An outstanding entry!

Ladies and Gentlemen...today i proudly present to you part one of Steve M's autobiography. It is a truly moving piece of work and I hope you will give Steve all the encouragement he deserves...enjoy...blogmaster

I was born on the 29th December 1965 at Oubas house maternity home in Ulverston
Lancashire {well it was Lancashire in’65} to William and Margaret McDougall , they had a bit of trouble thinking of names for me so they asked around the family for suggestions to no avail until they asked uncle Jimmy Mac, who said “give him my fathers first name and my middle name and I’ll leave him something in my will, when I’m gone” so obviously thinking I was going to be rich they named me Stephen Cole McDougall, sadly when uncle jim died he was skint so I got fuck all, just my luck!

Growing up in Ulverston was great, it is such an interesting place with its cobbled streets and grand Georgian architecture and everybody was so friendly.
We lived at 11a Town Street from 1966 to 1977 I remember these years fondly as they were the only years I lived with my parents and brother as a proper family which while writing this fills me with great sadness.

My Mum was a hairdresser, her salon was in the village of Coniston a small village in the lake district ,where my mum is from, I remember she used to use me to test out her new products like perms and dye’s {you can imagine the stick I got at school}
So I blame her for being folically challenged now.

My Dad was an hgv driver for a frozen food distributor and covered Cumberland, Westmorland and the north east, he did that until 1969 the year which my granddad died in a car crash, This is probably my first childhood memory we were travelling back from a day out to Morecambe { I think!} my parents, brother {Graham} and me were in our car a Ford Corsair , My granddad was travelling with my dads friend in the car in front , I cant’ remember what it was but it was a two seater sports , we were 4 miles from home at a place called Arrad Foot, when the car in front lost control and smashed into a wall, my granddad was killed instantly, the driver got away with a broken collar bone, it turned out that the car had odd tyres on one axle {crossply + radial} which tragically altered the handling of the car, I think back now and it all seems like a dream , we were taken to the local hotel so as not to see the events of the aftermath, I remember my dad was devastated thumping the roof of his car and my mum just cuddling my brother and me, what a great first memory hey!.

Time went by and my Nan moved out of the farm she lived in and moved to a large flat in Market Street in Ulverston with her sister Mabel, Mabel could not read or write and was addicted to Coronation Street which over the years sparked a few arguments!.
Underneath the flat was a large space which used to be a stable for the breweries’ horses, My Uncle Barry and My Dad set up in business as mechanics in the space under the flat and called it “Mac’s Garage” they stayed in the garage business until 1982, “I’ll come back to these years later”.

I started school in1971 aged five and a bit at Dale Street Infants School, My first teacher was Mrs Robertshaw , I remember we all used to sing a lot and she used to play the piano.
I also had my first visit to the headmistress’ office in this year for pouring paint down Carol Wilson’s dress, it was a place I would come to know quite well over the years.

These days were so happy go lucky especially in the school holidays, my friends at this time were Tony Wilkinson, Kieth Rushforth and his sister Claire, Alan Stainton and my cousins Micheal and Tony McDougall we used to get up to allsorts of mischief, like, tying door knobs together and ringing both door bells we would be in hysterics watching the people trying to open their front doors, or we would throw eggs at each other followed by flour but most of all we would play football in the street .

My second teacher was Mrs Birkett who was an absolute tyrant she was always shouting and had a very red face, woe betide anyone who was late or forgot their dinner money “ooh it chills me just thinking about it”.

A new boy started school this year his name was Mark Fisher he made his mark on his first day by hitting me over the head with a blackboard rubber OUCH!! needless to say we became the best of friends and spent the rest of our school life in the same class.

My last infant school teacher was Mrs Wilding, wow this lady had the biggest beehive hairdo you could imagine long finger nails painted blood red and always wore thick green eye shadow “thinking about it now she looked like a drag queen” she was the one that always gave out the worst punishments, she would make you stand in the corridor with a chair right behind you and she would say” DO NOT SIT IN THAT CHAIR OR ELSE” god it was torture.
That’s it for now, next week junior school years and the family breakdown.