{"id":489,"date":"2020-06-22T17:34:39","date_gmt":"2020-06-22T17:34:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/?p=489"},"modified":"2020-06-22T17:34:39","modified_gmt":"2020-06-22T17:34:39","slug":"the-bottle-green-badge-of-courage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/about\/the-bottle-green-badge-of-courage\/","title":{"rendered":"THE BOTTLE GREEN BADGE OF COURAGE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

(back to ABOUT)<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

An extract from ‘The Ancient Mariner’<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

by Samuel Taylor P******d c.1997<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was an Ancient Mariner;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He stoppeth one of three<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Or four or five or maybe more;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It matters not to me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For \u2019twas his skill with bat and ball<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That drew crowds by the score,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And never did he disappoint<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By settling for a draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dazzling shows of sportsmanship<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here witnessed by the nation;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite our hero\u2019s usual state<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of real inebriation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His blade was keen and rapier\u2014like<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Poor bowling swift to maul,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And now and then he’d get some runs<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When he could see the ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He always ‘walked’ (he cculdn’t run)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

No umpire would he cross;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conscious ever of his pride<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To wear the Albatross.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When wickets fell and runs came hard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He never would complain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Ancient Mariner always knows<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He*s there to entertain.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From village green to hostelries<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Colossus at the brink —<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He’d treat opponents with respect<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If they\u2019d buy him just one drink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His overriding sense of fun<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cast doubts on his ability,<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And sometimes raised some thoughts about<\/p>\n\n\n\n

His mental instability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He played the game for its own dear sake;<\/p>\n\n\n\n

To cheat was the final sin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And evermore it shall be played<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For fun, whoe’er shall win.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s still ON \u2014- yaroo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Poem by an Unknown member… Continue reading THE BOTTLE GREEN BADGE OF COURAGE<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=489"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":490,"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/489\/revisions\/490"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.amcc.uk\/WP\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}