GortonBlue62
Well-Known Member
- Joined
- 26 Nov 2015
- Messages
- 2,995
I love Gorton, I've lived here all.my life and will never leave but let's not romanticise the past.It's weird to think that when I was a very little kid I lived in a house that backed onto the houses in that street.
Mind you, Gorton was very different back then. What they used to call the 'respectable working class'. It was unusual if your Dad didn't have work, and if your Mum was on her own it was usually because she was a widow.
Single mum's, of which there were many, we're alone because their feckless husbands had fucked off or were locked up.
There was real poverty. The most malnourished kids were dirty and neglected and depended on charity from local churches.
I also remember it being a scary place. There were places you didn't go. The flats near the Monastery were especially frightening. I remember being late for school one day and getting battered and robbed cutting through there.
There was a distinct split between the catholics and the protestants. No real animosity but as a catlick, school and social life revolved around the Monastery and we had much less contact with the proddy dogs than was probably desirable.
The respectable working classes did exist and probably constituted a majority. My parents both worked hard and me and my brother wanted for nothing.
When I went to grammar school (Xaverian) I experienced the kind of snobbery that's always existed towards the white working class. Fortunately I didn't give a fuck then and I don,'t give a fuck now. It's human nature. There will always be prejudiced snobs wherever you go.