The Betjeman Society was established in 1988 to advance the appreciation of the work of the poet, writer, broadcaster and conservationist Sir John Betjeman (1906-84).
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Can anyone please supply Sir John’s verses ‘Wantage Bells’, a copy of which is said to have been left with the church, as I cannot find any in print?
I can’t supply the words of Wantage Bells, but some Betjeman fans might like a little verse written by J.B. at the request of the late Rev’d H.R.T. Brandreth, the last Vicar of St Saviour’s, Aberdeen Park. As far as I know it was never published, unless in a parish leaflet or something like it.
Hurrah, hurrah, for old Aberdeen Park
May the light of its windows shine out in the dark
As the perfume of incense holiness yields
On those wide Evangelical Highbury Fields
I have checked and Wantage Bells is is the Collected Poems on page 208, unless there is another Wantage poem.