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Help us make a Poem for Swindon that highlights the town’s achievements and glories, uncovers its curiosities and culture, and celebrates its people and places.

We want you to provide lines and inspiration for the poem – which will be curated by performance poet Sara-Jane Arbury at a workshop you can go along to. More details are on the .

To inspire you, 成人论坛 Wiltshire will broadcast a famous poem daily, throughout the Swindon Spring Festival, read by actors from .

A Poem for Swindon will be performed, celebrated, and broadcast on 成人论坛 Wiltshire.

To submit your ideas and lines for the poem – email wiltshire@bbc.co.uk

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Standing in Lawn Woods at dawn,
We’re as high as the rise of the hill,
Pick up the houses, shops, tower blocks
With your fingers, it’s magic, just magic

What can you see?
Park South, Lawn Manor Academy,
Five windmills at Adam’s Farm – where? Over there!
A picture postcard wishing you were here…

GOOD MORNING, SWINDON!
Give a thumbs-up to the sun!
Peeping through, shining new light on buildings,
From the Cotswolds in the North,
To the Wiltshire Downs in the South,
We’re the centre of everywhere! Sing out!

Sunlight dapples grass with shining sparkles,
Do you see the trees happily smiling at us?
This is one of those lovely places in Swindon
Where you can spot the sun on the horizon,
Magical, unusual for a town,
Let’s follow the voices down…

Community spirit is not just people,
It’s the wildlife, flora, fauna and all,
Musings from muddy fields and more,
Town gardens, our pattern of parks,
Mannington Rec, Queen’s, Lydiard,
Bathing, Boating, Fishing, Teas,
The home of Richard Jefferies at Coate Water,
A rainbow over to Lower Shaw Farm,
Swindon is a poem written with green fingers.

This western town may not be Bath,
Or a Bristoling maritime place,
But Swindon has a massive heart,
Its people, its contented face,
There’s friendship around every corner,
Local characters playing their part,
Beating a rhythm with open arms,
WELCOME! WELCOME!

Welcome refuses borders; it is sunlight,
Making you, me, us, feel at home,
Marhabaan, Sastriakal,
Mauya, Borha muray!
City of Sanctuary, The Harbour Project,
Rebuilding lives in Swindon life,
A family to every individual

Swindon expands thither and yonder,
From railways to radio to Nationwide,
So let’s hop on board a train of thought
And speed along Brunel’s famous tracks,
Hear the rhythms clatter and clack:

Historical Swindon, historical Swindon,
Fast and slow, fast and slow,
Carrying passengers long ago,
Been and gone, been and gone,
Never forgotten, never forgotten,
The songs of railways in the old days,
Sights, sounds, smells, STEAM!

The imagination station for Great Western Rail,
Old times are restored and chug along,
Chuffer trains, puffer trains, huffing off,

Leaving soot prints, smoke marks, streams of steam,
Drifting like ghosts in the air,
Swindon is great with old and new inventions, it's true,
And there’s always more to discover…
Swindonians wear top-hats so we can tell
They’re all descendants of Kingdom Brunel!

O Swindon,
Did you know there were trains passing by where you live?
Did you know the Outlet Village was once an inspiring train factory?
Did you know you can pick apples from trees by the filled-in canal,
Grown from cores thrown by redundant railway workers?

Now we ride along the track to another rhythm:
Great Western Rail to mountain bike trail,
Keeps the good folk of Swindon hearty and hail!

Let the old walls of Swindon tell their story,
Once firm and steadfast in former glory,
The Mechanics Institute, proud and strong,
Now cloaked in neglect and degradation,
The Institute was Swindon’s pride,
Paid for by those who worked inside,
It had a theatre, many a show,
But all that sadly had to go,
The people’s building is falling down,
Once the feather in Swindon’s crown,
Come on everyone, in heritage we trust,
Don’t let the Mechanics fall to dust!

Voices fill our scrapbook, chronicle the times,
Immediate, conversational, join-in-able,
Words waved on placards by the wavy waterfall
For Saturday shoppers to stop and observe

Outstanding Swindon, you’re a learning curve,
A graduate town, a city in waiting,
A thumb-shaped print on the Wiltshire map,
Lapped by runners in the half-marathon,
The Outlet Village, Wichelstowe,
Pipers Way, Commercial Road,
We’re proud to race through the town,
The crowds make us feel like heroes!

Even vehicles exercise in the borough of Swindon,
The Robins roar on revved up bikes at Blunsdon,
And cars drive in circles around the bends,
Where beginnings never reach their ends…
No horses, no bells, not a carousel,
But the Magic Roundabout don't half work well!

Twisting, turning, people pushing by,
It’s a game of chance, a car dance, the Swindon groove,
Speeding unsuspecting visitors through – make your move! 

Shall we go for a drive to Drove Primary School
And hear the pupils play in their poetry word-pool?
Swindon is as friendly as penguins
Swindon is as dazzling as a Swan Ballerina
Swindon is as beautiful as a parrot
Swindon is as shiny as a new watch
Swindon is as huge as a giraffe's neck
Swindon is as busy as a bee
Swindon is as nice as my home country

Tucked in the curved arm of the Ridgeway,
Looking to Cotswold Edge,
An oasis of culture and creativity,
With over a hundred languages spoken,
Swindon, an island in a sea of green,
Changing, re-arranging,
From a day back agone
To the present and beyond,
Swindon, we’re proud to call you HOME.

Composed and curated by Sara-Jane Arbury, using words, lines and phrases contributed by the people of Swindon to 成人论坛 Radio Wiltshire, Prime Theatre and Sara-Jane.