Jim Crehan spent 35 years of his adult working life shovelling coal into the gas retorts, firing the coal and clearing out the resulting coke from those long steel tubes. Back-breaking work, which by its nature, engendered habits which followed him home and into retirement. Those of course who had retirement. In 1958 my father contacted the North Western Gas… (more…)
The most significant presences in my life have been my wife, my mother and my maternal grandfather, listed only by age and beauty and not by craftmanship. My mother naturally got to me first and filled my head with masses of dark curls, so much so, that I had to have my hair cut on that very first morn as… (more…)
I was born in a suburb of Manchester called Longsight. Three miles from the city centre, a halfway house, neither inner city deprivation or outer suburban splendour. A place one came to, to escape the former and aspire to the latter. Immediately after the 2nd world war it was nearly 100% English in its population, but that changed very quickly.… (more…)