|
|
Post by stokowski on Nov 13, 2010 23:15:48 GMT
My thoughts are with you, Mike, though I haven't seen you for over 40 years. We used to go running together when we were in the first years of the grammar school. You were an excellent cross-country and road runner - one of the best. I remember you used to joke about your talent, in a semi-serious way, saying that you had to be a good runner in order to escape from home now and again. I can't remember whether you told me, or whether I imagined, that you were escaping from a heavy-handed father. Out of the little council house in Hele, down through the small garden, and a hurdle over the fence. Whatever the exact truth, I know you had a hard time. You'll probably never read this post, but it's my way of trying to communicate with you. Good luck, Mike.
|
|
|
|
Post by loyalgull on Dec 6, 2010 22:37:51 GMT
mike has now got a roof over his head and keeping out of trouble
|
|
poppy
TFF member
Posts: 1
|
Post by poppy on Jan 12, 2011 3:48:24 GMT
Hi just a quick update for all of you who have been following michaels sad plight. He appeared before Torquay magistrates on monday but it has been postponed until the 17th of january as he has not had the mental health assessment that had been asked for by the courts. I have been in contact with his solicitor and i'm hoping to receive a visiting order so that I can take my daughter who is
his granddaughter to see him. I will print off all of the good wishes and comments so that he can see contrary to his belief there are people who do care about him and not just about what they can get out of him. As one of the members has said you couldnt wish to meet a nicer bloke and because of this he gets taken advantage of not just by 'friends' but also his family. Somebody asked where was his family and friends well his only true friend Willy Duggan I believe had moved away after sadly losing his wife. His kids? I dont know but I can tell you where his granddaughter was she met him daily on her way to school and gave him part if not all of her dinner money, after school she met with me to give him a hot meal and a pack up for the evening and on a few occasions at 2 o'clock in the morning we were sat outside the bank where he slept rough waiting for him to turn up so we could give him fags and hot food/drinks. I've known mike for 20 years and he is a diamond whose problem in life is life. He is ill and all of the agencies that should've helped him and monitored him right from the age of 19 when he had his 1st breakdown have failed him. Through all of it even at his worst points he has always tried to keep a lid on it and hide it from lauren but being 14 she can read the papers and she gets ridiculed for being the granddaughter of a tramp, with the surname they share being so rare the likelihood of them being unrelated is unlikely. She has defended him against her peers and even her own father who told her to ignore him if she sees him. Why? Because he's her granddad and she loves him as he does her. So for the members who may have a narrow minded view of this 'nuisance to society' please remember that not all of these people are where they because of their own doing but because they have been failed by society and also try to remember that they have feelings and are someones son/father/brother etc. To all the people who have shown support for mike I thank you on his behalf. I will keep this updated.
|
|
Dave
TFF member
Posts: 13,081
|
Post by Dave on Jan 12, 2011 12:28:54 GMT
Hi Poppy and a warm welcome to the TFF, many thanks for your update on Mike and I hope you can get the visiting order sorted out without any problems.
I believe I saw Mike sitting on the path in Union Street near the bank a few months ago on a Wednesday afternoon. I’m sure there was a young girl maybe in her late teens and one or two others talking with him.
It did not click with me at the time it could have been Mike and it was a few days later the penny dropped. Please feel free to print anything you want from this thread so that Mike will know there are people who not only care about him, but what happens to him.
All the best
Dave
|
|
