Small Victories & Inner Smiles

I learnt at a young age that born into a working class family in the slums of east Manchester left me at a great disadvantage, and in an effort to balance the books there are certain aspects of what is perceived as normality which need to be circumvented to ensure some kind of success in life. I witnessed much violence during my formative years which ensured I would not follow my older siblings methodology of settling arguments physically, so I purposely set out to be educated in the real world by sitting at the feet of those who I thought could provide me with the tools required. I didn't intend to aim too high or create too many enemies so settled for all my victories to be small ones, and be satisfied that any success be savoured within. I was born in May1949 believing I was the youngest of 5 boys, but after my brother Billy was killed whilst serving with the army in Gibraltar, mother informed me she had given birth to twin daughters who died within weeks of each other in 1946 during a Gastro-enteritis epidemic in Manchester. Then some years later she told me that I was now the youngest of 14 children, 7 of whom came from a previous relationship in Scotland, her country of birth; She met my father whilst he was Commando training and stationed in Dunoon during the 2nd World War, but even stranger was that she named two of us George, after her father. My journey through life cannot be documented by bricks and mortar due to my home city's insistence on clearance in the name of regeneration without sustainability, therefore only my memory banks and surviving family are able to provide the narrative to my existence. I have met with real characters who willingly educated me in the vicissitudes of life, who inspired me and allowed me to make mistakes, and met with those who wouldn't think twice of doing me real harm. I have lived most of my life in Gorton, the 60's, Brady and Hindley, slum clearance and the collapse of manufacturing which devastated whole communities. Life is a tough journey and we can easily fall by the wayside, but something, someone or even some masterplan helped get me through it, which conversely, and in its entirety, is no 'Small Victory.