What a wonderful sunny weekend it was! Particular thanks to Litton Parish Council, Christ Church Litton, Litton Methodist Church, Millers Dale and District WI, Friends of Litton Village, The Old Hall Hotel Hope, Cressbrook Band, Litton Band, Chapel en Le Frith Morris Men, Tideswell Singers, Litton School Choir, Litton Village Hall and all the villagers for all that was done to make it such a happy, communal event.
Derbyshire’s Poet Laureate, Helen Mort, was commissioned to write a poem. It’s about Miss Penfold who, in 1938, donated the field behind the church in memory of those who died in WW1. Several people asked for a copy of it and here it is.
I Give You This Land in memory of Maud Penfold
And so I give you this land, the way you’d hold open a door or offer someone else your hand. I give you this land for play, which means I give you time itself, the close-kept summer days. I give you this land in memory of men who went from Litton to the war, who rose and fell and rose in bravery. It doesn’t matter who I was – this land is in your name, not mine. I’m in the ground and light and frost. I’m in the map. I’m every line.