A year after Tom’s death, Claire narrated a documentary for BBC Radio 4 – Life After Tom, made with the help of producer Linda Pressley.
We hope to be able to make the full documentary available in the future but you can hear excerpts here http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/7666764.stm
You can also read more of Claire’s thoughts here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/7664371.stm
Tom loved football and was an enthusiastic player. Hanwell’s tribute was much appreciated.
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In Lammas Park October 2007
(In memory of Tom Clabburn who died in autumn in the springtime of his years)
Wine-dark leaves
hopped on the grass
like drunken toads
blushed on
Nuits-St-Georges,
malignant elves
in a dance of death.
There they crabbed,
cryptic as grounded bats,
or tea leaves dregged
for divination.
For me, I speculated,
in the twilight of my years,
they are hosting for me.
Gold leaves shimmered
a stone’s throw away
for a boy
of fourteen summers,
a stone’s throw away
in this park
where he played
football and sparkled
with his mates.
This boy, bright as
sun-struck gorse,
has Morsed his spot
in our hearts,
mapped himself
in our familiar places.
His unmade years
will morph into light
beyond my lingering.
Reproduced with kind permission of the author, James Ballantyne. First published in Poetry Ealing 17 magazine in July 2008.
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Tom died on October 5, 2007. He was 14.
Paul wrote this article for the BBC News website just over a month later. You can read it here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7109834.stm
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