Interviewee: Andy James Interviewer: Chris Cox Date: 21st July 2014 CC: This is Chris Cox interviewing Andy James on July the....... AJ: 21st. CC: 21st [both laugh] at round about 11 o'clock at 14 Frederick Place as part of the YES oral history project. Andy, welcome, thank you very much for coming and what I'm hoping you'll do is tell me what you remember about how you first came to YES and, you know, what you remember of what it was like. [00:00:35] AJ: How it come about was, there was a friend, a friend of mine used to come here, and I didn't know it at the time, and we was bored one night, and he said oh, he's going down to this literacy club, or organisation, and I asked him what it was about, so I said, well can I come? And he said yeah you can come down. So I come down, and literacy wise, with English, I'm quite fine, so I didn't really need the help. Maths I weren't so brilliant on but it was more like a social, social kind of club really. Socialising with friends. Obviously I did get help with the maths and a bit of English and everything but to me it was more like a place to go and socialise with friends. I know, we used to really, you know, enjoy each other’s company, and a good laugh and joke. Bit of fun. [00:01:50] The cleaner, John Kelly, because I was good at Scrabble, we used to play Scrabble a lot. I was the only one that could really challenge him at the time and I used to really enjoy that. It was a good challenge, and a few times I beat him, brilliant as he reckoned he was, sometimes I beat him, so, that was good as well. CC: I remember that. Yeah. AJ: We used to always be playing Scrabble. And he was a challenge for me, and I was a challenge for him. We was sort of near enough on the same level. So, it was really good fun. CC: What else was happening then, when you and John were playing Scrabble. What else was happening down here? [00:02:43] AJ: Well normally, when we played Scrabble, usually we started a game, like, we'd come down, do a bit of one-to-one work, and then we usually started a game just before the club finished, usually we were still going on an hour after. So when we started these games they take so long we could be ... everyone leaves at nine, I think it was, wasn't it? CC: Mmm, could be. AJ: We never used to leave ‘til 10 o'clock sometimes because we were playing this game. CC: So when you said a bit of one-to-one work, was that, like, with the university students ? [00:03:25] AJ: Yeah, I had ... there was the same student doing one. We got to know each other. There was one, I can't remember what her name was. A young student. We got on really well. I remember this one, she was saying about Easter, it was Easter time. And she was saying all about Easter eggs. And I was saying I don't have Easter eggs so she went and bought me one. And, I had a nickname then, so she had my nickname put on it in icing as well. But because I didn't eat Easter eggs, I gave it to me young brother who did. [00:04:12] CC: Yeah and I remember I think that you were kind of in charge of editing the magazine or something like that. Is that right or am I making that up? AJ: Yeah. CC: Because you were quite sort of creative. AJ: That was quite interesting actually, editing what people wrote, type it out and print it off. Sometimes it was ... some of them, usually the stuff come in, and others it was a bit of a challenge to try and get them to contribute, yeah. Is that still going? CC: From time to time, yes and quite often I think of you when we do because it is a bit hit and miss isn't it? Trying to get people to contribute is not always easy. [00:04:59] CC: So we were looking earlier on, before the interview, we looked at the Fred's People book. AJ: Yeah. CC: Can you remember about that? Obviously you were, you were writing as part of it. How did that work? AJ: Well they ... it was Sylvia at the time and Meriel just said about doing this book and everyone was quite for it, in fact I really enjoyed it. And it was nice. You print off it and you go and talk to printers or something and they go through how it's done. It was nice to see the final result you know. And I enjoyed doing it so much I would like to have done another one, but it didn't come about, the second one. Yeah. It was really good and they asked me to print things for it and I really enjoyed doing that. CC: Yeah. I think there must have been some sort of sponsorship for it or something like that, I think it says UNESCO on the back so they must have got a grant or something to help with it. But it's nice to do. AJ: The first thing I knew about it was they come and say well they want to do this book and wanted us to contribute work. So … so we sort of come up with stuff, a bit about why, what we used to do in school and what we do after and a bit of creative work and, yeah, I did enjoy it ... CC: Yes, it's a nice thing to do, when we do, we have .... not as good as that, but the nice thing about that was that it was produced properly, printed off properly and sold properly and all of those things. So we haven't had a chance to do that recently. That's why that copy [of Fred's People] is really important. I don't leave it lying around ‘cos I don't think there are many of them still around. AJ: I did have one but when we moved it got lost. CC: Yes, that's right isn't it? So how long do you reckon you were still coming here sometime Andy? [00:07:08] AJ: I started when I was about 18. And I must have been... I'd say round about 23, something like that. CC: So probably about five years? AJ: It might have been a bit longer, I can't exactly remember how long it was..... 18, no it was longer than that actually, because my daughter was born when I was 23. And I was still coming then. I'd say at least 7 years, 10 years, I'm not absolutely sure I can't remember. Then we .... I'd say about 10 years, something like that. [00:08:00] CC: And did you meet your first wife here? Or did you bring her as well. AJ: I brought her along.. I brought her along. She was my friend's ex-girlfriend. So, when we got together I said, “Oh, we're going out,” and she was one who had a lot of literacy problems. So I brought her along and she was getting a tutor. I didn't actually meet her here. CC: No, I didn't, I couldn't remember. Maybe I knew at the time. AJ: No, I didn't meet her here. CC: I remember that she came as well. AJ: Yes, she was my mate's friend, that I quite fancied myself. And I ended up with her. CC: That sounds a bit of a familiar story. AJ: It gets even better after, because she left me for a friend of mine. And the partner I got now is the ex-partner of the friend that she left me for. [laughs] Sounds like we're doing a bit of wife swapping. [00:09:15] CC: Soap opera! Okay, so you came for quite a long time then altogether, Andy. What do you think it was that kept you coming for that amount of time? AJ: I mean obviously the one-to-one tuition was good. I really enjoyed that. As I said with the English, I didn't really need so much. We more concentrated on the maths side, with a bit of English. I think it was more... It was like a club to me, a social place. All through the week I didn't have much to do, so I looked forward to coming down here. I could be with friends like Shaun Curtis, you know. And all the friends, could have a bit of fun it was somewhere to look forward to going. It wasn't just that. But I think that was the main thing. CC: And I think still, if you ask people why they come then top of that list is usually the social aspect, meeting people, making friends... AJ: Making friends.... having a laugh and joke... CC: Yeah. AJ: Some fun then the one-to-one tuition as well.... and Scrabble! CC: And Scrabble! And did you used to do any outings or activities or things like that? Can you remember? AJ: What here? CC: Yeah, or from here. AJ: Only in regards to the book. CC: Okay, that's what you remember. AJ: I can't remember where we went but ... I think they was going to go to the publishers and I can't remember what for now. So we done an outing to go to the publisher. It might have been to see the first one coming off. [the press?] I can't remember what it was. But that was the only one ... oh, and they done a cinema trip. CC: Okay. Cinema. AJ: They done the cinema as well and .... it must have been a long time ago because even my .... I know they done the cinema. I think the cinema one that we went to was when I brought my eldest daughter down here, later on in years. [to see Treasure Island showing at the Arnolfini] CC: Right, okay so that was quite a lot later wasn't it? AJ: That was quite a lot later, yeah, but all of a sudden, it didn't appeal to her as much as to me. But, the main one when I was coming here was the publishers about the book. CC: We used to have a picnic didn't we? Do you remember we used to have a picnic? AJ: Yeah, we used to have a picnic meal, yeah. CC: What about Christmas? Do you remember? I can't remember how early it was we used to do Christmas dinners. Were you ever here when we did a Christmas dinner down here? AJ: I come to the Christmas Party. CC: Right. AJ: In the evening which was quite good. Quite enjoyable. [00:12:38] CC: I think it was only ... there were a few years, and I don't know if it was after your time when, when we actually cooked, well we sort of had Christmas dinner, like sit-down dinner, so I think Meriel cooked, maybe Meriel cooked a turkey in her oven, and somebody else cooked a turkey in their oven. And someone else cooked the roast potatoes and then they got cars and brought it all in. AJ: ….. Christmas party. CC: So it wasn't like that when you were here. AJ: No, just Christmas parties which everyone enjoyed. [00:13:09] CC: We don't do masses of activities. [now] What we usually do is at this time of year, we just kind of close for the summer, but we have about five weeks when we only open one evening and we just go and ... have a picnic or go for a wander round the docks or something so there is still that sort of social thing for people who want to keep in contact. They don't have to come and do any work but just want to come and do something we do which is nice. I always enjoy that. So is there anything else that sticks in your mind, Andy, any particular things that happened here, apart from Scrabble? AJ: It was just, like I said, a social club for me. Obviously there was a lot of people that needed tuition. Not that I was any brainier than any of them. But I really enjoyed English, excelled at it. So we more concentrated on the maths, because I was absolutely ru ... well I still am, absolutely rubbish at maths. My partner does all the bill paying now so. Takes a load off my mind. CC: So we didn't help very much with the maths. [both laugh] But I think, having people like you here is actually really good as a whole, because you know people who find reading and writing difficult sometimes think, “Oh, it's not something people like me can do.” And, actually people like them is people like you, and it's something you enjoy. You were creative. [00:14:50] AJ: When I was in school I always had me nose in a book. I'd go into woodwork and I didn't do my woodwork ‘cos I was busy reading the book I think. I'm just trying to think when I first actually read through a whole book, it was in primary school I know. I just really enjoy it and a good thing is, is it's obviously rubbed off on my daughter who likes reading books now and when I realised that she likes reading books, I encouraged her with it, because it's a good thing. CC: It's really, really important isn't it? AJ: My son at school now, he's not quite so keen. He's rather play his PS3 I think. CC: It's good when people do, anyway. AJ: Yeah, it was, mathswise I needed the tuition and it was mainly the socialising for me, with a bit of tuition here and there. [00:16:03] CC: Well, as I say, I do think that is still a really important feature of what we do, so thank you for telling me about that Andy, thank you for coming. I'm now going to turn off the recorder and just check to make sure that it recorded.

University students: volunteer Bristol University students worked one-to-one with YES students Fred’s People book: book published 1980 by Bristol Broadsides (Co-op) Ltd ISBN 0 906944 08