A Birthday Poem From Dawn Lawrence


birthday poem

To help mark our 150th anniversary, frequent contributor Dawn Lawrence has written us a birthday poem! 

Take a look below:


The World’s Longest-running Weekly

One hundred years is quite a score,

But then add fifty more;

And think how weeklies come and go,

And disappear from store.

Eighteen sixty nine the date

“The People’s Friend” began,

A magazine for every day,

For every age that ages span.

Fiction, features, poetry,

Nothing good left out;

Travel tales and recipes,

All fun without a doubt.

Imagine how the world has changed

Since eighteen sixty nine,

And still our “Friend” can capture hearts

Like old good vintage wine.

The world’s longest running weekly,

It has Special issues, too;

With annuals prized at Christmas-time,

With news that’s ever new.

So on this, its anniversary –

With all that we now know,

May its readership continue

To simply grow and grow.

And to writers that contribute,

With poetry and prose,

I’m proud to say that I have helped,

And I am one of those!


To read more on our 150th anniversary from both contributors and readers, click the tag below.

We’ve received a birthday poem from another contributor, too! It will appear online in the next few weeks — keep checking back!

We’ve included plenty of poetry from through the decades in our “150th Fiction Special”. Have you bought your copy yet?

Yvonne McKenzie

Yvonne works on the Features team and admits to being nosy, so loves looking after the Between Friends letters and finding out all about our lovely readers. She also looks after our health copy and enjoys writing about inspiring people that help make the articles in the magazine so interesting.