Nearly every kid from a Liverpool school went to Colomendy.
School trips to the outdoor centre, at Loggerheads near Mold.
Built in thirties and owned by the Council for seventy years.
Canoeing, swimming, and even climbing, if you were bold.

The freezing outside swimming pool full of leaves.
The weather station, the catwalk and the tuck shop.
Clwyd, Dee, Elwy and Terrig were our dormitories.
Sloppy cheese pie on a Friday that everyone tried to swap.

City kids got to experience an area of outstanding beauty.
To make special memories, enough to last them for life.
Most had never stayed away from home before.
This was their chance, first-hand, to see some wildlife.

Childhood memories of arts and craft and practical maths.
Of rural science and milking cows, and orienteering.
Developing social skills and making new friends.
Competing and cooperating and most of all, cheering.

Of a Colomendy ghost, the legend of Peg-Leg, we are told.
He’s said to haunt a dormitory, the third bed on the left.
An ingenuous way for staff to ensure good conduct perhaps.
When counting the kids each morning, there’s never been a theft.

This place is an extension of Liverpool’s heart and soul.
Somewhere that’s well embedded in our folklore.
For it to close would cause an outcry.
If anything, these kids just want lots more.