The Conway Gulls

Image: © Ian Greig Taken: 16 Jan 2015

John Masefield's poem The Conway Gulls published in his 1933 edition of The Conway, provided the inspiration for Wirral artist David Hillhouse to design a stained glass window for the Conway Chapel in 1995. The artist has worked around the theme of the poem, where John Masefield sees the new cadets as young gulls, leaving the ship for their journeys around the world. They finally return home to "Conway" as mature gulls to settle in the spars of the old ship. There was a tradition on the ship therefore that seagulls on the spars should be left alone, they were departed OCs returned. The following words are shown within panels of the window: "And being gone, they wander home again Here, to the ship, and settle on her spars, They are our brothers, so we let them be, Old Conways, fellow sharers of the stars." John Masefield poet laureate and Old Conway http://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&ved=0CCEQFjAA&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.hmsconway.org%2Fdocs%2Fpoems.rtf&ei=FZm7VJmIPMPyaMHygPgI&usg=AFQjCNFT-I1OJNXe-65lT-HdXeqsrsqRAQ

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