3. MATERIALS
MATERIALS 1
Reading Text
What made me the way I am?
In our regular column inviting contributors to reflect on how their past has affected their current life, award winning
documentary maker, Summer Avery, reflects on how her family history influenced her choice of career.
My parents came from totally different backgrounds. My dad, Dave, comes from a mining village in Yorkshire. For generations, all the boys in his family
went down the pit and that's what dad was going to do, too. But in the 1980s they started closing down the mines and suddenly there was no work for
young men like my dad. My mum, Lucy, came from a very different family. Her father was a diplomat, Mum went to boarding school because her parents
lived abroad. They expected her to go to Oxford or Cambridge University and then do an important job, but she was a rebellious girl.
The early 1980s in the UK was a time of great change. Big industries were closing down and people from communities like my dad's were losing their
jobs and their hope. But in other places, new enterprises were starting up and some people were getting very rich very quickly.
These changes led to political protests and some people rejected mainstream lifestyles altogether. Among those people were the 'New Age Travellers.'
They lived in old lorries and buses and travelled from one music festival to another. These lorries and buses used to travel together in convoys and they
were unpopular with many people. The police kept breaking up the convoys and closing down the festivals. The travellers kept regrouping and planning
more festivals. There used to be a very popular free festival at Stonehenge* on Summer Solstice*. In 1985, the Travellers were determined to hold this
festival and huge numbers joined the convoys. Two of the people who went to join the peace convoy were my mum, who had decided to run away from
school and my dad, who had decided to escape unemployment by going on the road. That is where they met - when they were arrested at Stonehenge!
It's funny to think that they would never have met if they hadn't gone to that festival.
They were only seventeen years old. I was born exactly one year later on Summer Solstice 1986 – that's why they called me Summer. Both families were
really shocked and disappointed. I didn't even meet my grandparents until I was seven. When I was little we travelled round Europe in an old double-
decker bus. My dad's a talented musician and my mum was good at gymnastics, so they joined this strange alternative circus called 'Anarkurkus'. There
were no animals or any of the usual circus things – just human performers doing really crazy things.
I didn't have a very conventional way of life as a child. I didn't go to school. We never ate meat. We went to lots of music festivals and political
demonstrations. I learned a lot about being an outsider. In some places people were really hostile. There was no need for this; everyone in our circus
was very gentle and very honest. People are just afraid of difference. I'm sure it is this early experience that made me interested in how society treats
minority groups. I doubt I'd be so interested in social exclusion if I hadn't experienced it. It has been the subject of all my films.
When I was seven my dad got news that his mother was seriously ill. They returned to the UK and made peace with their families. We lived in a house
and I went to school. I was really excited to have my own bedroom and eat normal food like cornflakes at my cousin's houses. When I started school I
could read and juggle much better than the other kids – and my knowledge of European geography was way ahead of theirs! I'm sure I wouldn't have
known so much at that age if my parents had been more conventional.
*Stonehenge is a 5,000 year old monument in southern England. Summer Solstice (21st June) is the longest day
of year in the northern hemisphere. On the Summer Solstice the sun is aligned with the stones so that light shines
through the arches at dawn. Druids still go to Stonehenge on 21st June to celebrate the summer solstice.
MATERIALS 1
Reading Text
What made me the way I am?
In our regular column inviting contributors to reflect on how their past has affected their current life, award winning
documentary maker, Summer Avery, reflects on how her family history influenced her choice of career.
My parents came from totally different backgrounds. My dad, Dave, comes from a mining village in Yorkshire. For generations, all the boys in his family
went down the pit and that's what dad was going to do, too. But in the 1980s they started closing down the mines and suddenly there was no work for
young men like my dad. My mum, Lucy, came from a very different family. Her father was a diplomat, Mum went to boarding school because her parents
lived abroad. They expected her to go to Oxford or Cambridge University and then do an important job, but she was a rebellious girl.
The early 1980s in the UK was a time of great change. Big industries were closing down and people from communities like my dad's were losing their
jobs and their hope. But in other places, new enterprises were starting up and some people were getting very rich very quickly.
These changes led to political protests and some people rejected mainstream lifestyles altogether. Among those people were the 'New Age Travellers.'
They lived in old lorries and buses and travelled from one music festival to another. These lorries and buses used to travel together in convoys and they
were unpopular with many people. The police kept breaking up the convoys and closing down the festivals. The travellers kept regrouping and planning
more festivals. There used to be a very popular free festival at Stonehenge* on Summer Solstice*. In 1985, the Travellers were determined to hold this
festival and huge numbers joined the convoys. Two of the people who went to join the peace convoy were my mum, who had decided to run away from
school and my dad, who had decided to escape unemployment by going on the road. That is where they met - when they were arrested at Stonehenge!
It's funny to think that they would never have met if they hadn't gone to that festival.
They were only seventeen years old. I was born exactly one year later on Summer Solstice 1986 – that's why they called me Summer. Both families were
really shocked and disappointed. I didn't even meet my grandparents until I was seven. When I was little we travelled round Europe in an old double-
decker bus. My dad's a talented musician and my mum was good at gymnastics, so they joined this strange alternative circus called 'Anarkurkus'. There
were no animals or any of the usual circus things – just human performers doing really crazy things.
I didn't have a very conventional way of life as a child. I didn't go to school. We never ate meat. We went to lots of music festivals and political
demonstrations. I learned a lot about being an outsider. In some places people were really hostile. There was no need for this; everyone in our circus
was very gentle and very honest. People are just afraid of difference. I'm sure it is this early experience that made me interested in how society treats
minority groups. I doubt I'd be so interested in social exclusion if I hadn't experienced it. It has been the subject of all my films.
When I was seven my dad got news that his mother was seriously ill. They returned to the UK and made peace with their families. We lived in a house
and I went to school. I was really excited to have my own bedroom and eat normal food like cornflakes at my cousin's houses. When I started school I
could read and juggle much better than the other kids – and my knowledge of European geography was way ahead of theirs! I'm sure I wouldn't have
known so much at that age if my parents had been more conventional.
*Stonehenge is a 5,000 year old monument in southern England. Summer Solstice (21st June) is the longest day
of year in the northern hemisphere. On the Summer Solstice the sun is aligned with the stones so that light shines
through the arches at dawn. Druids still go to Stonehenge on 21st June to celebrate the summer solstice.
