Hopeman – Isa Aitkinhead (nee Young)

Give me back my childhood days
The Hopeman beaches where I played
How fortunate to reminisce
In precious bliss

The thundering noise of the Clochin Pow
In my ears I hear it now
The Sheepies Loch, the Pot and Pan
And half a mile of golden sand

The isolated black Perstock
A curious and majestic rock
Careful not to slip and slide
Into the holes where partans hide

Along the beach we’d play for hours
At the Daisy Rock with its purple flowers
Happy days with the sand and sea
The magical memory that place holds for me

Thirteen steps from the lookout tower
White heather blooms in a tiny bower
Sweet water springs at the old Braemou
And fresh and cool as the morning due.

The tranquil Café Mouie bay
Was where our precious shellies lay
Caress the shingle with your hand
Revelled the gems like magic wand

The house where we lived just yards from the sea
So the call of the sea was there at the door
A wonderful freedom was there for the taking
And contented childhood in the making

The warm summer sun and the healthy sea air
Gave us tropical tans and salty bleached hair
To the waters edge, we were drawn like a magnet
And begged to be left till we saw the sun set.

A trip to the town was met with a fuss
No big cities or shop for us
Content with our lot, so happy and carefree
In our little paradise down by the sea.

The Sunday walk to Primrose Bay
And the wild rose bush on the Preshach Brae
The Gow’s Castle with its old rugged face
Where the screaming gows would fight for a place.

Racing across the Parpet Wa
Without any fear of the sea at all
Dangling over the pier with a hook and line
Not knowing or caring the day or time.

I’m here at my desk on a hot summer day
No wonder my mind sometimes wanders away
My spirit is there at the lonely Braemou
With my dookers, a piece and my joogie o’ bru.

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Comments

  1. Elma Main ( nee McPherson)  May 15, 2016

    This poem was written by Isa aitkenhead (nee young) , formerly of 7.cooper St..now living in Elgin. So reminiscent of my own childhood. Thank you Isa for these wonderful memories.!

    reply
    • John McPherson  May 27, 2016

      Hi Elma
      many thanks for this update and I really do not know where I got the poem and hope that Isa will not mind it being posted…
      John McPherson

      reply
    • Jill Kelly  October 10, 2020

      Sounds exactly as my mother described it as a child. She described long summer Holliday days spent at Hopeman. My mother , Chrissie Love, lived at Crosslots Farm Duffus with her brother Samuel Love. Sadly Samuel perished after a fall from the cliffs at Primrose bay in 1944.

      reply

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