So how did he do this? Well, the Avon Youth Club is part of him. He was a proud Lawrence Westo boy living in a council flat across the road from the Youth Club. As a boy he was a member of the Club which gave him experiences he would otherwise not have had. Then, as he grew up he found other interests, rugby with the Avonmouth Rugby Club and long distance swimming. The swimming became his major sport and he has swim the channel and various other long-distance swims.
Meanwhile, despite having left school at fifteen, he built up a successful business in building services, confounding a master at his school who labelled him as a nice lad who will never amount to much. He joined Bristol Savages, now Bristol 1904 Arts, and there at a dinner was talking to our David Sutton. David mentioned his work with the Avon Youth Club whereupon Steve said, 'I used to be a member of that club'. David invited him to visit the youth club which led to Steve becoming involved. He is now chairman and his wife, Helen, is the secretary,
Then, unlike any other speaker we have ever had , Steve picked up his guitar and sang three folk songs, two of which he had written himself. If only all our speakers could lighten their presentations in a similar manner.
Thank you Steve and thak you David for inviting him.
We will continue to support the Avon Youth Club and continue to sponsor their members to weekends at Barton Camp.
We also welcomed Lucy Shaw from Clifton BID who came to discuss a joint effort for the Young Chef competition. She chose a good meeting to join us and appeared to be enjoying Steve's presentation,, We look forward to the outcome for budding local young chefs
Many thanks Jonathan for this report.
Pictured above are Jonathan, Lucy, David and Steve