Not many people realise that John Betjeman is known to have visited Thame in the company of Sir Harold Acton, and to have written some lines in the garden of the Spread Eagle Hotel(the garden is now the hotel’s car park).
As a tribute to John Betjeman in his centenary year, Thame Players are planning to put on a special evening entertainment at the Players Theatre, in Nelson Street, on November 17.
In conjunction with the event, pre theatre suppers will be available at The Spread Eagle’s Fothergills Braserie. Reservations can be made by calling 01844 213661.
The lines of poem read:
COUNTRY noises do not shake
The surface of the silent lake,
The silent lake through which I see
Is life and death at one in me.
Country noises have no power
In this diversitv of flower.
Drop by drop the footsteps fall
Outside the sunny garden wall;
The swooping of the chapel choir,
The crackle of the garden fire
And barking dogs where children play
And windows flung across the way.
These sounds are very much the same
Each Sunday afternoon in Thame.
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