Mike Locker – Their Time.

Mike first went to sea with his dad when he was three years old. He remembers getting seasick a lot in those early years. Nearly 70 years on he’s now used to it. The aquatic blood runs in the family. His grandad was a seaman and worked in a shipyard as a rigger. His dad was a fisherman and Mike accompanied him in his boat during every school holiday.

His mum skimmed mussels at home and his siblings all pitched in with the work that had to be done. There was always a fishing line on the kitchen table before breakfast and one on the table before they went to bed.

“A job could take four hours for my mum to do but if we all mucked in it could be done in half an hour.  It meant we were a close family because we all worked together.”  They still are and after their mum died a few years ago they all took to the sea again to go on a cruise together in her memory.

When Mike was 23 he got his first trawling boat. He worked fishing a ten-day fortnight in all weathers and conditions. Hurricanes and waves washing over the boat never phased him too much. He knows: “You don’t try to beat the sea.  You just accept it and wait to ride it out.”

“It’s hard work but a good life. A lot of time I’d have to sail up to the Shetlands to fish which meant I missed a lot of my kids growing up”.

At 50 Mike had a heart attack. After that, he decided to go on his first holiday. Jumping in the deep end he ventured to India and he just fell in love with the place and goes there regularly visiting friends who work there on the boats.

Mike is still fishing in Whitby in the summer months catching trout and salmon and selling it locally. He is fitting out his latest boat and letting his new dog take him for walks the rest of the time. He’s recently lost two stone since getting the dog which he hopes will help him to stay strong enough to keep going out fishing for some time yet.

“Through Their Time, Laura Page, Photographer and Rebecca Vassie Memorial award winner, has captured the lives of older people during the pandemic, setting out to challenge the perceptions of ageing. Over the next few weeks, we will be sharing the intricate stories captured throughout the past year. So keep an eye out on STOPageism and across our social channels!

To learn more about Laura, her perception of ageing and ageism, and to discover more about Their Time, click here.”