Escape From Armageddon

ARMAGEDDON - the biblical end of the world.

As a young man, I may even still have been a teenager, I had an idea to write a book with the title Escape From Armageddon. It never happened. 

My grandparent's generation was devastated by World War One - The Great War to end all wars.  What folly is contained in that statement !

Here's a photograph which is a bit celebrated in my family, it shows four generations - I'm the one on the left, then my Mum now aged 92, my Nan who died a few weeks short of her 100th birthday and on the right, the gentleman with the white stick, is my great-grandfather. He served in the war to end all wars where he became hard of hearing as the constant explosions around him damaged his ears. He did escape from Armageddon. One of the few.

My paternal grandfather, my Dad's Dad, only partially escaped Armageddon. He contracted tuberculosis in the trenches of World War One so was discharged with honour from the army, he served in the South Staffordshire Regiment.

William married a munitions worker, Lily Bedson, who was billeted on his family in Aston Birmingham. Together they had three sons, when his illness overtook him and William died Lily was left to bring up three small children alone.

But Lily, though widowed, did have a husband. Many young women of her age were destined never to find love, there were just not enough men to go round. We used to call them maiden aunts, or for my generation - maiden great-aunts. Every family had them.  twenty million people died in World War One, The Great War, the war to end all wars. Twenty million lives given to Escape Armageddon.

The escape was short lived. Twenty-five

years later the world was at war again. In that war seventy-five million died in an attempt to Escape Armageddon. One of those was my Uncle Billy, the uncle I never knew. Twenty-one years into his life it came to an end on the night of 8th March 1945 when his Lancaster Bomber was shot down during a raid over Bremen in Germany.

My generation did not face the situation my father's and grandfather's did. My Dad and his friends went to school to prepare for fighting, and giving their lives for their country. We were not going to war but the threat of Armageddon was always with us. One day either The Soviet Union of Russia or The United States Of America would push the nuclear button and we would all enter Armageddon in a giant explosion.

At school I had a clear career path in my head and followed study towards examinations which would make that career path happen. If I had lived in America that would not have been the same, I would have gone to school simply to bide my time before serving my country in the folly of The Vietnam War. Figures for that Escape From Armageddon are not clear but are somewhere in the region of three million.

The fear of a nuclear holocaust my generation had to face

never happened, we Escaped Armageddon. Add up all of these figures and we are talking NINETY EIGHT MILLION deaths. One and a half times the current UK population. I get so angry when self-appointed important people fail to recognise a REAL PERSON. All of those people are REAL PEOPLE. You are a REAL person and I am a REAL person.

I am now a granddad myself, I have four lovely young people in my family. I have feared in recent times that Adam, Ollie, Katherine and Frances would not live to see a world where they could themselves become grandparents, simply because my generation is working flat out to destroy it. Only a blind and deaf and totally stupid person could ignore climate change but ignore it the vast majority have been doing. It was as if they did not want to Escape from Armageddon but were saying BRING IT ON.

Now in March 2020 the entire world has to pull together in order to Escape Armageddon yet again ! About a week ago my writing idea from all those years ago suggested that I should write the book but focus on this current global pandemic. I decided not to do that. Perhaps one day I will use the title to write about my family's experiences from 1914 through to the end of The Cold War. Perhaps.

Right now my wife, Maureen, and I will be staying at home for the foreseeable future. We will not remain exclusively inside our home but plan only small excursions as we do our bit to help this world yet again Escape Armageddon.

Let me now turn to THE SUNSHINE SMILE CREW and suggest how we can help the world to Escape from Armageddon. 

Right now we have 86 members in our Facebook Group. OK if we have to work

with 86 we will work with 86 but the more members we can find the better. So you 86 get out there and invite as many people as you can to join our on-line group. THE MISSION  OF EVERY MEMBER OF THE SUNSHINE SMILE CREW IS EVERY DAY TO MAKE SOMEONE SMILE. Let's do it !

I will be posting a lot on the page to help people SMILE but do not leave this to me - EVERYONE POST.

I have not done my radio shows for the past three days but on Monday I will be back. I will be making some changes,

every day will be DAVE'S DISCO. Tune in, share the podcast and use the music I play to help people SMILE.

Every day from the studio I will post pictures.

Our various projects are closed down for the moment although we will be with Dreamsai tomorrow handing out lunches of love. The format will be a little different but we will be there. We will play everything week by week.

It would be great if we could do our Walk of Love a couple of times during the week but this depends on a number of things.

* Firstly what ever lock down system we enter it would have to allow this to take place.

* Then we need the people to offer practical help.

* It depends on there being things on the supermarket shelves to buy.

* Then it depends on the generosity of people helping to fund the work. With the current employment situation this may not

be practical for many people.

Spend between 99p and £1,99pm on one of my books - CLICK HERE and the 75% royalties will help fund what we are doing and would like to do.

You can make a direct DONATION via our Go Fund Me page.

YES, we do need funds but it costs NOTHING - NOTHING AT ALL to help make someone SMILE though this time.

So help as many people as you can to SMILE and together we can all Escape Armageddon.