Dad was born on 24th July 1930, just a year after the Wall Street Crash and whose early life was marked by the affects of the depression of the 1930's. He grew up in cramped surroundings in a large tenement block in Craigneuck, Wishaw, Scotland and told us of how he and his elder brother worked on his father's allotment and collected chickens eggs to eat and to sell and which helped alleviate the affects of the poverty of the time. His father was Scottish and his mother was Irish, whose family made their way over from County Donnegal, citing the 'bastard Black and Tans' as one reason. He often spoke of his early memories of his Irish uncles and how they evaded local police because of their political affiliations. After leaving school at the age of 14 he started an apprentorship in bricklaying and which in the post war years took him to work in bombed out cities including Sheffield and Coventry as part of their rebuilding projects. He eventually made his way to Port Talbot at the age of 21, remarking on 'how many pubs there were in such a small town' and it was in Belli's cafe in Neath that he met my mother, Enid. Marriage followed in 1955 along with four children over the next 11 years. Shortly after settling in Port Talbot he started work in Port Talbot Steelworks and stayed there for the next 40 years. An intelligent and thoughtful man, his values were strongly influenced by his upbringing and his early years and he constantly impressed on all of us how we should strive to improve ourselves and not give up. 'Turn your weaknesses into strengths' was one of his many mottoes (along with a few other unrepeatable ones!). He hated waste and injustice wherever he saw it around him or in the wider world, but also showed understanding and compassion to others. Two particular events in his life had powerful impact on him, the untimely and painful death of his wife on 12 March 1989 and a catastrophic stroke on 11 April 2001 and which left him severely disabled. These two events had a huge and lasting affect on him for the rest of his life but also illustrated his strength and courage. He missed my mother terribly but took on an even closer role with his children, grandchildren and great grandchildren and turned that into a positive experience for all of us. His recovery from his stroke was just unbelievable, through hard work he maintained an independent lifestyle for another ten years. I have heard it described that 'event + response = outcome'. That sums up my dad, the outcome was always positive and someone who never gave up right to the very end!