THIS reviewer is going to describe this as a “review of two halves”.

Harlow’s Voice for the Forgotten: Kevin Forbes’ Daring Stand Against Ageism – From Parliament to Brussels

The Life, The Times, and the Adventures of Kevin Forbes

A powerful biographical memoir tracing one man’s fight for justice through family, politics, and love―with his devoted wife Carol by his side.

Firstly: The first half.

The first half is a fascination insight into life in Harlow from the late fifties until the late nineties.

If everyone wrote a book like this, we would have a fascinating social history of life in the town.

Kevin paints a wonderful picture of life in Arkwrights, but as well as describing Harlow life in the early sixties, he is also describing his grandparent’s life.

There is insight into a grandfather gassed in WW1 as well as a report on a plane crash in a street in Edmonton where another grandparent was commended for bravery.

Whether it is Arkwrights United Football Club, Broadfields Primary and then on to Netteswell Secondary there is a real love of being part of everything.

This is not just a description of sport and education, there is a respect and admiration for people around him.

That moves on to play schemes, scouts, and then onto his beloved Brass Band.

The pages on the Brass Band alone are excellent. They were clearly an integral part of Harlow life and Kevin captures it superbly. We never knew they were on Opportunity Knocks!

Kevin continued with Brass Bands after he left schools as well as football.

The second half begins with the world of work.

There is Harlow Development Corporation (HDC), Revertex, BOC,, STC and so on.

We then move on to the love of Kevin’s life: Carol. This is a deeply personal description and reflection of Kevin’s life with his wife who died in 2023.

Again, we lear a lot about Carol but we also reminded of Kevin’ kind and generous spirit.

The story changes as Kevin gets to the age of 51. Much of the publicity surrounding his book centres on his struggle to find work after that age.

Our problem was that after 170 fascinating pages, we had 200 pages on the struggle. Whilst we greatly sympathised, it was a bit of a grind to read. A bit of judicious sub-editing wouldn’t have gone amiss.

At the same time, it is frustrating but also heartbreaking. Knowing Kevin is not in the best of health, we felt for him. However, it is still an important document and perhaps with subject such as AI. Kevin’s book, may be, in future years, be a warning from history.

To conclude: It is still an important document. And we hope they find a place in Harlow Museum for Kevin’s book.

Kevin Forbes should be proud of what he has achieved. In years to come, someone may look at his campaign and be able to learn from him.

But we want him to know that someone was listening, someone was reading and someone was appreciating all that he did.

We are sure his grandparents, and his parents and his wife were all very proud of him.

By the very publication of this book, he made a difference.

Kevin Forbes’s book: The Life, The Times and The Adventures of Kevin Forbes MBCS. CITP