Band of Brothers

An article in last Sunday’s Independent related David Freud’s convoluted relationship with his very talented, very famous, but distinctly absent father, Lucian.  Freud wants to become a mentor with the Brighton-based Band of Brothers which pairs disaffected young men with local role models.  He’s taking part in a paint-a-thon next month in a bid to raise money for the charity, which uses weekend retreats to create modern ‘rites of passage’ for the young men in an attempt to build up their self-worth.

Freud himself is a father of four but has lost contact with his third daughter, a loss about which Freud says that he’s "recreated the relationship between me and my father with (my daughter).”  His experience is a poignant reminder of the need to find imaginative ways to support the sort of young men that find themselves with a Brighton Brother.  Many of them will either already be, or will become fathers themselves, and could repeat the damaging cycle, as Freud knows all too well.