In my view: A father's forgotten escape from poverty
Howard Williamson
Tuesday, September 18, 2007
The penultimate sentence of the follow-up book on the Milltown Boys - my 1980s study of disadvantaged young people on a Cardiff council estate - reads: "Like some of the other children of the more successful boys, their children will have little idea at all about the origins of their grandfathers". Nowhere is this more apposite than in the case of Tony Beech.
Beech grew up in the very worst of circumstances, one of only two in my study from a single-mother household. Yet he extricated himself from that environment, gained some useful educational qualifications and set out on a high road to success. He married a "nice" girl from another estate and was one of the first in the study to become an owner-occupier.
Though he struggled initially in the labour market, largely because of his determination to secure a white-collar job, he eventually got a foot on a suitable ladder and then, through a combination of good luck and hard work, was rapidly promoted to a senior management position. He moved around the country for occupational reasons and ended up near Liverpool. After more than 20 years he took a voluntary severance package and bought into a small enterprise as a partner.
His two daughters have been the beneficiaries of his success. Both went to good state schools and were materially indulged. I remember the younger of the two demanding a mobile phone at the age of 12. She is now at university, while the older one, after A-levels, joined a company in an administrative position and now, aged 24, is in middle management with an impressive company car.
Once, when accused of being "posh", she retorted that it was better than being common. Neither daughter has much clue about their father's background and their children will have virtually none.
This came home to me in a crisp little comment when I called "five-star Beechy" (as he is known in Milltown) to invite him and his family to a reunion party of the "Boys" (who are now approaching 50).
His younger daughter, Hannah, answered the phone. Her dad wasn't in, so I asked her to pass on the message. I told her the date and that the event would be held in the West End. She asked me exactly where. But when I said in the upstairs function room (of the West End working men's club in Milltown), she sounded surprised and said: "I thought you meant it was going to be in London."
- Howard Williamson is professor of European youth policy at the University of Glamorgan, and a member of the Youth Justice Board. Email howard.williamson@haymarket.com.