A POEM about a closed county day centre read out by film and TV star Michael Sheen and posted online has racked up an amazing 210,000 hits in five days.
The star backed a campaign to reopen Abergavenny's Tudor Centre for vulnerable adults by posting a film of himself reading ‘Padlock, Padlock’, a collaboratively penned poem describing the currently shuttered facility as “more than bricks, more than a site/It was hope in the morning and peace at night”.
The full poem, which Sheen can be seen performing on his X feed, reads:
Padlock, Padlock
In the heart of Abergavenny’s grace,
Stands Tudor Street, a familiar place.
Once filled with laughter, with joy, and talk,
Now silent but for the “Padlock, padlock.”
It was more than bricks, more than a site,
It was hope in the morning and peace at night. A place for the weary, the tried and true,
A home for me, a sanctuary for you.
“Padlock, padlock,” on the gate we find,
A rusty symbol of the ties that bind. Yet, memories linger in every hall,
Of hands that helped, and hearts that saw.
We hope for the day when doors swing wide,
When laughter fills every room inside. To find the magic that once we knew,
And break the chain-make old things new.
“Padlock, padlock,” let this not be the end,
For Tudor Street has been a lifelong friend.
With public will and voices loud,
We’ll turn the key, make spirits proud.
So here’s to Tudor, in its quiet stand,
A monument to kindness in this Welsh land.
Though silent now, its story’s not done;
With love, we’ll unlock a new chapter begun.