Watkin: The Grandfather
When the boys first met David they were really quite little. They’d been thrilled by the chocolate cake, the painting with the ‘changing-faces’, the piano, the fountain on/off switch, the precariously tall library steps, the phenomenal use of the word ‘fuck’ and the even more delicious ‘cunt’. And they told him as much. Then they adopted him as their ‘Grandfather figure/substitute’.
As a member of The Family, David delighted in being:
The naughtiest and most outrageous helper of children’s homework; our Sunday Dinner companion; our Saturday tea-time visitor; our Birthday remember-er and most indulgent fan of Luther and Frank’s apparent talents.
He accompanied us on day-trips, took us on jaunts to watch opera, gave the maddest piano-lessons, attempted to teach Classical Music Appreciation, defended any injustice inflicted upon us, telephoned umpteen times a day and shared in our worries and our plans…
The Episode of the ‘Temporary’ Blue Dye
Snap Shots
Frank began skate-boarding at The Level in Brighton when he was about 10 – it’s a park near the centre of town which attracts it’s fair share of drinkers, hosts a fun-fair on Bank Holidays and is surrounded by scrubby bushes…
David thought it would be fun to take his camera out, and get some ‘action’ shots of Frank on the ramps, but didn’t want to make him self-conscious… so covert photography was the plan. David worked his way through the bushes like a commando – flat on his stomach, and with a long lens in front of his eye… As the dog-walkers ambled along the pavement behind him, he began to snap pictures of little Frank skate-boarding with the big boys. I decided to leave DW and watch the great photographer from a distance, an old chap in the bushes taking pictures of boys in the park.
Stanmer Park
Frank progressed to mountain-boarding. An excuse for a day out with David’s trusty OM2
The Anti-War Demonstration 2003
Luther’s illustration for the Anti-War Chapter in ‘Was Clara Schumann a Fag-Hag?’
