The Langley Boy Raising the Red Flag

Book excerpt: Love, legerdemain, political and personal ambition, dedication, and all the ingredients of a Shakespearean drama are reflected in the second part of the Langley Boy Trilogy Raising the Red Flag. The story begins with a blossoming romance in Cookham, a students life at Birmingham University, being under the surgeons knife, marriage, fatherhood, and a coveted Civil Engineering degree. The book reveals the grim reality of living in London with a small child, Harold Wilsons Lets Go with Labour election campaign, a move to Timperley in Cheshire, a divorce, a child custody case, and becoming a chartered civil engineer. The contents provide a cameo history of the Labour Partys activities in Timperley Ward 2 and East Central Ward in the Borough of Altrincham during the period 1964 to 1974, the authors attempts to become a parliamentary candidate and his experiences as an Altrincham Borough Councillor. Cupids arrow at Timperley Hockey Club leads to marriage to Hilary, a new home, tackling Wainwrights Fells in the Lake District, family holidays in Anglesey and Burnham-on-Sea, boat building, school trips and entertaining nephews and nieces. The author includes intriguing anecdotes of his work at Stockport and Manchester, and describes the management of a direct labour force during a period of massive sewer collapses, the taming of recalcitrant developers and contractors, the resurfacing the citys highways, and the exploration the vast subterranean network of Victorian sewers, which lie below the citys streets. The story concludes with his success in becoming the Assistant City Engineer (Construction) for Swansea City Council.