I will fight on for my boy even though he isn’t here...
MOTHER OF ‘ONE-PUNCH’ VICTIM RAISING AWARENESS
SHE’S a mother who has never stopped fighting for her son.
When Kristian Thompson died at the age of just 19, his mum, Maxine Thompson-Curl, vowed it would not be the end of her battle for justice for her boy.
As we celebrate the remarkable women of the North East, to coincide with International Women’s Day, we’re highlighting Maxine’s tireless and lifesaving work through One Punch North East, the charity she runs in Kristian’s memory.
Ten months before his death, Kristian had been left in an eightday coma by a one-punch attack in a County Durham nightclub.
Though he awoke from the coma, the devastating impact of the attack left him in a rehabilitation unit, where he died in 2011.
Those ten months caring for Kristian were crucial to what came next, Maxine said.
“I think, in a way, that’s what gave me my strength,” she said.
“I built up my strength to support him, I wanted to make sure everything was perfect for him - I wasn’t interested in the person who hit him, or the sentence, at that point, all I could think about was Kristian.
“When he died, it was such a shock. There were just so many injustices that kept hitting me, and I just thought: ‘he’s my boy.’ I had always fought for him and just because he wasn’t here beside me it didn’t mean I wasn’t going to keep fighting for him.”
That fight took many forms, including calling for Kristian’s attacker to be held responsible directly for his death (the conviction remained one of assault, not of causing the eventual death), raising awareness of the fatal potential of a single punch, and battling to increase sentences for those who carry out one-punch attacks.
It crystallised into One Punch North East, which she’s run with husband Tony Curl since 2015.
With support from the likes of local police forces, through the charity the South Shields couple travel to schools, probation units, prisons and more, raising awareness of the devastating consequences of violence.
Using Kristian’s story, Maxine urges people to “stop and think” before they raise their fists, or go too far with alcohol or drugs.
She also helps support families who have lost a loved one to a single punch, and survivors whose lives have been changed by such attacks.
Before Covid-19 hit, Maxine had
begun running support groups from the charity’s Sunderland offices, and she hopes to do more of this in the coming years, working closely with other local charities.
The 55-yearold, who runs a kids’ club business but who hopes eventually to get the funding to devote herself even more to One Punch North East, said: “Now it’s just a part of my life, it’s my drive, it’s why I get up in the morning.
“Tony has kept count, he thinks I’ve spoken to about 45,000 people in six years. For me, in a selfish way, I get to talk about Kristian, every time I put that presentation on, there’s a photograph of my boy. But the thing is, people listen.
“I’ll always remember the first time I went into a probation centre, in Darlington. These were people who had to come along, and when they saw the banner they were laughing, saying things like ‘oh we’re going to learn to kill with one punch.’
“Once I’d told my story they were coming up saying ‘I can’t believe I said that, I didn’t realise.’ People just don’t realise the consequences. “We’ll
go into schools for children with behavioural issues and the teachers will say the difference in the children afterwards is unbelievable, they don’t want to act like that anymore, they want to make sure people don’t get hurt.
“At the beginning it was all about my Kristian, but now we have six other families who go on the presentation. [One punch attack survivor] Liam Taylor comes out and does the work with us, and when I stand beside him I do think ‘that could be my boy.’ You do get very close to the families.”
As well as raising awareness of the fatal consequences of a punch the charity campaigns for changes in the law to ensure appropriate sentences for those who kill or seriously injure with their fists.
In 2019, Kristian’s story was told in Parliament on what should have been his 27th birthday by South Shields MP Emma Lewell-Buck.
More recently, Maxine has worked with Bishop Auckland MP Dehenna Davison, who launched the All-Party Parliamentary Group for One Punch Assaults this year, in memory of her own father, killed in a one-punch attack.
Maxine hopes this latest move will finally result in the justice bereaved families like hers have been calling for.
For the devoted mum, everything the charity achieves, from police change to every single person who thinks twice instead of lashing out, is a tribute to her “amazing” son.
She said: “My Kristian had his whole life ahead of him. He was the life and soul, he was just beautiful and funny and clever - and naughty! He was everything. Hopefully everything I’ve put into this shows how amazing Kristian was.”
ACURIOSITY seemingly from a bygone age, this was reputed to be Newcastle’s last surviving ‘men-only pub’.
The Grapes Vaults would serve its last pint just over four decades ago.
How many blokes would like to step beyond its doors, sink a few beers, have a game of dominoes, eat some picked onions, and have a good ‘eff and blind’ about how chronically bad Newcastle United are?
But, no women? Surely not. Today there is no sign of the decidedly old-school boozer. Cash machines for a branch of the HSBC Bank now inhabit the space where the little pub once stood.
Local historian and author Steve Ellwood points out: “The Grapes Vaults stood on the corner of High Friars Lane and Grey Street.
“References in old trade directories tell us that in 1879, 110 Grey Street was occupied by Newcastle Spirit and Wine Merchants, Stokoe & Co. In 1892, it was run by James Deuchars Spirit and Wine Merchants
“By 1921, it was known as the Grapes Inn and operated by James Deuchars, and by 1947, it was recorded as the Grapes Vaults.”
A newspaper article from May 1973 describes the pub as “a paradise for photographers keen to capture the character of customers in polished panels and Edwardian mirrors”.
But, under the headline ‘I want to drink my pint in peace’, and using language which reflected very different attitudes to today’s, the Grapes Vaults is described as a “dim place of melancholy and nostalgia that is no place for a modern woman”.
After one group of women had been denied entry and police were called, the manager defiantly declared: “This has been a men-only pub for years and we see no reason why we should change.”
The Sex Discrimination Act which came into force two years later appeared to have little impact on the goings-on at the pub.
In 1977, the Chronicle reported how “Those bastions of male chauvinism, the men-only bars, were still excluding women, in spirit if not in practice.
“At the Grapes Vaults on Grey Street, where Scottish and Newcastle had still not installed a ladies’ toilet, there was only one woman present.
“Mrs Kathleen Dixon, of Fenham, Newcastle, who was with her husband George, said she found some of the men gave her funny looks. ‘Sometimes there a few spare words as well’.”
Frozen in time, the pub never got round to installing a ladies’ loo, insisting there wasn’t enough space - and it was said to be the last bar in the city centre to continue with the old Sunday morning tradition of laying on free food - tripe, cheese, black pudding, picked onions with the beer.
As one old-timer told our reporter: “Before the war, I’d buy a pint of beer for 3d at the Grapes and be sure of a free dinner as well.”
But as the 1980s dawned, the end was nigh.
The Grapes Vaults called last order for the final time in late December 1979. We reported: “Women will get the last laugh on Newcastle’s last bastion for men. Scottish and Newcastle Breweries wanted to renew the lease on the premises - but the owners now intend to turn the pub into a shop.”