THE vivid account of daredevil tut-tut days, previously provided by reader Harry Bradbury, struck a note with the St Helens Writers' Circle.

Secretary H.W. Gandy of Rob Lane, Newton-le-Willows, informs me that this ties in nicely with a poem written earlier by member Geoff Dutton and published in the Circle's anthology, 'Write Road.'

Kindly forwarding this poem for publication, HWG invites any readers who wish to express themselves in a literary way to join the group at their weekly two-hour Friday afternoon meetings. These are held in the St Helens Central Library Community Room (first floor) starting at 1.30pm.

Meanwhile, here's that tut-tut poem...

LITTLE Tommy Higgins went to his backyard shed

With two short planks, hammer, nails; and plans within his head.

He banged and sawed all morning, nut and bolted, too,

'Til he emerged in the afternoon with a tut-tut 'spanny' new.

A tut-tut is a soap-box cart, with a chassis, made from planks of wood,

A skipping- rope for steering gear, and pram wheels without hood.

All put together, they form one ultra-fast machine,

Especially when it's bombing down a hill of one-in-three.

So Tommy took his new tut-tut to the steepest street around,

Pushed it forward manually, 'til the fastest speed was found.

Jumping on his race-machine, Tom sped downhill with glee,

'Til, nearing the bottom, he perceived a 'bobby' crossing t'street.

He screamed and shouted very loud to t'bobby in his path,

But P.C. Plod kept marching on, as though he were right daft.

Well, the tut-tut, Tommy, t'bobby', too, collided with a smash,

Pram wheels, planks and skipping rope all parted in the crash,

T' bobby' floored, got himself up - his face was scarlet plum

He collared naughty Tommy Higgins and spanked his little bum.

So, sorely home, up t'one-in-three, Tommy Higgins went,

With broken planks, t'skipping rope and pram wheels 'skew-wiff' bent

To his backyard shed, with plans in head for the new 'tut-tut' he'd make.

He'd glue the planks, straighten the wheels - and this time put on brakes!

NO doubt, every young daredevil from earlier decades will closely relate with the excitement and simple pleasures of those home-made soap-box buggies. Ah, me..!

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.