Thread by @HeatherHenry4

@Howarth2L A poem for #SocialPrescibingDay by Heather Henry Called Forged in Salford’: This dad I first met was a man of smoke
He sat cloaked in leather and hardly spoke
His childhood was stolen by him down the lane
His manhood was battered - a girl was to blame.

It took all his strength to get out of that house/
He walked by that caff several times like a mouse/
He slid round the door and he shook a warm hand/
His future changed course like a shifting of sand #SocialPrescibingDay

This man met his eye and he spoke like a mate
It wasn’t a service, it wasn’t too late
Dads helping each other because of the kids
Would he join with some others? Would that help his own kids?
#SocialPrescribingDay

He grew as he knew he had skills left to give
He stopped drinking nightly and started to live
A diary appeared: he had purpose and strength
He voiced his true feelings, he voiced them at length #SocialPrescribingDay

Dads stilled when he spoke as he named all their fears
They’d thought ‘it’s just me’ and they’d thought it for years
The silence was broken, it all flooded out
‘(I need this ) I’ll help you, without any doubt’ #SocialPrescribingDay

Some sobbed when they saw him; how much he had grown
This man made of smoke could now leave his home
His kids bounded with him, it was a rare sight
But their mum was a Demon - she struck with a might
#SocialPrescribingDay

Yet slowly he learnt not to rise to her bait
He left her, his children. She closed firm the gate
He wept for his kids, but the man he first met
Took hold of his strength and he moulded him yet #SocialPrescribingDay

And when the man left, why, this dad took his place
He packed all his hope in a borrowed briefcase
Anxiety folded so tightly away
He drove out of town, was no longer her prey #SocialPrescribingDay

I took them to London. I put them on stage
The BBC film how they bared their courage
And men north and south simply echoed their plea
‘Dear family, please don’t forget about me’
#SocialPrescribingDay

The experts smiled wryly ‘We overlook dads’
‘Why don’t we support them, the guys and their lads?’
‘We know how men suffer, some taking their lives’
‘And maybe we’ll listen to how they survive’ #SocialPrescribingDay

Some women who saw them, abandoned of care
Clung so tightly to them, as if in despair
‘We had no real father, they started to call’
And so it turned out that they fathered them all #SocialPrescribingDay

At weekends the romping took place in full view
On Father’s Day, people espied the whole crew
Men strong, loving, caring, their kids filled with mirth
The town switched its mind about dads and their worth #SocialPrescribingDay

And what of a man spun of leather and smoke?
His talents attracted, his story evoked
Career called him forward, I wrote them a note
‘You’re lucky to have him’, heart stuck in my throat #SocialPrescribingDay

His mind now reset he has job and a jewel
Love, life and purpose he wields as a tool
He fights for those children, he fights for them still
The smoke I first saw was the heat of the steel. #SocialPrescribingDay #DadlyDoesIt @nesta_uk @halima_khan1 @JessCordingly

To dads north and south. Keep it going @YorkeyDads @NEYDandL @DadsRockEdin @totnesddads @thefatherfactor @fatherhoodinst #SocialPrescribingDay