About me

About Me

Well, where do I start with this? I’ve been a bit of a lad in my time, my mates think I’m a bit of a character? Well I’m not going to argue that point, I’m not always an angel, but here I am trying to be one.

My early childhood and teens went through the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s and I lived in the predominantly coal mining community, of Hatfield in South Yorkshire, England. I still live here, in the same house I grew up in.

The community and it’s main industries, along with many others, were destroyed in the name of “progress” which led to the Mining strike of 1984. It left many hard working people without jobs, and the community really saw some very tough times. I wasn’t a Miner, but a lot of my friends were. It was really bad for them, but there was also mass unemployment across nearly all job sectors. Especially as Sheffield in South Yorkshire was one of the famous steel producers in the United kingdom. The Steel Industry all over the United Kingdom took hard knocks too. Again in the name of progress?

We did what jobs we could do to survive, many of us had to take up ANY job we were capable of doing, even if they were horrible conditions, and that is if the jobs were available in the first place.

My Mother passed away on New Years Eve 1986, when I was 22, and my Father became very ill around four years later. I managed to look after my Father, as it seemed there was no help from the Government or local Social Services. It took the intervention of SSAFA to get my Father any social help. Anyway I did the best I could, until he passed away in 1994 from flu.

My own problems started, after the company I worked for closed down. Jobs and careers became more qualification orientated. So I had to try and get qualified as best as I could, all to try and compete with millions who were already looking for the same jobs. I left school with a CSE Grade 1 in Environmental Science and a decent English CSE too. It’s probably why I love nature, animals and the world we live in.

So I took the plunge and headed back into further Education, Eventually I found I was trying to balance my further education, with earning enough to put food on the table.

This was the same for all those people going into mature education. Due to the Governments policy, on being available for work at any given moment. Many students I knew, just couldn’t keep studying while being pressured to find work. Many had their benefits reduced or restricted, even though everyone was learning to better themselves and get better paid jobs. So out of our class of over thirty, it dwindled down to just six of us. Such a shame for those who had put everything into their working towards a new career.

I continued to study and eventually gained my Certificate to Higher Education, and a request by my tutor to apply to the University Of Sheffield.

I didn’t go. The reason? I looked at the tuition fee’s, and it struck me I didn’t want to be spending three years to come out on University with a debt. Something I’ve never wanted to be in with anyone.

The reality struck me one day, when I came home from college and found I only had one tin of baked beans, and half a packet of dried pasta in the cupboard. I thought hmmm, that’s not good, and I certainly wasn’t to become a sudden star of “Can’t Cook, Won’t Cook” with just two ingredients. Beany-Pasta surprise maybe?

I was too proud to ask my sisters for any help, and I didn’t want to turn to anyone because I felt I’d failed. I don’t know if that was the turning point, but at that time, I didn’t want anyone to know how things were really going.

I took up a low paid job or two and after a discussion with a friend, he said, James you care about people, why not do a job where you can make a difference, and be sure they are all okay. So I saved up for my coursework, paid for the exams and eventually became an Occupational Health and Safety Professional.

I now earn a good income and have saved hard. This Leaf a Legacy adventure is my mission, and upto now I have funded it with my own money. It’s my way of helping people now and in the future.

I look back now, at how hard times were, and it made me realise how hard life is on a lot of people. There are good people out there who struggle, and there are bad people who just don’t care, but they make billions, sometimes just in minutes and hours and at the simple click of a deal.

My life has changed, and I want to help those who find it hard. It doesn’t have to be that way for anyone, especially children. It’s none of their fault.

By the way, this isn’t my sob story, this is just my memoir that I will come back and read every so often, just to remind me that I tried, and I got lucky. Especially when so many out there do try and keep trying. Unfortunately I get the impression that the system it seems, is constantly stacked against them, and doesn’t seem to want to help.

Lifes a learning experience and tough lives make you hardened to whatever it throws at you. So if anyone tries to stop me planting a tree publicly that will eventually feed someone, guess what my answer is going to be.

If you are reading this, then I hope you understand, and if you are one of the less fortunate. I’m trying for you.

Never give up…. Because “Goonies never Say Die”

James Berry