I am very pleased to have found your Web site. The world may be a big place. But when you discover that we all have common experiences it helps to break down all of the divisions that have been established by others.

My birth mother was a young girl of 19 who was sent to a convent school in Ireland by her parents who were very traditional god fearing Catholics. She was the head girl. She came home and discovered boys. In fact being a young girl living in the country she met a very unsuitable man. He was 19 years older than her and very wise in the world.

He took her after the dance in the village hall.

Shortly after she discovered she was pregnant and eventually frightened and upset she told her mother. At the time, life in Ireland was very traditional and for the west very conservative. She was sent to friends in England and they arranged for her to go to a catholic run organisation in the North West of England.

I was born and they made her look after me for four weeks. She and I were sent to Newcastle upon Tyne.

One day, two weeks later, she was told to go out and get her hair done. When she returned...

That's the point in the story when 36 years later I broke down and held her so tight.

... My parents had asked my aunt for a lift to Newcastle. It must have been such a strange day for them. A day full of fear and insecurity. In the cot they found me. A funny looking white baby.

I can forgive my mother. I can forgive my Grandmother, who I've met, and I can forgive the people who she knew who formed her ideas. But I don't think I can ever forgive the church and its narrow view of humanity. I've become a conscious Socialist and a fighter for the rights of man.

I hope that as long as I live I'll always do my best for others and never ever put a child in the position that I was put in...

Which is just as well, since Gillian my girlfriend is 11 weeks pregnant with our baby.

With love, Terry

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