I promised this post a while ago but have found it a difficult one to finish and I think it will be one that I'm constantly editing...... but here goes.Sadly I lost My Dad in January of this year Dad was not a famous man out in the big wide world. He did not break any world records or win the Nobel Peace Prize, in fact he was a very humble man but in the small mining community where I grew up, if you asked anyone if they knew Tot Campbell they would have a story to tell of his exploits. Like many others of his generation he was an honest, proud working class man. A man of integrity with strong personal ethics, beliefs and principles. A man who was prepared to stand up and defend those beliefs and principles at all cost . A man who has bequeathed those strong ethics and princples to all of his children and I am proud to have them as part of my biological makeup.
Dad was born in November 1932 and used to enthrall me with tales of his childhood during the second world war. Dad was very good at football and in 1946 played on the most successful Camden Square School football team in the history of the school. In 2011 the team of '46 hit the local press again by organising a team reunion and they were all there, including the coach who had just celebrated his 100th birthday.
Also in 1946, at the age of just 14 dad left school and went to work down the local pit. Where he worked until he was forced into early retirement following the pit closure in 1991, which was all part of the Tories great plan to kill the unions and begin the reversal of workers rights. It was a career that almost cost him his life when he was seriously injured and buried alive for several hours when the roof of the coal seam he was working on caved in. We were the first in our street to own a colour TV which Dad bought with the compensation from the accident. He was a devout Labour supporter and if you cut him in half you
would have found the letters NUM running through his core. He always
gave back to the mining community which he loved so much and was so
proud to be a part of, he sat on several committees throughout his life
in an effort to help and enrich the lives of the people within that
community.
Dad enjoyed the
simple pleasures in life, the fellowship and banter of good friends, sunny
afternoons on his allotment, family days out with a picnic but most of
all he loved his life with Mum, he met Mum when he was just 16 years
old, Mum was 14 and they remained a devoted couple for the next 64 years until she was cruelly
taken from him just months before their 60th
wedding anniversary. A wound that never really healed.
So
farewell Dad, I take comfort in the knowledge that you are finally back
in the arms of your soul mate and.....
I am proud to have been called your
Son.
