David Cretney was the longest-serving member of Tynwald when he retired in February.

The Manx Labour Party politician was elected as an MHK for South Douglas in 1985, winning the seat in six general elections.

He went on to become a minister in a number of departments and was elected to the Legislative Council in 2015 and served one term there.

We asked him to tell our readers about his life, which has done in two parts.

In today’s instalment, he talks about his early life.

My mum and dad divorced when I was a baby which was fairly unusual in the mid 1950s.

The tension between them existed all my young years and beyond, though I most remember guilt feelings as a boy.

My mother had custody of me and I remember gifts from him being confiscated or my reluctance to go and visit him out of allocated times for fear of being found out.

He had access to me as part of the settlement for senior race day for the Manx Grand Prix and TT, which no doubt fired my lifelong passion.

As a very young boy I would leave the house in the early hours of the morning and go to the TT grandstand to witness the early morning practices and thrill as exotic multi-cylinder machines with exotic named riders fired into life at the crack of dawn.

Like many others I collected autographs, badges, TT hats and other memorabilia from the works teams.

I attended the collegiate school, Murray’s Road, Ballakermeen and St Ninian’s with mixed success enjoying English and sport most and maths least.

I have never needed a logarithm since, though percentages were important and I don’t remember being taught them!

I don’t remember much of my two years French at Ballakermeen as I spent much of my lessons staring at our teacher!

I also remember an inspirational teacher who when I had done something wrong and admitted it to him was very understanding and taught me an important life lesson.

We are still good friends today.

I enjoyed happy times with cousins, uncles and aunties on both sides and was particularly proud of their success as head teachers including my uncle Godfrey, first head of Castle Rushen who was knighted by the Harold Wilson government for his services to comprehensive education.

He was more left leaning and progressive than my dad who was on the other side politically and who had offered to fund my private education at King William’s College which I turned down without further discussion.

I fondly remember my uncle Ron pushing me around the garden at Ballaugh School in a wheelbarrow when he was head.

We went on to serve at the same time in the House of Keys and he became Minister of Education, an opportunity I too would have relished.

Uncle Jack was very much involved in Buck’s Road Church and the Douglas Choral Union and I remember Eisteddfods, Sunday school picnics and being recruited to sell programmes for Douglas Choral Union shows at the Gaiety.

Amongst my happiest times were those spent with my grandad, himself a town councillor and marine superintendent at the Steam Packet, when we would travel by bus south to Surby then up the steep hill to his allotment and whilst he toiled I ran free in the beautiful surrounding countryside.

At the age of 16 my father’s money to support me ceased so I was forced to leave school and get a job.

I had worked in several shops as a school boy and latterly in Lipton’s on Prospect Terrace.

I was ’head hunted’ by Frank Hampson at the nearby Co-op, a firm but fair boss who tempted me for an extra sixpence per hour.

Eventually I moved on to better paid employment but during this time Frank, himself a trade union supporter, persuaded me to serve as a shop workers’ representative in the union.

Work was very seasonal in those days and I would do any type of work, as permanent employment was very important, having witnessed the misery of some people in unemployment.

Eventually shortly after the Isle of Man Post Office became postally independent I was taken on as a postman, fresh air and keeping fit as well as better wages.

In 1972 I started going out with Jackie Fayle and we spent three years together until in May 1975, late at night I was awoken to news that would change my life.

She had lost her life in a road traffic accident.

I ran to the hospital to see her and apart from slight cuts and bruising there were no visible signs of the injuries that had taken her life.

I could see no future, made wrong decisions and refused help.

I sought comfort in alcohol and that never works.

I was not a nice person and this was not a good lifestyle for a person required to start work at 6am.

Eventually management’s patience wore out and I was sacked.

I sometimes wonder with today’s more focussed emphasis on traumatic experiences and mental health issues whether there may have been a different outcome and more support from the union, of which I had been a foot postmen’s representative.

But there is really little point dwelling on such things.

The most positive aspect of this part of my life was my lifelong relationship with Jackie’s mum Alice, who herself had suffered hardship after her husband died prematurely and she had three young daughters to raise alone.

I cannot imagine the pain of someone who has brought life to a child seeing that extinguished at 18 years of age.

Alice was closer to me than my own mother and Jackie’s sisters and their families remain closer than special friends.

My own daughters had the bonus of three nannas and nanna Alice treated them just as if they were her own.

The last regret was that Alice was looking forward to dancing at my daughter Sarah’s wedding but didn’t make it.

However, a beautiful butterfly landed on Sarah outside the church - so maybe she did make it after all.

Part two of David Cretney’s life story will appear in the Isle of Man Examiner/Manx Independent on December 29.