Material 1 – Reading text: What made me the way I am? - Assignment A
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.
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.
