A musician has reminisced on his earlier years after released a love letter song dedicated to Darwen which he wrote in 1981.
Mike Wruk, 64, of Ewood, wrote the song ‘When I Came To Leave’ in January 1981, when he would spend his time commuting from Darwen to college in Hull and back.
Fast forward 41 years, Mike has brushed off the decades old dust and resurrected the song he wrote in his mid-20s.
‘When I Came To Leave’ was a “vague attempt to sum up Darwen” Mike said.
‘The world was my oyster but this was my pearl’ is a line from the song that resonates with locals, particularly paired with the Mike’s music video taking viewers back down Darwen’s memory lane.
Mike and his friends used to perform at the Fleece Open Folk Club and they were trying to avoid the Lancastrian Dialect joke people would make as well as avoiding cliches that came with making music that was written about home when penning the track.
Whilst he initially found the song slightly cheesy and not one of his best, Mike began to love it and take it more seriously during the recording of the song earlier this year.
“It’s a sense of nostalgia,” Mike said, “I’d always end up stood on that station looking out across the valley when I began to put the song together.
“I was thinking about all these places. It had often just been raining and then the sun would come out shining and it would be this matter of reflection.”
Mike took photos of the sunrises and sunsets and streets and shops of Darwen with his Kodak pocket instamatic camera, capturing the beauty in the simplicity of town, which has been preserved to this day through Mike's music.
Some photos used in the music video are from the Facebook group ‘Darwen Bygone Days’ where people share nostalgic photos and stories.
“This photo just sums up the whole mood of the song for me, because that’s the place where I always was.”
His commute to Hull, and interviews he attended in cities across the country for jobs over in America meant he was spending his mornings and evenings walking the same route from Darwen Train station to the bus station, past the swimming baths and onto the main road.
Mike had just finished his teacher training in 1980 and was applying for various things but found himself stuck in a limbo of what he wanted to do.
“I never considered myself much of a musician,” Mike added, “but I picked up a guitar and I could write words, and I really enjoyed singing.
“Every time I got a chance to sit down and write music, I would. It was a sense of expression of something.”
“I make music because it’s the best music in the world. It’s the best music in the world, not for anybody else, but for me because I get something out of it personally.”
Now living in Ewood, Mike is married and has a 23-year-old son and still continues making music and attending open mic nights.
“I’ve also started Mark Wruk Funeral Celebrant because I want to help people celebrate, rather than just mourn because a life well lived is a life well lived.”
You can explore more of Mike’s music and take a trip down Darwen’s memory lane on his YouTube channel.
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