Mexborough and Swinton Times July 14, 1939

Ready Writer

Wombwell has an engine-driver poet. This is Mr. Herbert Skinner, of 41 Lundhill Road. For years he has been writing sonnets based on random thoughts as they occur to him while working on the footplate, but he has always preferred to “hide his light” as it were. It was only because of a letter he received in acknowledgment of a poem written in honour of Queen Mary’s birthday, and forwarded to the Queen-Mother, that his talent became known to a “Times” reporter.

The letter, written from Marlborough House, S.W.1., is addressed to Mrs. Skinner, who takes the greatest pride in her husband’s literary work, and actually forwarded the lines with a covering letter. It runs:

“I am commanded by Queen Mary to send you Her Majesty’s grateful thanks for your lines and letter.”

(Signed) Ethel Desborough.

The letter has now been put away among Mrs: Skinner’s most treasured souvenirs. The verses are as follows:—

“Dear Mother Queen I beg to send
You greetings on this day;
May health and happiness attend
And many years to stay.

“Respect and love to you this day;
The Nations join with me
In praying God will guide your way
In all tranquility.

“The good you do, the love you bring,
Oh, may the Lord repay;
To give you strength and guard the King
And Queen so far away.

“Although the dark clouds overhead
Give cause for pain and fear
Soon may they vanish, and instead
The lining re-appear.

“God bless you then for what you’ve  been,
A help you loved to be;
And may God save the King and Queen
And all your family.”

Topical Verses.

In the course of many years of lyric writing Mr. Skinner has touched upon a wide variety of subjects. The spirit of most of the big national events of the past twenty years has been expressed by his ready pen, and one of his latest compositions is dedicated to the men who lost their lives in the “Thetis” disaster. Much of his work reveals a warm sympathy with nature as he comes into contact with its various moods day by day. There is rare verve in verses he dedicated to his old friend. Fred Tunstall, the international footballer. The pleasure of reading through his poems is enhanced by his beautiful handwriting. Mr. Skinner’s thoughts run with extraordinary fluency. The poem he wrote in honour of Queen Mary’s birthday was thought out in a single shift on his engine at Cortonwood Colliery. His wife suggested it to him when he went to work: returning home he sat down and wrote it out in five minutes.