Essex Boy: My Story by Kirk Norcross

was like a long holiday. My grandparents were really popular and because of
their jobs, everyone knew them. They were like legends around Tilbury! Everyone else called them Nan and Granddad too, and I just accepted that they were all those people’s grandparents as
well. I’d be walking down the street with my nan, and another kid would pass by, saying, ‘All right, Nan Jean?’ They all did it. It felt like I had a really big family I
didn’t know much about!
    My grandparents were proper working class, as are the rest of Mum’s family. There were no huge successes – it was all very run of the mill, normal day-to-day life. But they were
happy like that, and they were always enjoying themselves. Mum’s family will just drink, swear, have a laugh and generally enjoy themselves, and make no apology to anyone else for what they
get up to. I like that way of living – I always feel comfortable with them, like I don’t have to pretend to be anything I’m not.
    The area they lived in was very working class too, and a lot of people’s hobbies were those of a typical old-school English working man out in the country. As well as things that my dad
had been into, like hare coursing and pigeon racing, people were really into horses. There were horses everywhere. People would think nothing of keeping them in their gardens, even if they were
living in little council houses, or they would leave them out in open fields and communal areas, just wandering around. There were always horse-drawn carts going around the streets. In most of
Britain that is a rare sight, but not in Tilbury, even today. People are horse obsessed! It fascinated me at the time to see them.
    Nan was forever baking, and she was really good at it. I loved to sit and watch her come up with some great invention, and after a while, I started joining in. At first I would just be pouring
in a bit of flour, stirring, carrying a bowl for her, or whatever – or the best bit, licking the bowl! But after a while I got pretty good at it, and I’d be doing half the work. We
turned out some great baking, me and Nan. A vanilla sponge cake is my favourite. I am still a dab hand at making them today!
    Other times she would take us into the garden to play tennis, or down to the swings in the park. She might have been a grandmother, but because she had my mum young and then Mum had me young,
she can’t have been much older than most mums today. So she was still really fit and active and good at looking after us.
    As for Granddad, he was a really funny man, always playing tricks on Daniel and me, and teasing us. He would do anything to keep us entertained, and he wanted to make the most of his job to let
us boys enjoy ourselves. Of course he was able to do that best during the school holidays. He would open up the school hall, set up all the equipment like the trampolines, the vault and the ropes
for us to use, and then invite our other cousins and aunts and uncles to come round too. It was amazing – a whole adventure playground just for us. Then afterwards we would have a barbecue or
party back at their house. Those were great days! So mostly, Daniel and I were really happy to be living there. But we were kids, and only had to deal with the ups and downs of our day-to-day
existence – not with the harsh realities of adult life.
    As for my mum, however, she was still lonely and sad, and felt bad about living off her parents. Because of her kidneys she was on benefits, although she knew she would have to get a job as soon
as she got better. So not only were we in my grandparents’ house, but they were also paying for our food and all our bills. It really was the only way we could survive at the time.
    Mum had applied for a council house for us, but it seemed like it was a long way off – we were far down some list somewhere. She was getting upset about our living arrangement, so in the
end her brother Gary, my uncle whose birthday I share, said to her,