Recorded by Rough Truffles Community Choir, this song was written/composed by Tracey Wilkinson. It contains the names of 15 Belper pubs in the lyrics - can you spot them?!

Belper Wassail

Chorus

Wassail, wassail, we’ll drink your ale,
We’ll break your bread ‘til we are fed,
We’ll sing around the Belper town
Wassail, wassail, wassail!

1. Come landlord pour your vintage wine
Blood red from grapes on distant vine
In welcome to your tavern fine
Wassail wassail wassail!

2. And if you’ll only let us sing
The heads of nags and bulls we’ll bring
Served by our queen and her old king
Wassail wassail wassail!

Chorus

3. But should your keys our entry scorn 
We’ll howl as if we’d chewed a thorn
So cross we’ll curse your tree til dawn
And loudly sing wassail!

4. So give us seven beer filled jars
And likely we’ll be seeing stars
Then hop in bed and dream for hours
Wassail wassail wassail!

Chorus

5. And full of mead we’d dragons slay
Just like St George that April day
Tho’ sober we would haste away
Singing wassail wassail!

6. Come green and grey and white let’s go
Come swans and hounds and Belper Joe 
Sing house to house, sing high, sing low
Wassail wassail wassail!

Chorus

Words and music by Tracey Wilkinson 2013

Belper Wassail Truffles

Belper's Rough Truffles Community Choir sings the Derbyshire version of Hark the Herald Angels Sing

Curly Hark

Suzy, Steve, Deb and Richard perform 'May You See Diamonds' by Ali Burns for Suzy's daughter's wedding

Suzy Diamonds Mp3

A song I wrote for East Midlands in Bloom, to celebrate the spirit of the 'In Bloom' campaign and the joy and community of growing.  Performed here by Belper's wonderful Chevin Singers... (lyrics below):

We Can Grow Love – Song for East Midlands in Bloom

We can grow plants
We can grow trees
We can grow colour from each seed
We can grow hanging baskets
We can grow on waste ground
We can grow food to harvest all year round

We can grow tiny
We can grow tall
We can grow habitats for all
We can grow in allotments
We can grow in the street
We can grow for our city's lungs to breathe

We can grow roots
We can grow teams
We can grow on the village green
We can grow in East Midlands
We can grow in the sun
We can grow for the gold or just for fun

We can grow scent
We can grow taste
We can grow joy and sense of place
We can grow in the playground
We can grow by the sea
We can grow with the seasons' harmony

We can grow smiles
We can grow dreams
We can grow every shade of green
We can grow with our children
We can grow with our friends
We can grow with each bud and bloom we tend

We can grow hope
We can grow pride
We can grow standing side by side
We can grow with our neighbours
We can grow with our towns
We can grow til the love blooms all around

We can grow love.


Tracey Wilkinson, Belper

We Can Grow Love, song for East Midlands in Bloom

When the East Midlands in Bloom judges came to judge Belper in summer 2015 we sang them the Song for Belper. They liked it it so much they asked me if I could write them an East Midlands in Bloom song. So here it is, performed by Belper's wonderful Chevin Singers... (lyrics below):

We Can Grow Love – Song for East Midlands in Bloom

We can grow plants
We can grow trees
We can grow colour from each seed
We can grow hanging baskets
We can grow on waste ground
We can grow food to harvest all year round

We can grow tiny
We can grow tall
We can grow habitats for all
We can grow in allotments
We can grow in the street
We can grow for our city's lungs to breathe

We can grow roots
We can grow teams
We can grow on the village green
We can grow in East Midlands
We can grow in the sun
We can grow for the gold or just for fun

We can grow scent
We can grow taste
We can grow joy and sense of place
We can grow in the playground
We can grow by the sea
We can grow with the seasons' harmony

We can grow smiles
We can grow dreams
We can grow every shade of green
We can grow with our children
We can grow with our friends
We can grow with each bud and bloom we tend

We can grow hope
We can grow pride
We can grow standing side by side
We can grow with our neighbours
We can grow with our towns
We can grow til the love blooms all around

We can grow love.

Tracey Wilkinson September 2015

We Can Grow Love, by Tracey Wilkinson, sung by the Chevin Singers

We Can Grow Love - Clip

Commissioned by BBC Radio Derby.
Music by Tracey Wilkinson, arranged for voices and strings by Martin Thorne.
Lyrics by Tracey Wilkinson and Lucy Ward, inspired by Dwane Reads and the listeners of BBC Radio Derby:

Our Derbyshire – Derbyshire Anthem

Verse 1
Ey up me duck, hear our cry
From riverside to moorland high
The green and blue of Derbyshire
Our joy and pride
Dry stone walls that zigzag velvet green
Running veins 'cross a tranquil peakland scene
Heritage and history
It can only be...

Chorus
This is our Derbyshire
All roads will lead me here
No matter where in life I roam
Back to familiar streets
Tall mills, majestic peaks
My Derbyshire, my heart, my home

Verse 2
On the terrace, in the town
Feel the passion, hear the sound
Of the Merlins' mighty engines' roar
Jewel of Derby's crown
Through every street and market square
Age-old voices, you can hear them in the air
Our county's legacy
It can only be...

Chorus

Verse 3
In the dark of the night
River lights burning bright
Ancient hills wrap their arms around
And hold me tight
Sleeping chimneys draw near to me
Wild springs sing a gentle melody
Silent wings of a peregrine
It can only be...

Chorus

Performed by Lucy Ward, Derby A Cappella, Tracey Wilkinson and Derby Concert Orchestra String Quartet at Derby Cathedral on 17th September 2015.
Music by Tracey Wilkinson
Arranged for voices and strings by Martin Thorne
Lyrics compiled by Tracey Wilkinson & Lucy Ward, inspired by Dwane Reads, the listeners of BBC Radio Derby - and our beautiful county.

Derbyshire Anthem - Live At Derby Cathedral Sept 2015

A Garden Romance (S. Stevenson / T. Wilkinson):

They first met in the doctor's waiting room
And the petals of love unfurled
When he noticed her magazine of choice
Was a well-thumbed Gardeners' World

On a date at their local garden centre
He was desperate to steal a kiss
But he lost his way in hardy annuals
While she languished in tropical fish

Chorus:	He loves Thomson & Morgan
		She yearns for an organ-
		Ic peat-free compost life
		But a garden romance
		Is a perennial slow dance
		Will they ever be man and wife?

They would linger in each other's gardens
Shy looks, sweet nothings, a blush,
She, entranced by his red hot poker
He, enthralled by her glorious bush

She showed him her prize-winning dahlias
He sniffed her Canterbury Bell
Yet it wasn't flowers on his mind
But her plants without the 'l'

Chorus:	He loves Thomson & Morgan
		She yearns for an organ-
		Ic peat-free compost life
		But a garden romance
		Is a perennial slow dance
		Will they ever be man and wife?

He thought that his luck was in one night
As he passed by her potting shed
And her colour changing solar light
Was firmly stuck on red

She called his name and asked if he'd show
Her how to do  the dirty deed properly
Yes, she wanted him for pricking out
Her purple sprouting broccoli

Chorus:	He loves Thomson & Morgan
		She yearns for an organ-
		Ic peat-free compost life
		But a garden romance
		Is a perennial slow dance
		Will they ever be man and wife?

Though he was proud of his penstemons
And his marigolds all in a row
He was scared she would think that his peonies
Could do with some miracle-gro

So despite all their common interests
They couldn't quite get it on
He was channelling Alan Titchmarsh
When she preferred Monty Don

Chorus:	He loves Thomson & Morgan
		She yearns for an organ-
		Ic peat-free compost life
		But a garden romance
		Is a perennial slow dance
		Will they ever be man and wife?

But he nurtured her with tender care 
'Til at last she agreed to a wedding
And now they both look forward to
Their annual summer bedding

Chorus:	He loves Thomson & Morgan
		She yearns for an organ-
		Ic peat-free compost life
		But a garden romance
		Is a perennial slow dance
		Will they ever be man and wife?

		He loves Thomson & Morgan
		And she's got her organ-
		Ic peat-free compost life
		Still their garden romance
		Is a perennial slow dance
		But now they're man and wife
		But now they're man and wife

Tracey-63

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