Joyce of Whitchurch | Platform 7 17:47 Liverpool Lime Street London Euston

JOYCE OF WHITCHURCH

Platform 7 17:47

Liverpool Lime Street

London Euston

 

Platform Seven

Lime Street Station

Liverpool Lime Street

London Euston

Joyce of Whitchurch

Joyce’s hand inching

inexorably to departure,

the curious soothing

hum of rocket engines

lying horizontal,

a heartbeat of anticipation,

new lives,

a new world opening,

an old world closing,

Departing.

Platform 7 Lime Street Station

Liverpool Lime Street

Joyce of Whitchurch,

17:44 and counting,

Joyce inching faster now

to 17:47…

Last goodbyes,

A brief hug in the doorway

Emotions held back,

happy and sad,

all in the same instant.

“This is the 17:47

Liverpool to London Euston.

Would all not travelling

please leave the train now.

We will close the doors

in 60 seconds.

Those not travelling please leave,

please leave the carriage now.”

Fast exit!

An immaculate guard

stands poised,

six of twelve carriages down,

wearing the burgundy livery

 of Liverpool;

a green pennant

furled within her arm

like an SLR rifle

at ‘order arms’!

Joyce of Whitchurch

inching ever forward

the beat of her hand

not in keeping with my heart.

That ominous sound

a whistle down the ages,

A glimpse of parting couples

beneath Joyce of Whitchurch

sixty years before

as we[1] went to War.

Joyce inching forward

now seconds away.

That whistle again!

The green pennant

unfurled now ...

held high, a sweeping arc

as Virgin roars

to battle speed!

Joyce strikes 17:46:49:01

and counting

17:46...48...49...59:01

Oh GOD!

The pennant flies high

 - that infernal pennant –

Go away!

17:47!!

The tears well up...

But thumbs up instead!

Be British.

Hide emotions.

Be stoic.

Be resolute.

A wave from the carriage

thumbs up in return...

A beautiful smile

the delight of José

... and farewell

oh ship of state,

as this beautiful train

glides effortlessly,

revealing pillar after pillar

at increasing intensity,

in Liverpool’s

burgundy livery.

Conceal the tears.

Let others cry,

I’ll hide behind them

as we exit the gateway,

I’ll do as I’ve always done,

Hiding in plain sight.

17:50 Joyce of Whitchurch

moving inexorably on,

recording emotions,

timing arrivals,

ordering departures,

enforcing timetables.

All at sea

at sixes and sevens.

At peace though

as an Emissary I glimpse,

That quiet look  ...

that refrain ...

that hint of understanding ...

in Liverpool Lime Street

on this topsy-turvy

early Sunday evening.

The 17:47 has departed

The track line is empty.

Station immaculate

and in great order.

No litter...

Capital of Culture in spirit

a year on,

this revered title its people

will never relinquish,

why Liverpool stands apart!

“Remember Ken

you’re a lawyer. You’ve got work now.

I was worried that I’d leave you

still unemployed;

but He has stepped in

and we can both rejoice!

Let’s remember the great times;

the meals, the laughs, the tears,

the Colombian and Cuban Girls

It’s not the end

It’s but the beginning.”

Didn’t Churchill say the same?

“This is not the end.

It is not even the beginning

of the end.

But it is perhaps the end

of the beginning!” [i]

A glimpse again of wartime couples

beneath Joyce of Whitchurch

 - a different war now though

here on Lime Street Station.

Today

not Yesteryear.

Afghanistan and Helmand Province,

Hell on earth in Sangin

for a democratic army

arrayed against

medieval demagogues,

and outdated irrelevant

spiteful religions,

that do no justice

to the god whom they insist

they represent!

A soldier,

desert khaki-clad,

smartly marches by,

silent recognition ... ...

eyes meeting

and unseen salutes exchanged

that only the Armed Forces

detect in the step;

the bracing of the shoulders

the thirty-inch pace;

a former rank

saluting his modern counterpart

in grateful thanks;

the slight nod of the head,

that impish wink of the eye

of an eighteen-year-old

combatant in reply.

A silent prayer:

Please, please save him

Just keep him safe

and bring him back home

alive and to a hero’s welcome

on Lime Street Station,

not a wheeled Coffin

at Lyneham Station

or solemn procession

through Wootton Bassett.[2]

British Soldier on deployment in Helmand Province Afghanistan, of the Light Dragoons, England’s Northern Cavalry by the Artist-Photographer Sergeant Andy Reddy RLC and by courtesy of defence images MOD UK with all rights reserved thereto. [ii] Annotation

17:51:05 and a quiet bleep

… a silent text

Joyce of Whitchurch pauses ...

The clock stops ...

... Indeed, a wonderful time

and a great occasion to

support each other

when we most

needed it.

Now we are both moving on

and the future is exciting

Take care, my friend!

Ludovico England

18:34

Lime Street Station

Sunday 5 July 2009

L.N.E.R LONDON TO EDINBURGH 1938

Liverpool Lime Street underneath Joyce of Whitchurch Sunday 5 July 2009.

The reader will, of course, by now realise that Joyce of Whitchurch is one of the world-famous clocks at Lime Street Station Liverpool, and the author is delighted to have been given kind permission by the board of directors of Smith of Derby Ltd of 112 Alfreton Road Derby DE21 4AU to re-title this very popular poem Platform 7 17:47 (when it was first published in Idle Thoughts: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose by Spiderwize in September 2009) to “Joyce of Whitchurch” in the second volume Meanderings: An Anthology of Poetry and Prose published by Spiderwize in October 2011 (Hardback). The board has also given me confirmation to reproduce therein the letter by the managing director and which speaks for itself as a very important part of Liverpool and the country’s history. (page 63-64 2011)

21 December 2025
All Rights Reserved


LIVERPOOL


© 2009 Ian Bradley Marshall

Written 5 July 2009

End Notes

[i] Part of Winston Churchill’s famous ‘turn of the tide’ speech at the Mansion House, London, as prime minister on 10 November 1942

[ii] ANNOTATION: A soldier of the 12th Mechanized Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF) cautiously crosses a pathway during a patrol in Afghanistan. An airborne operation was launched into an insurgent stronghold in Afghanistan, resulting in a significant find of weapons and bomb-making equipment. The 12th Mechanized Brigade Reconnaissance Force (BRF), made up of soldiers and officers from the Light Dragoons, England’s Northern Cavalry, pushed into the area of Shorokay in the Upper Gereshk Valley as part of Operation Daas (which means Scythe in Dari) searching a complex bunker system. (Author Note: This annotation and the links below are by gracious permission of Pinterest.)

-------------------------------------------------------

Photographer: Sergeant Andy Reddy RLC

Image 45154428.jpg from www.defenceimages.mod.uk

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1 Many who read this will have been those very people; to this day they rightly see themselves as ‘we’ not ‘they’; it is but yesterday

2 By Proclamation of Her Majesty the Queen, designated for eternity as Royal Wootton Bassett from the 1st September 2011 in recognition of the dignity of the townspeople in receiving every soldier fallen, upon arrival from RAF Lyneham

3 Most important of all, is the banner image of the Clockface ‘Joyce of Whitchurch’ by Alexander Petricca Photographer of Liverpool taken in 2009. This is the clockface in the great nave of Lime Street Station. The main clockface that stands high above, on the wide glass frontage of this famous station, is beyond limits and station staff and police alike were in 2009 fast in preventing any photography within Lime Street Station. Alexander is the artist photographer of all the imagery in both the soft and hard back books of Idle Thoughts and Meanderings.

Virgin InterCity departing Platform 7 17:47 for London Euston