Jack Williamson
1926 – 2007
Jack was born and lived all his life in the small Cheshire town of Wilmslow, where he worked for the building firm “Browns” as had his father before him.
He was the youngest child and only son of Sidney and Margaret (nee Worth). He had three older sisters: Annie, the eldest (his half-sister, the daughter of Sidney’s first wife who died shortly after the birth), Lucy and Ena. He never married but his sisters provided him with nine nephews and nieces, all who thought the world of him.
Jack was a private, home-loving man with many and varied interests, ranging from geology, through wood-carving, canal cruising, sailing and of course walking in the countryside. Best of all he enjoyed the companionship of a quiet pint or two with his mates. He had a good sense of humour and could tell a good tale. He enjoyed the simple things of life and his tales were of the natural humour and native dialect of “home”.
Jack would be one of the first to admit that he was not highly educated and by modern standards he would be regarded as dyslexic. Despite this he read avidly throughout his adult life, with a particular love of poetry, and this is what lead him to try his hand at writing poetry himself.
Nobody, least of all Jack himself, would claim his poems are masterpieces but there are many gems amongst this small body of work, which is all that was found after his death. I can’t help wondering how many poems have been lost or thrown away.
By his own statement the theme of his poetry is often nostalgia for times past and a yearning for a simpler way of life.
The poems will be posted on the Blog in no particular order. Many of his poems are undated but those for which we have an approximate date will be included in chronological order, with the others interspersed between them.
Who am I?
I am Jack’s niece, the youngest daughter of Ena who was the youngest of his three sisters. My family and friends know me as Libby; but this Blog is not about me – it is about Jack, my Uncle.