Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Spirit of the Summer of 76 and the route map to our lives

Reidski, and Jane have both done it. Following on from Houses of the Holy in a Parallel Universe. I couldn't remember initially much about 1976 other than it was hot, like today. Bits of Reidski's made some kind of sense, but I guess I was bit older (18) and wasn't subject to parental fears. So I pondered a bit on what I did do in 1976 and lo and behold it kind of smacked me in the face big style tonight, that's a slightly different story, which I'll come to later.

1976 then was this big spaghetti junction of a point in my life that I guess most people go through at one time or another. Maybe not a big fankled version, but certainly some intersections and links with people in the past and future. Before I get too complicated though, I should point out I had left school, been a trainee carpet salesman for two weeks (I had an ultimatum to get my hair cut or find another job, the same lunchtime I found another job) apprentice electrician into my second year before the firm went bust and then a brief period of unemployment before at the start of the summer of 76 I became a trainee in the jobcreation factory. You couldn't make that up. Some jobcreation schemes were ridiculous ploys to massage unemployment, particularly youth unemployment including one which had people counting lamp-posts. Ours was a bit more creative and practical. You got to do woodwork, metalwork, car-mechanics, electrical work, gardening and office work (if you were a chick!) It could be interesting, depending on the instructors, most of whom were decent folk, interested in passing on skills to young people. Managers though were another kettle of fish, so perhaps it was a realistic attempt to provide youngsters with an accurate grounding of life in a factory.

Anyway back to my intersection, which is really about moving on or gradually away from friends from school. I kept in touch with some, but even then it sort of faded until..................well that's an entirely different story mrs tnr and Father Bell. I had now started to hang out with colleagues from work and their wider circle, people who I am still best of friends with today. It was a fairly wide circle of Labour Party, Scouts/Guides, Folk Music and general all round party loving people.

One of the instructors was probably instrumental in getting me involved in youth work, through having met him in the pub one night after his Scout Group meeting, he invited me along to help as I had been one in my younger days and I remembered him from then. (Can you imagine inviting someone you'd met in a pub to your youth group nowadays?)
Anyway I went and linked with all of the other things I've listed above I reckon it was one of those defining moments of my life. To keep the roadway intersection thing going it's like a big signpost on the routemap that shows you what jobs you are going to do, what people you are going to meet and re-meet, who you're going to marry, who you are going to keep in touch with, whets important and what speed you should be going. One of the motorways on this particular journey was getting involved in the Woodcraft Folk. We, a collective we, kind of stumbled on them in 1976. They were different to the Scouts and guides, no queen and country, no religious nonsense, mixed we liked them from the start. With an organisation like that maybe young idealists could change the world. We had a go. I was a leader with them from then until I just didn't have time any more, recently. I worked for them, in a fabulous, fulfilling job for 12 years, before moving to the outfit I am with now. During that time we set up and ran a number of groups in our town, over the years probably working with thousands of youngsters and indeed their children over the period. We also had any number of leaders including one Reidski and I know that one of his intersections will be in there somewhere as well. Over that period, we were lucky enough to have built up a strong group, with a lot of support and eventually acquired our own hall, a former prefabricated school building, which served as weekly group meeting accommodation, store, fundraising centre, party venue etc. etc. Fairly recently it was given up, it had long outlived its life expectancy, and was unsuitable and unsafe to have children using it. So it was given back to the council. It's opposite the Youth Drop in I work at on Wednesdays or should I say it was opposite. Its been demolished and there was a big vacant space there tonight. I felt sad when I think of the many good times, good people and good things that I associated with that rickety old wooden building.

I can actually link all of this back to one night when I went for a pint in the summer of 1976. But that was only a junction, you see going back further I actually met thewife in that building. We went to school there when we were seven. The building was also only a junction though like 1976, the people who maybe have it as one of there own junctions are still connected to my big route map somewhere. Enough of this metaphor, its done finished and goodnight.
posted by timesnewroman at 9:30 PM  

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