There is Love Within Each Act of Kindness

a poem by Jonathan Humble inspired by the Windermere Children

There is Love Within Each Act of Kindness

On Windermere’s shore
under trees and by streams,
we learn to be children again.
And slowly at first
unlock feelings and dreams
tightly shackled by anguish and pain.

Feel the breath of the air
on your face as you run;
leave the hatred behind in the darkness.
Seek friendship and joy
as you try to have fun;
there is love within each act of kindness.

Shall we dream of our parents,
our neighbours, our friends,
see reflections in eyes filled with sorrow?
Shall we wait for the bruises
and heartache to mend
when the pain comes again on the morrow?

Feel the breath of the air
on your face as you play;
leave the hunger behind in the darkness.
Seek friendship and joy
on your journey each day;
there is love within each act of kindness.

Shall we fly over lakes
in a boat made with wings,
splash in wellies through clouds under rainbows?
Shall we ride on the wind
with the birds as we sing,
chasing stars in the wake of tornadoes?

Feel the breath of the air
on your face as you fly;
leave the barbed wire behind in the darkness.
Seek friendship and joy
as you understand why
there is love within each act of kindness.

Shall we muster our courage,
be thoughtful and kind
as we sail on our way under blue skies?
Shall we care for each other
and those who we find
feeling sad and alone as the boat flies?

Feel the breath of the air
on your face as you smile;
Leave the prisons behind in the darkness.
Seek friendship and joy
feeling safe all the while;
there is love within each act of kindness.

As the summer grows old
and it’s time to move on
from the flying boats up on the skyline,
we will never forget
when our childhood has gone
how we played in the sweet Lakeland sunshine.

Feel the breath of the air
on your face as you leave;
we will run, laugh and play till we’re done.
From the darkness we came
yet we learned to believe
that tomorrow we’ll sing in the sun

… and that kindness could save everyone.

Jonathan Humble

A few months ago I listened to Ike Alterman and Trevor Avery on Radio Four talking about the Windermere Children and the story of how 300 Jewish children were airlifted out of German concentration camps in 1945.

You are no doubt aware of their journey of rehabilitation which began on the Calgarth Estate by Windermere in 1945 arranged by Leonard Montefiore and under the direction of child psychologist Dr. Oskar Friedman.

Montefiore founded the Central British Fund for Jewish Relief and his efforts to rescue children abused by the Nazis, alongside a team of dedicated and thoroughly wonderful individuals led by Friedman, was the focus of a marvellous film in 2020. The Windermere Children written by Simon Block, directed by Michael Samuels and featuring amongst others, Iain Glen, Pascal Fischer, Thomas Kretschmann and Romola Garai, chronicled the events in 1945 at Calgarth in Troutbeck Bridge.

Accommodation blocks that had been used to house workers producing the Sunderland flying boats became the temporary home for 300 traumatised young Jewish refugees in desperate need of care and rehabilitation. The film looks at how Dr. Friedman’s supportive network offered opportunities for sport, education, outdoor recreation, art therapy and healthcare. From the brutality of Nazi death camps to the tranquillity of the Lake District, the children’s testimonies, which now form part of the Lake District Holocaust Project exhibition in Windermere Library, record how they felt they’d arrived in ‘Paradise’.