Chapters
- Was your llife ever in danger?
- When did you first fall in love?
- Do you believe in fate?
- Where are your parents/grandparents from? Do they speak any other languages?
- How has being a parent changed you?
- If you could give your younger self advice, what would it be?
- What was the most profound spiritual moment of your life?
- What country that you’ve travelled to has surprised you the most?
- Preface
- January
- What did you want to be growing up?
- What’s the first major news story or political event you remember living through as a child?
- May
- What do you remember about your family home?
- What are your memories of primary school?
- June
- Were your parents strict?
- Have you taken part in any demonstrations?
- July
- Remember your first car?
- Why Bee?
- Have you lived through any wars?
- August
- What are your memories of university/college?
- September
- Have you met any famous people?
- October
- Etc …
- November
- What’s the most important piece of advice anyone gave you and why?
- December
- Describe your father and write one favourite memory about him.
- Conclusion
- February
- Describe your mother and write about one favourite memory with her.
- March
- Did you have any serious accidents as a child?
- What was/is your relationship with your siblings? Has this changed?
- April
A Life Well Lived
What do you remember about your family home?
69 Parkwood Gardens Calverley
I was born at number 47 Waterloo Grove, Pudsey; an end of terrace council house that had an Anderson air raid shelter in the back garden, a small living room, a kitchen I have no memory of and a downstairs bathroom. We had Dorothy Perkins roses growing around the back door and lots of Catmint in the front border. A chenille table cloth was ever on the table, chenille curtains in the winter that were exchanged for thin cotton floral in the summer. A Yorkist fireplace/oven dominated the room and I have no memory of any furniture except that table under which Pat and I would hide on Friday evening prior to being dosed with licorice powder or Beecham Pills to ensure our bowels were “regular” (what was this obsession with bowels?).
When I was seven we moved to Calverley, a village some 4 miles, away to a brand new council house. A semi detached with a huge corner plot garden, three bedrooms and a dining room in which we lived, keeping the front room “for best”. This was the place would be suiters were interviewed by my Father, prior to marrying my sisters and a freezing cold cell into which I was incarcerated to do my homework! I think we sat in that place called “the room” on Christmas Day??? Maybe.
The Parkwood Estate was full of children so plenty of friends to play with and a safe environment to grow up in. Well, nearly, because, as we were one of the first families to move into this development, building around us went on for some years, the part built houses and their skeletons of scaffolding became our playground and we loved it, plenty of near misses on the jungle gym (aka the scaffolding) but Christine Newlove sustained horrific burns after falling into the lime pit she was jumping across! Rodney Someone was also badly burned when, the day after our annual bonfire on the green, we were all out collecting spent fireworks, shaking the remnants of the contents into the best tube, ignition … Quelle suprise, some mixtures proved to be a great disappointment, others? We life changing as it happened.
My childhood was happy, I had a loving family, a great school and plenty of friends.