Barry Merchant

A Life's Journey a Working Class Saga Barry Merchant

After spending his first twenty years with his supportive working class parents in a village largely run by middle-class professional values, Richard decides to move away. As a young boy growing up surrounded by farming people, including his father, two uncles and many other family members, his mother had always encouraged him not to end up as a farm worker. After a short spell working for a local furniture company, and running away with an underage girl to Scotland, he goes to sea for a while. Afterwards, slowly but surely, he begins to develop an enjoyable and productive career in forestry, working around the country, each time moving to a higher and better paid job. After nearly thirty years away from his place of birth, although he does visit his family and friends during that time, he decides to move back to where his parents were living, where he develops a new career and finds a new partner. But perhaps he had paid a high price for leaving his home village in the first place!