Super sad news. A lot of the things I do today I learnt or started to learn from you. Thank you.
Gareth G Smith, former Ents Assistant, Brighton SU
I woke up with a Mick story in my head. We went to the Bristol Community Festival one year, on the bikes, and when it was over we visited a friend who was into modern art. I said that I liked “this guy Banksy” and it turned out there was a Banksy for £400 to take away (somehow). But it was the 1990s and getting £400 out of your bank account on a Sunday was actually impossible, so I passed. But we NEARLY had a genuine Banksy!
Mick ran Brighton SU’s Wednesday night trance night called “Sea-lab” and it was there that he employed Nick Spice. Nick Spice and Mareti (the girl on the cover of Halfway Between the Gutter and the Stars) went on to run the next nightclub along from the SU’s Basement Club; their club had a Banksy behind the Bar. When they left, they sold it and retired. Much to my great sadness Mareti died last year too.
Mick didn’t often talk of his work with The Aled Richard’s Trust. We occasionally went to see one of his friends from there (Mark) who had HIV and Type A diabetes and sadly we found out that Mark had committed suicide. The AIDS epidemic was still in full swing – it wasn’t until 1996 that the antiretroviral therapy really worked. Almost everyone I had met in my early days clubbing in London had “gone home to live with their parents” as people said. And although I have never had the slightest of negative thoughts about people who have HIV, to Mick’s dying day I have remained uninfected, as an honour to him and what he fought for during 1989 to 1991.
When you’ve shared your formative years with someone so joyous as Mick Bateman it always felt like there would be an opportunity to sit down one day and have a reminisce about the things we did together. Even if you never quite get around to it. Having that taken away in someone’s sixtieth year is numbing.
Thanks for a wonderful time and for sharing part of your life with me. I needed an angel, and you unquestionably were mine.
Brian Butterworth, former partner
The Basement Years
