Barry William Doughty

Barry William Doughty entered this world in 1940, Many years before the introduction of the drug: Thalidomide. But Lily, his mother, told Barry he arrived minus his left hand and forearm. Of course, one has no memory of one’s birth. Was Barry’s left arm withered and therefore amputated in the Greenock hospital where he was born? Or did the limb just fail to form in his mother’s womb? Only Lily and those assisting the birth would know the answer.

Barry married his wife, Margaret at the age of 17. This was the same year he trained to become a Toolmaker and Machinist. Barry’s disability was a challenge, but he overcame this, and the trade kept his family solvent until his retirement in 2002, by this time the couple had four children: two girls and two boys. Once retired Barry decided to finish Angels of the Mud, a book he started some 20 years earlier. This was followed by: The Dormant Gene, The Devil’s Dealer, Crime and Indifference, and a book of short stories: Sixteen Twisted Tales. Barry and Margaret are still together and have 12 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.