Family Seat is dedicated to everyone who has, or is going to face, the huge emotional wrench of leaving a family home. I photographed our exit from this house during the pandemic lockdowns of 2021, a home that had been central to our family for more than eighty years.
We left a unique place of security, the marks on which offered a testament to lives lived. Compiling this book before the inevitable change of ownership was a cathartic way of moving on before shutting the door for the last time.
The family’s home since before the war
Four score years since childhood and more
A corporation house eventually, bought now sold
Once a safe, secure place with many stories to be told
Furnished and fitted with a craftsperson’s eye
Perfection the mantra in a room where sea meets the sky
Raised in an Edward St chippy, but relocated in thirty-nine
A slum clearance order under the council’s watchful eye
Five children were raised in this new council home
A home fit for heroes, straight from a government tome
Now lost to us, as time has marched on
Fixed here, in paper, a record of work
A lifetime, a memory, a time to mourn.
Poem by Andy Lloyd
