Responses

On November 22nd 1963 I was 13 yrs of age. It was a Friday and that meant after school I was at Scouts. A friend and I had just lit a fire and were preparing a Hot Dog and a cup of tea when Skip came running up in some sort of panic and started stamping out our fire. He was shouting “You have to go home, you have to go home President Kennedy’s been shot!”

“Ugh what, who, what’s it got to do with us?”

“Go home, everyone’s in danger, there’s going to be a War.”

We sloped off scratching our heads and eating our cold Hot Dogs and said our farewells ‘til next week.

Mum and Dad and my Brother had gone out for the evening so when I returned home early I was surprised to find the front door open. As I went in the house a shadowy figure in long raincoat pushed passed me and ran out of the back kitchen door, we had been burgled.

Both of these events, one of global interest and impact and the other directly affecting my family have stuck with me and I remember them like it was yesterday.

I regret to say it was not until years later that I started using events such as War, terrorism, natural and man made disasters in my work some of which are represented in this Responses gallery.