I was born in 1970 so I was not a 60’s child but was most definitely a 70’s development. I was born on 27 April at a quarter to eight in the evening. Considering later life developments I was quite a small baby – being just 7lbs2oz. I was born in Mount Pleasant hospital in Swansea, which no longer exists. The land was bulldozed several years back for sheltered accommodation, the usual!

For the first few years of my life we lived in a house in Plasmarl in Swansea. It was a typical two up, two down terraced house without a great deal of amenities. We didn’t have a bathroom and baths were in a tin bath in the kitchen and the toilet was down the garden. But hey I survived until we moved to a new flat near the city centre. Tall flats were the in thing for councils to accommodate lots of people in small spaces and we had a nice two bedroom flat, and yes a full indoor working bathroom too!

On 20th May 1977 my sister Catherine was born. She arrived the day after my mum’s 30th birthday. She was awkward then and hasn’t changed that much since! But not only was she the first girl on my Dad’s side of the family for over 29 years and thus about to be spoilt rotten, she was also a problem for the council as we were living in a two bedroom flat and we had to move to somewhere with three bedrooms as council policy. So up sticks and move on again.

Now this was getting to be a pain – every three years or so move to a new school for me. I was a bright child and was doing really well at school. Even though I was only 7 I had been having assessments and it was noted that at the age of 7 I had the mental ability of an average 14 year old! I don’t know where it came from and later on where it went to but I was now off to new teachers at a new school in another part of Swansea. An area called Waunarlwydd. That is pronounced worn-ah-loy-th with the harder “th” for the “dd” welsh sound. The probably is of no help to anyone but I am sure there are a few non-Welsh people reading this!

So 1977 we moved to Waunarlwydd. It was a nice estate we lived on and really for the first time ever I began to relax and get on with a few people in school. I had been much of a loner in school and my weight problem had started to take hold. Something I was bullied and picked on in school and still brings a tear to my eye now. It appals me how little is done in schools to counteract bullying. Just because someone isn’t the same then they are mercilessly victimised while the vast majority of teachers and adults wait for nature to take its course – how ignorant can you be? What happens to a child in those years can traumatise and destroy confidence for life. But I did well at my new school; a wonderful teacher called Mrs Thomas seemed to promote me along and with a little healthy competition from Fiona I was spurred through it all. Mathematics was the subject I began to excel in and really put the footings in place for later years.

However this was not such a good time for the family as a whole. My father had come out of work and had tried a variety of jobs selling and the like but to no great success. Things had become emotionally volatile and being a sensitive chap I had many a run in with my father over the silliest of things. He was a strong willed person who could see no opinion but his own, and god help you if you thought otherwise. Anyway, as we approach the end of the 70s I was doing well in school. Cath was beginning to walk talk and do as she pleased while the family unit was being strained. Oh and this was just as Margaret Thatcher got elected as Prime Minister!