I recently completed and published a novel in December of last last year which describes and illustrates daily life in a north east steel town in the early 1970’s. While writing the book I reflected on my own experiences of that time and the similarities and differences of the life we share today.
Born in 1956 in Consett, I have spent the best part of my life here and embraced the town and the people who make it what it is.
Now. living a stone’s throw away from the school I attended from the age of four, I’m very aware of how the the years have passed in the twinkling of an eye. And presently I find myself falling into May while making preparations for my 70th birthday in the first week of the month. I ask myself, how did that happen?
The theme for my birthday celebration is ‘Back to the Seventies’ as I, like countless generations of folk generally hold and hang on to fond memories of the time, fashion, music and culture they experienced in their youth.
With that in mind, I can honestly say I am ‘stuck in the seventies’ and embrace a time in my life that held great influence.
In 1970 I celebrated my fourteenth birthday at St Mary’s youth club in Blackhill, wearing a purple mini skirt which my mam had made to match my cropped skinny rib jumper. The outfit was enhanced by paleface tights bought from the wool shop at the bottom of the market. Under fluorescent purple strip lighting in the church hall we danced in a circle to Norman Greenbaum’s ‘Spirit in the Sky’ laughing at the amount of white fluff that showed up on our clothes.
The following year I was still attending the youth club but now had a Saturday job in Woolworth’s so had some disposable income which could be spent on a Friday night at The Freemasons disco. I remember longing to go to Botto’s night club as I watched the queues build up past The Empire and Lloyds bank after ten thirty in the evening once last orders had been called in the pubs. There was a brief fashion craze for hot pants and all my friends including myself wore them, but to be honest in Consett with the constant chance of cold and windy weather I was glad to get back into my flares and bomber jacket.
When I did eventually visit Botto’s I stood patiently in the queue tottering on my newly acquired platform patent leather shoes, shivering in my jeans and striped t shirt. When I reached the top of the stairs after paying the forty pence entrance fee, I was introduced to a whole new world and it soon became my go to place every Friday and Saturday night.
In fact, as I hurtle towards seventy years of age. Ive just bought myself a pair of flared jeans – as they are back in fashion – to wear on my birthday with a striped t shirt and my leather jacket, as a nod to the seventies . However, I can definitely say I will be wearing a sensible pair of shoes/boots as my days of wearing platforms are well and truly over and I don’t want to risk a late night visit to out of hours.
Yet they do say:
‘Time Flies – But Memories Last Forever’
So, I’m going to hang on to that thought.
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