The diffuse and grainy glimpse into the past shown above is a cropped photograph of my younger brother Mark Ernest Crutchley. Mark was the third and final child of my parents, Sidney Ernest and Elsie May Crutchley, a much-loved sibling to myself and my younger sister Yvonne, one whom we are both just about old enough to remember first-hand.

Mark was born on 14th July 1971 at 9 St Quentin Street in the Pleck area of Walsall, where we lived as a family for the early years of our lives as children. He was born with Down's Syndrome, then after a little over a year of life he contracted gastroenteritis. For most people gastroenteritis is a mild illness, but for someone so young with Down's Syndrome it was a much more serious ailment. With Down's Syndrome having weakened his immune system, Mark's tiny body was unable to cope with the onslaught of this further illness. So at the Manor Hospital in Walsall on Wednesday 6th December 1972 he slipped quietly away from us, aged just one year and five months.

The close-up image of Mark shown above was cropped from the photograph below, which is the only original visual record we have of Mark.