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Thirty-Three Years in the Trenches:
Memoirs of a Sussex Working Man

Peter Richards
an oral autobigraphy compiled by Nick Osmond

foreword text | reviews & extracts | the authors  |  bibliographic details

Skilfully compiled from taped conversations by his friend Nick Osmond, the book allows us a vivid encounter with this intelligent, complex and sometimes frightening man. The hitherto unexploited form of oral autobiography delivers a rivetingly readable account of the kind of life overlooked in literature and unfamiliar to many readers.

Born blind in one eye but never accepting a handicap, Peter Richards chose a life of hard physical labour, as a farm boy after the war, as a building labourer, and finally for many years as a gas mainlayer in and around Sussex. Wild Irishmen, callous gangers, corrupt officials, harsh conditions and stress, the crack, a certain kind of freedom - he gives sharp insights into life behind the red and white barricades.

He speaks just as articulately of personal life - of marriage and raising a family in cramped housing; of landlords, insecurity, friendship and fighting; of his passions for sea-fishing and allotment gardening.

Contributions from friends and family fill out the story with different perspectives. It is a compelling and occasionally shocking story of emotional growth and maturing awareness, of a marriage bond which has survived domestic violence, of family love reversing the pain of childhood. Its trenchant honesty stays in the mind.

reviews & extracts | foreword text

THE AUTHORS

Peter Richards laid gas mains for over 30 years . He started as a pieceworker but rapidly became a ganger. Known by some as 'Rottweiler richards' he was nevertheless well-respected by workmates and engineers alike. Heart problems forced his early retirement in 1997. He lives in Hove, tends his allotment, keeps his finger on the pulse and is now a doting grandfather.
Nick Osmond met Peter in a writing group. Since taking voluntary early retirement from an academic career he has discovered the satisfaction s of working on other people's life stories. He has produced various publications with the community publisher QueenSpark books in Brighton.