Me Grandfather’s Flat Cap
By
John G. Sutton
She’d just thrown some clobber in’t bin
When I spotted me grandfather’s cap
It took me back to me childhood
He wore it all ‘t time they do say
And according to family legend
He wore it on his weddin’ day
Tale is that at the altar
He had words wi’ yon Vicar chap
Who said in the church it was proper
For men to remove their cap
But granddad was not having any
“Yon cap it stays put, an that’s that
There’s nowt wrong wi’ headgear I’m wearin’
Why look at yon Bishop’s daft hat”
Me gran, had a right do I tell you
The day her first baby was born
Grandfather, drunk as Lord Tiddley
Got lost between ‘t pub and his home
He was three sheets to ‘t wind an wanderin’
He staggered and fell on the floor
Where a policeman happened to find him
And carried him back to his door
Next mornin’ he woke in his own bed
Wondered how did he ever do that
It seems that the kindly old copper
Found his address in’t rim of his hat
He worked all his life in’t mill
An’ on his yed were yon flat cap
If he lived he’d be wearin’ it still
I remember ‘t day he retired
Mill owner gave speech and he said
Me grandfather were ‘t finest weaver
That ever had entered a shed
And grandfather dressed for the party
His suit he had pressed under ‘t bed
He’d geeten a shirt and a tie on
Wi ‘t flat cap stuck on his yed
So when I found it this mornin’
A cap full of old memory
Just for a moment I missed him
Then I thought what his life meant to me
Owd’ grandfather niver had money
He’d geet bugger all truth be towd’
An’ he’d worked all his life for his livin’
An’ niver nobody he owed
His world was one of hard labour
From mornin’ till dark into’t neet
Earnin’ enough to raise childer
In a mill weavin’ cloth, doin’ reet
And of all his worldly possessions
He most of all loved his cap
So I wore it as I remembered
The days of me dear old grandpap
An’ if in the future grandchildren
Ask about family and more
I’ll tell ‘em the tale of me granddad
And show ‘em the cap that he wore.
(c) John G. Sutton