6th August 2026 • The HERALD • Page 85 v INDEPENDENT, LOCAL AND PROUD v Poets Corner The Paul Cave Prize for Literature Budding authors have until 30th September to enter e Paul Cave Prize for Literature 2026. ere are already some excellent submissions from around the world. Established in 2023 e Paul Cave Prize for Literature celebrates the English language and is an excellent platform for writers and poets to get their work read by a professional editor and published in a book. Winners receive feedback, cash prizes and copies of the book featuring their work. Poetry, ash ction, shorts stories, novelettes and even novellas can be entered. e Paul Cave Writing Prizes are in memory of Paul Astley Cave-Browne-Cave (1917 to 2010), a hugely inspirational magazine and book publisher. In 1960 Paul founded Hampshire the county magazine, running it for over forty years. For more information visit: https://tsaunderspubs. weebly.com/the-paul-cave-prize-for-literature.html Roundabouts by Lee Owers© Who changed our roundabouts we would like to ask? Did they think it funny to give us all a laugh? On this subject, ladies and gents, I think will pass. Criss crossing down the road, watch out car it’s a heavy load. e signs are changing do you agree? Some folks, not me. My purse is empty, others’ are just the same. is time, we know who to blame. Does this mean the Highway Code will stay? But our roundabouts will change every other day. NO OFFENCE by Jim Dolbear© ey said I was over the hill, And I should be far away. But I have some news for them, You see I am here to stay. I’ve been called a dinosaur, And now I should be extinct, I suggest they go away, And have another think. You’re stuck in your ways they say, You are living in the past. But I look forward to each day, Knowing it might be my last. I am past my sell by date? I am not so very sure. I am more like a ne wine, at is better when mature. For age is but a number, We can only do are best, So look forward to each day Time will take care of the rest. Tabby In The Forest by Lauren Order© A wander through the ferns did stray Looking for adventure on her way Her striped coat of grey and brown Made her a guest in the forest town She padded so ly into a glade Where small mice hid beneath the shade She froze mid step with li ed paw Patience, patience without aw e mice caught scent upon the breeze And trembled next to roots of trees O they dashed with swishing tails Melting into hidden dales e cat just purred and licked her paw Unbothered by what she had saw She icked her tail and walked away Another hunt, another day. BLACK GOLD by David K Wilson© Many twists and turns appear Along life’s winding road Many war torn refugees Forced to sacrifice their load Traveling miles over many days Weary eyes peer through the haze Searching for a slip road To carry them away Troubled people troubled times War torn nations once divine Unprecedented times of need Brings with it undiluted greed Oil rich land beneath the sand In never ending world demand For worshipers of motor-cars Or on holiday can travel far Black gold lakes beneath the sand Slipping through mans greedy hands Pumping stations to the fore Is oil worth the wrath of war? Evil nations evil ways Refineries are set ablaze A million years beneath the sand Black gold now in great demand Many twists and turns appear Along life’s winding road Many war torn refugees Forced to sacrifice their load ere’s a long way to go, Well I hope so, Lord please help me to be perfect but not yet, ink I’m getting better at being perfect, But what’s perfect I’m confused, Well one thing it’s knowing when you’re being used. As I get older I don’t get dumb, I’m decisive, can be incisive And can be a complete pain in the bum. So Lord Help me to be perfect, but not yet! Lord Please Help Me To Be Perfect But Not Yet by Martin Grist© The copyright of all poems that are published in The Herald belong to the author and must NOT be reproduced without their permission roughout the 18th and early 19th centuries Calshot Castle was kept at a state of readiness but with minimum manpower and provisions. e lack of nancial support meant that it was poorly maintained despite recent modi cations. Sometime in the second half of the nineteenth century a sailor named omas Lee joined the Coastguard contingent at Calshot. omas was born in Portsmouth on 21st December 1826. He appears to have enlisted in the Royal Navy in 1845, joining as a “Boy 1st class”. He served on various ships until 1853 where he joined the St Jean D ‘Acre as a “Leading Seaman” from September 1853 to November 1856. He was awarded the Crimea medal and Baltic medal for his services on the same vessel. His service then continued on to the Coast Guard where he was stationed at various sites including Calshot Castle and later at Lymington. Towards the end of the 18th century the new governor - MP Sir Henry Burrard of Lymington - took an active interest in the fortunes of the castle and had it brought back to a good state of repair – just in time for the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars. Following his Naval service he returned to live at Calshot in 1808 and was succeeded a er his death here in 1813 by the Earl of Cavan. e Admiralty took over responsibility for the Coastguard Service in 1856 but this made little di erence to the operation of the castle. Now under the control of the Admiralty Calshot Castle continued in the less spectacular but never-ending war against smuggling: Coastguard cutters were a regular if unwelcome sight on the Solent. Smuggling was a serious problem, depriving the Treasury of considerable sums in Excise Duties. e penalty was high for those unfortunate enough to be caught. Nearby Luttrell’s Tower, a folly built at the landward end of the spit by local landowner and magistrate Temple Simon Luttrell, in or around 1780, had an extensive run of cellars and tunnels leading to and from the nearby cli edge. One of the main industries around this period seems to have been shing for shell sh. “All around Calshot Castle on the beach... it is full of fine cockle shells so they heap them up around the castle like a wall” Celia Fiennes (1662 – 1741). In 1860 Brunel’s new trans-Atlantic steamship the Great Eastern passed Calshot Spit on its rst visit to Southampton Docks. Two years later, during the American Civil War, the US Federal ship ‘Tuscarora’ sheltered in Southampton Water for several months and in 1863 the West-Indies mail ship ‘Sri Lanka’ collided with the smaller brig ‘Ridesdale’, which was under tow just south of the castle. e brig was lost and the pilot aboard the tug was killed when its funnel fell on him, having been dislodged by the collision. If you have any information, anecdotes or memories of Calshot and are willing to share them, please contact Colin van Geffen at cvg@hotmail.co.uk and help to expand our local knowledge of this much overlooked and very important place. Thank you. CALSHOT – More Smuggling, a War Hero and Shipping News by Colin van Geffen 1863 Mail Ship ‘Sri Lanka’ collides with brig ‘Ridesdale’ off Calshot Castle (©Colin van Geffen collection)
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