Talbot House
Talbot House (Flo Bourke)
This song was written about Talbot House, a place in Poperinge, Belgium, where soldiers would go for their leave. It was a recreational hideaway from the war. To me it was one of the most powerful and inspiring places I encountered on the Connecting Spirits journey. This place struck such a fierce emotion in me even though it was not on the fields where the men fought but instead away from that, intended to be a happy place.
I felt this wave of emotion whilst there which was a mixture of sadness yet also contentment and homeliness. I felt happy here because it had a lovely aura but I also felt sad because I missed home; the homeliness created in this place made me long for mine. This got me thinking: did these same contradictory emotions exist for the soldiers who came to Talbot house? And from these thoughts and wonders I created my song.