Dad’s Birthday – 2016
Me dad would have been 94 today. At 18 he was firing railway locomotives. At 22 he was an RAF bomber pilot: quite a progression for a lad from Middlesbrough who grew up without privilege or connections. War opens up all sorts of opportunities to live and die fast. On his 44th birthday he was in hospital dying very quickly and with little fuss, ravaged by cancer: me mam, two brothers, sister and I gave him a shaving mirror that he hardly used. I have missed him grievously over the last 50 years and love him still!