Overview

Tamesis, a lyrical journey along the River Thames, where water, history and humanity interlace in both intimate and expansive verse composed by Edmund Hall, a lifelong sailor and volunteer RNLI lifeboatman. Hall's verses capture the river, not as a postcard but as a living, breathing force - by turns majestic, dangerous, and tender. His poems flow from Oxfordshire tributaries to London's tidal reaches, weaving together personal experience, urban memory, and ancient echoes of the river's role in shaping lives. With a foreword by Sir Ian McKellen, this collection places the Thames within a cultural and emotional landscape that feels at once timeless and contemporary. Hall's verse, at times reflective and elegiac, at times raw with grit and immediacy, recalls the everyday realities of service on the lifeboat as much as it celebrates the beauty of a sunset on Barn Elms Reach or the stillness of Sonning's trout pools. The river here is never mere scenery - it is character, companion, and witness. The book is illustrated with hand-drawn images inspired by the poems. Illustrated by Gary Partridge, a Coldstream Guards veteran turned artist, Tamesis pairs the words and emotions of the verses, with a series of unique images inspired by them.

Full Product Details

9781917837248

Table of Contents

Reviews

“Ed Hall’s poems are intensely personal, written about his time spent on and by the River Thames. They record high drama alongside wistful reverie, all linked by his unsentimental love of the ancient waterway… I commend them to you.” Sir Ian McKellen “… the river works its magic on these poems by Edmund Hall … as conscious of history’s eddies as of the movements of the tide. Read them aloud.” Jeremy Treglown, FRSL, Former Editor of The Times Literary Supplement, and former Chair of Booker & Whitbread Prize Judging Panels.

Author Information

Edmund Hall has served as part of the volunteer RNLI lifeboat crew on the River Thames for more than 20 years, based at the lifeboat station in Chiswick. A former award-winning journalist, political campaigner and occasional author, as well as a successful racing yachtsman, he has been writing poems inspired by the river and his work for the RNLI whilst on 12-hour shifts for many years. Born and raised in London, Gary Partridge developed a passion for art at an early age. His creative journey took an unexpected turn when he joined the Coldstream Guards, with whom he served for 22 years from the Far East, to Bosnia, Northern Ireland and Iraq. After leaving the army, Gary was diagnosed with cancer;  a challenging experience which transformed his life. On successful completion of his medical treatment, Gary developed a joy for gardening while rekindling the pleasure of recording the landscapes and scenes of every day around him, in his distinctive line drawn style, working in either pencil, pen and ink or watercolour.  Gary Partridge lives in Dorset; Tamesis is his first commission.

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