The Pride and The Shame of a Coalminer's Bairns

Book excerpt: At the age of almost 47 years old I find myself travelling South on the M6 Motorway heading towards the village that I grew up in, almost 37 years have passed since I was wrenched overnight from everything I knew ... On May 16th this year my Parents would have celebrated their 50th Wedding Anniversary that is, if things had been different ... The journey is a strange one as I find my mind racing through my memory recalling so many different events both good and bad, I'm not scared, it's taken me all these years to conquer my fears but I have finally managed it. Firstly I stop at Corley Services on the motorway, the very same motorway that over three decades ago I was trying to rescue my cat Kitty from. I buy coffee and stand in the midday sun chatting with three of my closest friends as we eat our freshly prepared picnic, they are 100% behind me with the book and are all excited about reading the final draft. On we go and before long I am turning the car right into Shakespeare Avenue where I pull the car over to the side of the road so that I can take a photograph of the street name, I then coast the car slowly down the road with my eyes darting in every direction trying to absorb everything until they come to rest upon the house where my story began when I was only 2 years old. Further on down the road past Bonnie's old house, my Great Auntie Penny's and Great Uncle Edwin's old place and then Cleggy's old house until I reach the place where my little friend Maddie breathed her last breath ...