Roy Stannard's Blog

When you think you know it all, ask the next question

Childhood

  • Always, my Friend

    A friendship that is never tested Because there is no cross examination. Where the beginning Is also the end. Always, my friend. Read more

  • When your child has a child

    ..the grand pursuit of the heart of La Grande Bellaza in the cradle of civilisation like turning out of an alley and finding light in the piazza.. Read more

  • Who Is Like God?

      Who is like God? Love was the father and love the mother. You arrived in December, anticipating another Christmas A reward in yourself rather than a present A pilgrimage more than a journey Because we cannot find love in ourselves Only with another And you were the purest love The world of love in Read more

  • Do It Yourself Celebrity

    Last Friday 29th July I went to the Holmbush Centre at Shoreham to help my old friend and radio colleague Patrick Souiljaert man (person?) a stand at the entrance to Tesco there. He has written an autobiography in microscopic detail about the challenges of his life as a person with Cerebral Palsy. He was starved Read more

  • For Now

    Before the world became a serious business Because before you were a mother You were a little girl A wisp of a person Without a care in the world Read more

  • Is this the bravest book ever written?

    This may be the bravest book ever written. Why? Firstly, because in physical terms it took Patrick the best part of two years laboriously typing 700 words a day with his left index finger. Secondly, the subject matter is raw, honest and occasionally self-deprecating. His account of a visit to an unfeeling, heartless prostitute, his… Read more

  • Moment

    Moment   There was a New York moment An ice-splinter in a sheet of sunlight When without the aid of smart devices Using dumb mind trails and heartstrings We managed to connect Like two sparrowhawks circling the Downs Two wayfaring strangers caught in eye contact A brother and a sister separated at the orphanage The Read more

  • Southend Pier – still standing, but not standing still.

    When I was a boy I spent hours upon hours on Southend Pier, walking its length, feeling its girth, teasing its claim to be the longest in the world at 1.25 miles.  Its slot machine alleys whispered to me alluringly. Cheap, trashy items like tin rings and shoddy pen knives (that I would have left Read more

  • The tracks that changed my life

    I recently took part in a pilot with Patrick Woodward called Memory Box that my sister-in-law Lynne (Angel) Kerr is initiating in which you pick your nine most influential tracks from childhood to the present day – which is then recorded as a kind of podcast and copied onto CD. You can hear the resulting… Read more

  • The end of the Pier doesn’t mean the end of the road

    Out of 55 remaining piers in the UK only six are offering traditional Summer seaside entertainment. One of those is Worthing. The end of the pier show has been part of the English seaside landscape for as long as Punch has been altercating with Judy and candyfloss has been blown away by stiff north easterly… Read more