A toast: "To all friends round The Wrekin"

The Wrekin Toast has long been given at dinners in Shropshire. As far as we know, the earliest surviving reference to the toast dates back 300 years to 1706, when 'All friends round the Wrekin' was the dedication on the first page of George Farquahar's play The Recruiting Officer, which was set in Shrewsbury. But how long had it been in existence before that? We'll probably never know - but tell us if you think you do.

The toast was made familiar to many local people thanks to the late Ossie Pointon, jovial proprietor of the Forest Glen Pavilion, a popular venue that stood for nearly 100 years at the foot of The Wrekin, and which can now be found restored at Blists Hill Victorian Town in Ironbridge.

There are lots of slighty different versions of the verse - this well-known one below clearly emerged in wartime:

To all friends round The Wrekin,

And to her most royal majesty, the loyalty she it seekin'.

To Shropshire lads upon the sea, on land and in the air,

There never were nor never will be finer anywhere.

For they have never bound their knee in bondage to the foe,

And never will whilst they have breath to fight as best they know.

And may the good lord please rain down upon our foes bare shins,

As many holy pebblestones as they've committed sins,

In order that we'll know them by the way they cringe and crimp,

And more especially so we'll know the b*ggars by their limp!