family split up and separated to escape this bloody war? Where I am forced to see the horror, the bloodshed that should never be seen through the eyes of an innocent. What kind of a world would let us die? Would let us be taken by an enemy? Will we be tortured or just put to death? Has World War Two not shown us that “brother should love brother”? That one despot cannot rule the world. Has the last seventy-five years been all in vain?

Kath Doyle

Inner Home

Home is where I fall over –
is where I fantasize about walking
and having a relationship.
Home is the thirty-two years
with my wife –
she showed me
the only important thing
in life is love.
Home is where I die,
because I love,
which includes lying to myself.
Home is certainty, but –
life changes all the time.
As a very young man I
took a knife from an older boy –
it feels like my first step in
trying to save the world.
My life began when I started to –
care for me.
In finding me, I haven’t
succeeded yet, although –
If I have what you need,
I’ll give it to you,
If you have what I need,
I’ll take it.

Tom McGuiness

From workshops at
The Watch Factory, Prescot
Age Concern, Dale Street, Liverpool
The ACE Place, Belle Vale

Led by
Judy Mazonowicz
Michelle Sakim