Leek Club Ripples

[paul mann]

Amazing how a book about growing up in Bedlington in the 1950's can start ripples that spread over 50 years. With the Kindle version out for six months now it's been a joy to get contacts from old classmates at Westridge and crack on via email about the old days. Still a lot of old mates in the area but many more have scattered to the four corners of the earth. For those who may be interested the print version is out on Amazon next week.

[John White]

Coming soon on the Bedders site will be a chance to `Listen Again` to Paul`s March 2012 interview on Synergy, where he talks about Bedlington life in the 50s; as portrayed in his book "The Leek Club"

[James]

Reading through The History Forum recently I picked up a comment about a book called "The Leek Clubâ€.

I then discovered that the author attended the same schools as I did (the Whitley Memorial and Westridge) and was a couple of years behind me.

Mary Wade's delightful autobiography "To the Miner Born†published in 1984 describes life in the town from 1918 to 1945 and is an important record of the social history of the town over that period.

I was hoping this book to pick up where Mary Wade's book ended giving us an ongoing historical record for future generations.

However, the book was the exact opposite to what I expected!

We learn that in 1962 he rejected the town, his Geordie dialect, his friends and even his parents.

I continued reading the book in the expectation that at the end of the book there would be some reflection and "soul searching†to explain his actions.

However this is not a book that analyses emotions, and to make things worse there is no joy, love or humour to be found anywhere!

The book concentrates mainly on unpleasant, dislikeable, and untrustworthy characters with low moral values and questionable ethical standards. This unpleasant portrayal of the town is necessary from his standpoint in order for us to understand the reason why he could no longer live is such a place. He even implies that his rejection of the town and everybody in it was a natural outcome for someone of his intellect.

Because of the claim that it is (sort of) a biography, anyone reading it may think this was typical of life in Bedlington at that time, which it is not.

I know - I was there!

The book is generally harmless but why the episode about the paedophile doctor? Surely the author could not have been so desperate for a story that he has introduced this unsavoury episode into his "biography†just for the sake of book sales.

Or does he know something we don't know?

It is a pseudo biography and nothing is to be taken as being factual and nothing in book is to be taken seriously.

It's a pity because he is an accomplished writer.

I would be interested to know from others who have read this book what they thought of it.

[Malcolm Robinson]

(James, make sure the font size is 14!)

[Maggie/915]

The book provides one persons view about our times and our town.

Whilst maybe we do not see things in quite that way it is interesting to read.

A gritty and rather graphic account of life in a Northern town.

We can become complacent and we all have subjective views on the past.

Good and bad, we decide for ourselves what we remember.

My memories are not like those of Paul Mann but I have not committed time and energy into writing a book.

I think in Bedlington we are a long way from a 'Shameless Society'

I enjoyed reading the book.