Welcome folks to volume two of 'The North-East Diaries—Batesy's Tale' and I hope you enjoy this ongoing story as much as the first volume. Volume one of 'The North-East Diaries—A Funny Thing Happened in Blyth' covered the early years of the nineteen-sixties. Set predominantly in the mining town of Blyth in Northumberland and following the trials and tribulations of a young lad suddenly thrust into a perplexing Northumbrian environment in the exciting formative years of the sixties. This volume (volume 2) follows the lives of the principal characters as they attempt the precarious straddle between teenage years and adulthood in the late nineteen-sixties and then follows them into the seventies and eighties. Some are successful and some find their attempt at adulthood hugely difficult. You will find many of the characters from volume one re-appear. Sid (Hawky) Brown, Titch Irving, Batesy, Roly, Raisbeck and the surprise re-appearance of Charlie Chuck in Hull of all places. New characters make an entrance too... in particular a funny old codger named Tug from New Deleval and his marras from the lonnen Taps Bob and Mordy. They are all real people and the book is as true as it can possibly be made. This is their story and the complete tale is neither autobiography, memoir nor a work of fiction but a fusion of all three. It draws a picture of the contrast between those years and life as we know it now. A time before mobile phones and the internet. A time when holidays were taken down the beach or at Butlins and not in Ibiza or Corfu. A time when a night out was at the local Working Men's Club or perhaps bingo at the Roxy. A time when Bates pit ruled and coal was king and working men were proud. But most of all a time when music was exciting, innovative and edgy... and bands sang about the ending of wars and the stupidity of life and made us all want to change the world for the better. We didn't of course but it is still a time that I wish the kids of today could experience. If they could then we'd all be 'Working Class Heroes'. Dialogue is written as best as can be remembered and in the vernacular of the day. I hope that if any of my surviving former teachers read this they will forgive the liberties taken with grammar and syntax and refrain from sending back the book covered in red ink and sarcastic comments. Once again names and events have only been changed to protect the innocent.
