Letter to Dad

To My Dear Dad,


It is almost fourteen years, come this Father’s Day, since you died.


When delivering your funeral service the vicar said that you hadn’t made a big splash in life, although he did go on to say that people like you: steadfast, hardworking, and honest individuals were the very bedrock of what makes a good society.


This summing up of the sixty-six years of your life has stuck with me, because, while I understand the sentiments the Rev expressed, it makes me sad to think that perhaps we’d not identified characteristics that defined you when we spoke to him of you. Since then, I’ve asked myself over and over again, who and what is regarded as making a big splash in life anyway.

I like this photo, and I think of you as a little boy (one of seven kids), starting out on your life’s journey with high hopes and dreams to fulfill....before your schooling was over, before mum, before me and my brothers, before your allocation of social housing; before working in the car industry for low wages; before money worries; before ill-health.


It was hard for you, as it is for most, to hit the floor running and to take that plunge, but I wish you to know, Dad that your ‘ripple’ reached, spread and washed over me.


I miss you


Your darling daughter

Norris Tatt 1931-1997