The prospect of a move from St. Joseph's Home, London to Blaisdon in Gloucestershire, evokes fear of further horrors to come. For years, the author has been warned of the Spartan disciplines, awaiting all who are sent there. Will Blaisdon Hall be the ultimate in refined punishments by men that the orphanages Sisters suggest? From the moment he changes trains in Gloucester, is escorted by a man in black and arrives at Blaisdon Halt, the transition from boy to man begins.
About the Author: Anthony J. M. Brady was born in 1940 in London. He retired in 1994, having completed a career in local government as a Principal Officer Team Leader with the London Borough of Camden, from whose Social Services Department, he had been seconded to the Department of Health & Social Security (Resettlement Centres) for 15 years. In 1997, he moved to Northern Ireland and lives in Brockagh, Tempo, Co. Fermanagh. A Communitarian, he participates in part-time voluntary work involving social reconstruction, advocacy, renewal and reconciliation. His first writing in print was an essay in the London Chest Hospital Staff Magazine: Shakespeare and Medicine (1964). His first letter to a newspaper appeared in the Catholic Herald and this led to a series of polemical exchanges in its letter's page about the American/Vietnam War with the writer John Braine (1969/70). His first writing fee was for a book review: Caring on Skid Row by Anton Wallich-Clifford - the founder of The Simon Community, commissioned by The Catholic Herald (1974). Subsequently, (1981-1986) he had letters published in The Catholic Universe, Hackney Gazette, The Guardian, The East Ender, The East London Mercury and The Greenwich Mercury on topics such as Apartheid; Drug Addiction; Homelessness and social justice issues. Many of his letters on topical issues have appeared in The Fermanagh Herald and The Impartial Reporter. The Guardian printed four of his letters (1987-1990). One highlighted the threatened closure of a service for adolescent mentally ill people at The Maudsley Hospital; another two were arguments against reduction of hospital provision in London and the fourth objected to the euthanizing of the first person in England to have feeding methods legally withdrawn to assist his death. A Paper entitled: Helping the Resettled Person with a Relapsing Drinking Problem, was published by the Charity, Good Practices in Mental Health. ISBN 0 948445297 Tony began to send out creative work for the first time in 2003. A short story: 'Sister of Mercy' was published by the weekly magazine "Ireland's Own" and in 2004 an historical profile about Angela Burdett-Coutts: Queen of the Poor, was published by the bi-monthly magazine "Ireland's Eye." Both publications are popular in Ireland and the United States. Since 2003, he has had published (in anthology) numerous poems in various publications under the aegis of Forward Press: Anchor Books, Triumph House and New Poetry.