After working for a year at the Severn tunnel train sheds it was time to start at Newport collage of Art. I was sad to leave that job, because I had got some very good friends there. But Art collage it was. I had to get up very early, each day, Monday to Friday, the bus would depart from Chepstow bus station at 6.45am it was a 16 mile journey taking one hour, so arriving in Newport bus station at 7.45am, buses always seemed to run on time back then. My first day was strange for me. I had to go across to Clarence place, where the collage was situated, then register, after I had to walk back to Stow hill where there was a different building for my lessons. I was quite a shy lad back then, so did not make friends very easily. Still I was here and it was hard, the travelling each day, Week-ends working to make some money to cover my cost for the week. We were poor, I mean my Father died when I was just 4years old, Mother worked extremely hard to keep us all. my older sister, older brother, Myself and younger brother. There was no real hand out then. But we managed and were happy. Getting back to going to collage, I did enjoy it, always feeling very tired from the long hours and work I needed to do. I started in the September of 1963. doing a years foundation course, I was supposed to have gone on for three more years to do a degree course, But that never happened, after the end of the summer break I never returned. I had started working and earning so felt good. Live took many turns through out my teens. I had many different jobs, Travelled with a fun fair, worked on the Noah`s Ark, a very fast ride going round and round at speed up and down, but I soon learned how to ride it standing, walking collecting the money, getting on or off when it was flat out. Hard work building up and taking down the machines, moving on every few days, so seen a lot of the Midlands and Birmingham. Then back in Chepstow at Fairfield`s yard I was a painter, then metal spraying, This was the time that the first severn crossing and wye bridge`s were being constructed. I matal sprayed every deck plate, it`s a bit like galvenising , spraying with hot metal. i have a few other jobs. Then at the age of 21 years I got Married. We went to London on our honeymoon, That was supposed to be for a week, but ended up staying a lot longer, I got work and we saved, We were staying with my uncle, he worked nights and we were out all day, so thing were ok. Cathy was pregnant now so we decided to Move back to Chepstow. That`s where my life in the woods begins. There is so much more I could write, but one thing I feel is important is when Thomas and I first went down to Fairfields in search of a Job. From the gate lodge at the entrance to the yard, we were directed to the works managers office. There and up the metal stair case. Knocking on the door, there came a shout from inside. "Enter, come in, " Mr Hoskins was the man in charge, "What can I do for you lads." "We have come to find work", "Yes", he replied, and asked our names, " Thomas and David Woodward, Sir." " Oh, yes now there`s a good name, would you be a related to the late Reuben Woodward," " Yes Sir, that was our Father." " Well if you two can work like he did, very hard, then you have a job, can you start tomorrow." We came out kicking our heels. Dad and his brother, Jacob had been on the Yarrow March with their other brothers and Father. Walking from Sunderland down to London to partition Parliament for work. Chepstow yard was being opened up has the First National Yard in the country. Being riveters they had skills that were needed to build ships and invasion barges for the war effort. I stayed there for a year or two, maybe a little longer, I started work carrying tools for a platter, and chipping slag from welds. But soon got our footings, We found out that the best pay was in the metal spraying and paint gang. So in a break, we went to Tom Murphy`s cabin and asked to get on a waiting list, but he knew our Dad, so we jumped the list and got in fast. Thomas in the shot blasting area, Myself a painter, It was on the sections destined for the slipways to be constructed there into the deck boxes for The first severn crossing and also the wye crossing. These boxes once finished and made water tight, would be Launched into the Wye on a high tide, then towed by tug up to the estuary, into the severn ready to be lifted up to the suspension cables of the bridge. I went on to be the Metal sprayer. That was back breaking work, but the best paid. Thomas remained working for Fairfield`s right up to retirement. I done work there on The severn and wye bridge parts, the Erskin bridge built up in Glasgow, all the parts made in Chepstow then taken to Scotland to be assembled and erected. The Avon mouth bridge, then left and my life in the woods started.