My piece for a booklet on Bill May, a lifelong socialist

My friend Bill May died last year at aged 95. His son Martin, a great friend of mine, interviewed him in the years leading up to his death. Martin has also asked friends of his to write a few dedicated words on his dad for a booklet he's getting together. These are mine. 

I first met Bill and Marjorie May at the start of the century after I moved back to the North East and began making regular trips to Middlesbrough to watch football matches at the Riverside Stadium and meet up for a beer with my long term friend Martin, their son, who I have known since 1986.

On some of these occasions we were supporting rival teams in Boro v Sunderland but I also reported for The Morning Star on a number of high profile top flight Boro games plus matches in the famous 2005-06 season – by which time I was living in West Yorkshire - when Steve McLaren’s side made it through to the final of the Europa Cup. I can recall Bill being ecstatic when Boro managed to overcome a three goal deficit on aggregate in the semi-final to knock out Steaua Bucharest. 

Bill and Marjorie were always good company. Bill would great you with that great big smile of his and he was always interested in what you were doing. As he was a socialist like myself then he would ask me what I was doing to further the socialist cause and be especially delighted when I could tell him of some small victories. He would ask me what I was writing about and he’d take booklets I had written for Unite and the next time I saw him he’d make reference to some points I had made in them.

A couple of years ago I did an article for the Big Issue North magazine on council housing and Bill contributed enormously to this, recalling when he had come home from the Far East, where he had fought in WWII, getting married and him and Marjorie getting a much valued council house. It was a place to call home and to bring up a family. The pair later became house owners but Bill remained throughout his life a passionate supporter of public housing.

Myself and my son Charlie, aged 9 at the time, were fortunate to be able to attend Bill’s 90^th birthday party and we had a great time. It was also wonderful to see so many people from different age groups, nationalities and backgrounds that were present. A sure sign that Bill was loved by so many people.

In 2021, Bill was good enough to appear in the UNITE Education booklet I wrote on Stanley Taggart, one of the heroes of the Battle of Stockton in 1933. The photograph that Mark Harvey took of Bill was taken at the Transporter Bridge and although he was clearly struggling to get around, but he nevertheless still had a broad smile and was keen to chat about football and politics. He was a special character was Bill.

Stanley Taggart booklet is at:- https://markwritecouk.files.wordpress.com/2021/08/stanley-taggart-book-final.pdf

 

Big Issue North article – December 2019

“It was really wonderful in 1951 to get a well looked after council home that we could turn into a comfortable place to raise a family,” says Bill May, aged 93. 

The Teessider had joined the Royal Navy in 1944 and saw action on the battleship HMS Nelson, the flagship in the British Far Eastern Fleet. 

After leaving the navy in 1951, Bill and his wife Marjorie privately rented a wooden bungalow. But they, like millions, wanted somewhere better. 

“We went to Hambleton Council offices and put our name on the housing list. Within weeks we received news that one of the houses newly built by the council was ours. We collected the keys and moved in. It had three bedrooms, a sitting room, radiators throughout, a kitchen and a garden. We were elated and felt very positive about the future as we now had a permanent place to call home,” says a smiling Bill, who remained a council tenant with Marjorie until 1986 when they bought a Harrogate flat. ……………………..

……… But Cunliffe, Daykin, Hedderwick and May remain united in wanting to see the end of Right to Buy and start a massive council house building programme. “The divide between people across society is growing worryingly large,” says May. “We must address a situation where many people are unable to afford decent housing. Council housing provided for my generation the bedrock of a good upbringing and it can do so again in the future.” 

 

Full article at:- https://www.bigissuenorth.com/features/2019/12/hearths-and-homes/