"We Wunt Be Druv" - Sussex Poem & Motto

[RichardWSymonds]

Good luck Suey !
   
"Amberley is, in my view, the loveliest of all these villages...The village itself is small, but rich in thatched, half-timbered cottages, many of them bowered in roses during high summer" - John Cherrill

Photograph - "Amberley, on the River Arun, with its thatched and half-timbered cottages, has claims to be the loveliest of the villages - sheltering under the northern face of the South Downs"

(Source : "Sussex" by John Cherrill - in the book "The English Counties Illustrated" - Pages 81-85 - Editor : C.E.M. Joad - Odhams 1948. Reprint 1949. Revised 1957 -
 Flyleaf : "CEM Joad, a great lover of the English countryside, has acted throughout as Advisory Editor, and contributes the Foreword : "In short, to quote Sir Norman Birkett, there is 'an imperative and urgent need for the Lake District to be made forthwith a National Park'.
And not only the Lake District, but Dartmoor and Dovedale - and the New Forest and the South Downs...")

http://m.westsussextoday.co.uk/communit ... -1-3181227

“He (Joad) wrote many of his 100+ books from his ‘retreat’ at South Stoke Farm on the Arundel estate, until the end of the war (eg Teach Yourself Philosophy, 1944).

“Then, in 1946 until his death of cancer aged 61, he lived at Stedham West Sussex - from where he wrote his swansong, The Recovery of Belief - A Restatement of
Christian Philosophy (Faber & Faber, 1952).

Joad used to travel down from his London home (Hampstead) to Amberley Station, then walk to South Stoke Farm. He had a "kink" of not wanting to pay for his train ticket - which was to be his undoing in 1948.

Apparently, to avoid the ticket collector at Amberley Station, he would alight from the train, as it slowed right down approaching the station.

Many years ago, someone from Amberley telephoned me to inform me of the significance of Amberley & South Stoke - eternal thanks (I'm sorry I didn't take your name).

Up until the end of WW2, Joad had many 'mistresses' - some of which (according to the telephone caller) were 'put up' in Amberley, while he wrote his books at South Stoke Farm. One such mistress was a famous actress in her day, apparently.

So, the connection between Joad and Amberley was very strong - and he must have been very familiar with The Black Horse Pub.

[cati]

Amongst my collection of Goss crested china, I have a model of a Sussex pig, bearing the lines

"You can push
Or you can shove
But I'll be hanged
If I'll be druv"

which would seem to be related to this...

Cati

[RichardWSymonds]

This letter has been published in the West Sussex County Times today, Thursday June 28 2012 - thanks RootsChat.

Letter Submission To West Sussex County Times :

Dear Letters Editor

May I submit this poem (adapted version) in response to the threat of closure to The Black Horse, Amberley.
(The original version is displayed in the  Black Horse. All I have done is replaced "Sussex" with "Amberley")

Yours sincerely

Richard W. Symonds
The Cyril Joad Society
(& Sussex Festival of Philosophy Organiser)

We Wunt Be Druv" 
Motto & Poem of Sussex (adapted by Richard W. Symonds - "Ode To The Amberley Black Horse"

Some folks as comes to Amberley
They reckon as they knows
A darn sight better what to do
Then silly folks like me and you
Could possibly suppose
But them as comes to Amberley,
For Amberley will be Amberley
And Amberley won't be druv.

All folks as comes to Amberley
Must follow Amberley ways,
And when they've larned to know us well
There's no place else they's wish to dwell
In all their blessed days.
There ant no place like Amberley
Until you goos Above,
But Amberley will be Amberley 
And Amberley won't be druv.

[RichardWSymonds]

From : The Joad Archives - 2007

I have decided to press ahead with 'The Cyril Joad 54th Anniversary Ramblette' this Easter...

This 'Ramblette' will be called : "The Most Beautiful Walk In England" - which I think it is.

Starting from Amberley Station, we will follow the River Arun to North Stoke, and then walk to South Stoke - nestled deep in the South Downs near the majestic Arundel Castle.

This route from Amberley Station to South Stoke was well-trodden by Cyril Joad (1891-1953) - Writer, Philosopher, Broadcaster and Outcast. 'CEMJ' deeply loved this area, and wrote many of his 70+ books from South Stoke Farm...his last posthumous work of fiction "Folly Farm" was in fact South Stoke Farm - part of the Duke of Norfolk's Estate.

'CEMJ' died of cancer, aged 61, on 9th April 1953 - 5 months before I was born. In 2003, The South Stoke Festival of Thought marked the 50th Anniversary of his death - and I was privileged to be the organiser of that unforgettable event.

So, just after Easter (10 April 2007), there will be Cyril Joad's 54th Anniversary Ramblette...it is the least we can do for this ill-remembered man.

[John915]

Good evening,

You will find the poem "Sussex Wunt be Druv" and several more in the books of Barclay Wills. He spent many years travelling the highways and byways of Sussex gathering tales of the shepherds as well as poems and artifacts.

John915

[RichardWSymonds]

Thanks guys & gals :

http://m.wscountytimes.co.uk/community/your-letters/we-wunt-be-druv-1-4017088

This letter has been published in the West Sussex County Times today, Thursday June 28 2012 - thanks RootsChat.

Letter Submission To West Sussex County Times :

Dear Letters Editor

May I submit this poem (adapted version) in response to the threat of closure to The Black Horse, Amberley.
(The original version is displayed in the  Black Horse. All I have done is replaced "Sussex" with "Amberley")

Yours sincerely

Richard W. Symonds
The Cyril Joad Society
(& Sussex Festival of Philosophy Organiser)

We Wunt Be Druv" 
Motto & Poem of Sussex (adapted by Richard W. Symonds - "Ode To The Amberley Black Horse"

Some folks as comes to Amberley
They reckon as they knows
A darn sight better what to do
Then silly folks like me and you
Could possibly suppose
But them as comes to Amberley,
For Amberley will be Amberley
And Amberley won't be druv.

All folks as comes to Amberley
Must follow Amberley ways,
And when they've larned to know us well
There's no place else they's wish to dwell
In all their blessed days.
There ant no place like Amberley
Until you goos Above,
But Amberley will be Amberley 
And Amberley won't be druv.

[suey]

Letter Submission To West Sussex County Times :

Dear Letters Editor

May I submit this poem (adapted version) in response to the threat of closure to The Black Horse, Amberley.
(The original version is displayed in the  Black Horse. All I have done is replaced "Sussex" with "Amberley")

Yours sincerely

Richard W. Symonds
The Cyril Joad Society
(& Sussex Festival of Philosophy Organiser)

We Wunt Be Druv" 
Motto & Poem of Sussex (adapted by Richard W. Symonds - "Ode To The Amberley Black Horse"

Some folks as comes to Amberley
They reckon as they knows
A darn sight better what to do
Then silly folks like me and you
Could possibly suppose
But them as comes to Amberley,
For Amberley will be Amberley
And Amberley won't be druv.

All folks as comes to Amberley
Must follow Amberley ways,
And when they've larned to know us well
There's no place else they's wish to dwell
In all their blessed days.
There ant no place like Amberley
Until you goos Above,
But Amberley will be Amberley 
And Amberley won't be druv.

Whilst The Black Horse has now closed I have heard that it will, after much negotiation and a sustained campaign from local residents,  re-open under new ownership as a Pub/Restaurant.  Great news for locals and visitors to this one of the prettiest of the Downland Villages.

Suey