The voice you can hear is Joe on an interview with Dennis Laverick for the 68 Voices for the museum's new RRF gallery which is to open in November we did not finish the interview we never got to finish it. Joe Eastwood was born in in Dukinfield Cheshire, the oldest boy in a family of 9.
He passed scholarships for Hyde Grammar School at 11 plus and for Manchester Grammar School at 14, but home conditions prevented his attending these schools. By the time he was 18 he was off the rails , had a criminal record and little self esteem or self discipline.
National Service. After a few years of drifting around in Civvy Street Joe had the great good fortune to be drinking in the Angel Pub in Dukinfield when he heard the sound of a mediocre pop group playing at a dance upstairs. He went up and was sold a ticket at the door by the girl friend of the bass guitarist. Joe was stunned by her beauty, her wit, her charm and her intelligence.
Joe had met Vivienne Boutty and he quickly realised that there could be no other girl for him, so he set about getting rid of the bass guitarist and winning Vivienne. To his amazement and everlasting joy, she consented to marry him and they wed in Hyde Registrar office, travelling to and from the venue by means of the local bus company.
Vivienne had a profound influence upon Joe's behaviour, and soon his heavy drinking and fighting became far less pronounced and he began to grow up. The second stroke of luck in his life was about to happen. Out with Vivienne one night at a local pub, he got into a conversation with Eric Ogden, a Lancashire Fusilier who had also just finished NS.
