Document 636

Dipper: 24 - Tribute to W.H.T.Inglis

Author(s): John Reid

Copyright holder(s): John Reid

To W.H.T. Inglis, Esq., O.P.A., M.A., B.A., F.E.I.S., Director of Education for Ayrshire, on the occasion of his retirement, December 1968.

'Nae man can tether time or tide' -
Sae warned the Bard whase words, wi pride,
Ye've praised an quoted faur an wide
Doun through the years.
An nou, Authority ye lay aside
- But no wi tears!

Regrets ye'll hae, I dinna doot,
As desks an drawers are cleared oot
An books an letters bring their fruit
Frae Memory's store
Recaain mony an effort stoot,
An mony a splore.

For there maun aye be ups an douns
An even dominies in their gouns
Are no withoot their frets an frouns
An tirrivees.
An then ye've had the sichts - an souns
- o committees!

A trauchled road it whiles has been,
But, luikin backwards ower the scene
O schules the day an schules yestreen
Ye can be prood,
For Ayrshire stauns, an will remain,
Abune the crood.

Whiles special ploys ye hae promoted.
For Broomlee Camps ye hae been noted.
Oor Summer Schules hae aft been voted
'Mang Scotland's best.
Tae France ower stormy seas ye've stotted,
An stood the test.

Braw letters staun ahint yer name.
Nearhaun a dizzen mark your fame
In scholars' ranks, wi three that came
Wi French embraces,
But friens ye've made by scores, at hame
An ither places.

As ane wha's watched ye mak your mark
Since first we met at Arrowe Park,
I'd like tae wish ye, free o cark,
Lang years on pension,
For weel ye've earned frae further wark
A clear abstention.

Time nou tae bool - enjoy a book -
Ye've granweans tae tak doun a douk –
Ye're no ower auld for rod an hook
(A sport sair slighted!)
Altho' I fear ye'll never look
Past Ayr United!


___
splore/escapade
tirrivee/fit of temper
trauchled/overburdened
stotted/bounced
cark/care,worry
Arrowe Park, Birkenhead: Site of 1929 International Boy Scout Jamboree. (Mr.Inglis was Scoutmaster of the Ayrshire Troop at that Jamboree.)

Information about Document 636

Dipper: 24 - Tribute to W.H.T.Inglis