The story pictured above is from the BLACK COUNTRY BUGLE.
The Bugle is a popular weekly nostalgic newspaper who were the first to print my work in the early 1990's.
www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk
Property of RKB
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION.
An important part of this story is that I returned to Fife and had a picture taken of me at the Forth Bridge wearing a Black Country Tay Shirt purchased from the Bugle. This is a tee shirt with a Black Country saying printed on the front. It was important for me to combine both sides of my ancestral background.
In mid August of 2007 there was a message on my answer machine at home to call the manufacturers of the Tay shirt.
They were pleased to be connected with my story and had decided to produce a page on their website where customers have had their picture taken in their Tay Shirt.
Property of RKB
Ladybank looking from the Railway Station with the Lomonds in the background.
Part extract from my poem, The Kingdom of Fife.
'The Lomond Hills stand high, high as the Scottish sky'.
'Is that where you wanted to be?
'Did you want to climb them to see?
'North to the Firth of Tay, the church of Collessie or Cupar,
'And out to St Andrews Bay?
In the final paragraph of the story of my walk along the Fife Coastal Path, I mention seeing a chap working on a lorry within 100 yards of the Forth. I imagined that my Dad would have been doing just that if he had stayed in Fife. When we were lads my brother and I would go with him on a Saturday morning while he worked on vehicles. Below is a drawing of mine from a picture of him in his 'tatty' overalls taken in Steelhouse Lane, Wolverhampton.
.jpg)
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
I Should Have Played For Ladybank Violet © Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
This Public Bar in Ladybank © Robbie Kennedy Bennett
Ladybank was mostly marshland and formerly known as ‘Our Lady’s Bog’, named by the monks of Lindores Abbey in the late 12th century who were given permission to cut peat there. The land was later drained and in the 1840’s came the construction of the railway junction. Ladybank station is possibly the oldest unaltered station in Scotland and still popular with commuters from Edinburgh to Dundee.
LADYBANK, FIFE in picture.
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
.jpg)
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
.jpg)
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
© Robbie Kennedy Bennett
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
In September 2008 I contacted Jillian Donnachie of Smart Community Fife, informing her of my connection with Ladybank and inviting her to visit my site. I was overjoyed and honoured that she did visit and has mentioned my writing on their site.
www.smartcommunityfife.org.uk/ladybank/history/
Here is part of her reply and a link;
Hi Rob, thanks for your note.
It's great for locals and visitors to know the community has inspired poetry!
www.smartcommunityfife.org.uk/ladybank/
Kind regards
Jillian Donnachie
Project Coordinator
Smart Community Fife
95 High Street, Strathmiglo, Fife KY14 7PR
Scottish Charity No: SC 037770
.jpg)
POETIC WRITING OF ROBBIE KENNEDY BENNETT ©
www.rkbpoetry.co.uk
www.scotlands-enchanting-kingdom.com/in-my-blood.html
www.poetryofscotland.co.uk/bennett.php
www.footballpoets.org/p.asp?Id=22949
www.blackcountrybugle.co.uk/blackcountrybugle-news/displayarticle.asp?id=104273
www.fifetoday.co.uk/east-fife-mail-news/Wolverhampton-wanderer-muses-on-coastal.3926209.jp
www.wolvesheroes.com/2009/01/13/an-ode-to-hugh/#more-2360
pub10.bravenet.com/forum/849684916/show/1013616
www.smartcommunityfife.org.uk/collessie-and-letham/history/
www.smartcommunityfife.org.uk/ladybank/history/
Poetic Writing of ROBBIE KENNEDY BENNETT © www.rkbpoetry.co.uk Born in Wolverhampton of English and Scottish parentage. He grew up on the Rough Hills Estate area of the town and his Scottish ancestral roots are in the Kingdom of Fife and Dundee. The author is now residing in Codsall, Staffordshire. Drawings, pictures and writing are copyright of the author Robbie Kennedy Bennett. I SHOULD HAVE PLAYED FOR LADYBANK VIOLET. I inspired myself when writing this poem to walk the Fife Coastal path. The first stage of 2 days of walking was from the Forth Rail Bridge to Leven. My story was featured along with the poem in the Black Country Bugle. The scenery along the south coast of Fife was a sight to behold, and the walk also activated my creative mind and further poems followed. When first writing the poem I sent it, along with the story behind the poem to Fife Amateur Football site. I was complimented by Jimmy the administrator, who also told me that it is not too late to score a goal on a Fife football field. THIS PUBLIC BAR IN LADYBANK. a drink in a bar in the village of my forefathers.