Before drawing the curtain on my 1984, a few last thoughts. Writing about it was strangely cathartic, and I wonder if I would have felt less affected had I been able to blog about it at the time. Certainly I became aware during the fall-out period that the priest involved in making sure we wouldn't still be around our church by the time the Presiding Bishop of ECUSA (the Episcopal church in the USA) visited the congregation that autumn was terrified Mr B would bring a case of wrongful dismissal - he even had a tame lawyer on hand to dig him out of the hole. At the time no-one was interested in what had actually happened; the priest was more to be believed than those pinko peace people. Actually, that's not true: one couple invited us for dinner and asked us to tell the story.
In the end, I grew tired of the pressure. After appearing in three TV programmes - the most notable being Northern Frontier - and taking on several speaking engagements and after realising that my phone conversations were not private I decided to back off a bit and concentrate on teaching. I didn't go near the Episcopal church for several years, and I still haven't resolved that bit of my past. The people who were involved in making things unpleasant are mostly dead now, and the ones who remain are old. Their places have been taken by a new generation of Christians who practice what they preach - and yes, some of them do preach. There is a great deal more honesty around, though I never take it for granted. And most of them don't have the remotest idea of what happened during the Miners' Strike of '84. Site One has gone, and the pier where we demonstrated looks decrepit. The only Americans are holidaymakers, more or less, and their housing schemes transformed by the very Scottish gardens of their new owners.
Would I do it again? There's only one answer. Yes, I would.
Thanks, Christine, for all this stuff. I was watching from afar during these times, being involved in drug stuff in Glasgow at the time.
ReplyDeleteHowever, the issue was always very much alive for me, and you have brought it to life again in your wee series.
Interesting to reflect how things would have been different for you, perhaps, if you had been blogging. The speed and efficacy of communication, even through Twitters, would, I think, have brought a very different outcome, personally and perhaps politically.
See you ra morra!
The people who were involved in making things unpleasant are mostly dead now
ReplyDeleteCrikey!
Look, Chris. I didn't mean to argue with you that time. I wasn't feeling well. It was a mistake. Anyway, I was completely wrong and you were completely right. I don't know what possessed me.
I've got a wife and three dogs to support. They would be destitute without me. Please don't do it, Chris, please!
Be calm, MP. They, in common with most of our congregation members, were not in their first youth. It wisny me, honest.
ReplyDeleteCan't leave my last comment without adding this: the aged harridans who hounded us as pinkos may be dead, but the cleric concerned is younger than I am and is alive and well, as far as I know. And he's never apologised.
ReplyDelete