About John McGuirk
I was born in Bootle in 1931, which makes me 75 years of age.
The biggest influence on the life of people of my age was the beginning of the Second World War. I was eight years old when I was evacuated to Southport. After a couple of years there I ended up in Martin鈥檚 Camp in Chester. A purpose built camp for Liverpool and Bootle schoolchildren, split in two by way of religion, catholic on one side, protestant on the other. We were in the country, our parents could come to visit. One of our main activities was gardening growing turnips, potatoes, carrots, tomatoes as well as keeping chickens.
At the end of the war we returned to Bootle. I left school at 14, did a few jobs on building sites. At 15 I made the decision to join the Merchant Navy. On reflection I was attracted to the glamour of the sea. I spent seven and a half years in the Merchant Navy as a deckhand. Looking back I have mixed emotions. It was exciting but it was mainly wine, woman and song. In a way I wish I鈥檇 been more serious about appreciating and exploring the places we visited.
On my return I worked in a factory for two years, then a variety of jobs in Bootle. Then I got a job with a firm from Birmingham working on motorways, and I spent 21 years doing that. It wasn鈥檛 a job I enjoyed. It meant working away from home a lot. Out of 21 years I spent about two at home with my family. I was laid off when I was 61.
That was the beginning of one of the most exciting parts of my life. I always enjoyed singing and I ended up singing a song in a Jimmy McGovern film called . From that I went on to do work as an extra in different films, becoming friends with Jimmy McGovern and his wife and Ricky Tomlinson.
Then I got involved with at and from there I became involved in this blogging project.
I鈥檓 enjoying what I鈥檓 doing, meeting interesting people and doing something different each day. Hopefully during this project I鈥檒l be able to touch on lots of topics that interest me. I read a lot of news and find I have a view on all sorts of things.
My father was born in Litherland Road, Bootle, then moved to Aintree.
He came to live in mid-Cheshire when sixteen - which is where we still are! (And he's not the only one. My mother comes back with comments like "so-and-so says those Liverpudlians have taken over the British Legion". They're not making a bad job of it.)
John can you contact me a.s.a.p. please? Esther.
John I reckon you should listen to Howlin' Wolf's 'Spoonful' - I can see you playing soulfully along!