Once they were just boys

Hopeful or hopeless…

Once They Were Just Boys is a fictional account based on the real life experiences of the author. Each post tells the life story of a boy I taught: his humour, intelligence, kindness, and resilience, alongside the losses and difficulties that many carried – bereavement, mental illness in the family, family break up, learning difficulties, instability, and early exposure to crime and addiction.

At school, these boys were not statistics or risks. They were children with strengths, relationships, and futures still open. As adults, many went on to experience addiction, criminal involvement, imprisonment, or long-term exclusion from society. In some cases sadly their adult lives were cut short.

This blog does not ask who is to blame. Instead, it asks a harder question: what more could have been done, and when? By placing childhood first and outcome last, Once They Were Just Boys challenges readers – educators, social workers, policymakers, and the wider public – to look again at how vulnerability is recognised, how early warning signs are responded to, and how easily potential can be lost when support arrives too late.

These are not stories about failure. They are stories about boys who mattered – and still do.