brucewjohnson

The Wooden Heart

I haven’t published my blog for a while, but when so much bad news is coming out of Eastern Europe, I would like to share a story of another conflict and what it teaches us. My mother was a working class girl from a very poor district of Glasgow, but at the age of justContinueContinue reading “The Wooden Heart”

Thank you for the music …

Way back in the early 1990s I went with a group of friends to watch “Bjorn Again”, a tribute to the super group ABBA, playing at the Ilford Palais. Now, ABBA were never my favourite band, but we didn’t go to see “Bjorn Again” because we loved ABBA. We went because jumping about and singingContinueContinue reading “Thank you for the music …”

My first 61 years of education …

Those of you who know me, whether you are friends, colleagues or former students, I am sure you will have heard me talking about my childhood, growing up in a large, working class family in the north-east of England . I actually started school sixty-one years ago, in the summer term of 1960. At theContinueContinue reading “My first 61 years of education …”

An amazing discovery

When my Dad died in 2008 I began tracing my family tree, just to keep my mind occupied in my spare time. Although I grew up in the far north of England, my Grandmother’s maiden name was Rayner, and her family came from a small village called Bocking, near Braintree in Essex. The parish recordsContinueContinue reading “An amazing discovery”