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Doc
Keeper of the Scrolls
2010 Posts
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 Posted -
02/04/2004
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21:21
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Hello reader, my name is Dave O’Connor but most folk call me Doc (my initials) or Des (my nickname from my navy days), the date is Friday the 2nd of April 2004, time is 9:00pm and currently it’s very cloudy and drizzling outside after the thunder storm.
I’m at present the webmaster for this site, got a bit of spare time and just a little bit bored with the telly. I’m sat in front of my computer and if all goes well this hopefully should be the start of my life story to date, set into the printed word. To be honest, it’s not a thing I ever contemplated doing because I think that I have led up to now, a fairly usual and normal life, nothing monumental or special in it, I guess the reader can be the judge of this. However due to some recent involvement in a local history project about the local weaving industry here in East Lancashire, something as been awakened in this thick head of mine to make me hit the keyboard of this damn computer and try and put down in words my life story, whether it be for historical purposes or something that my kids or grandkids can read I currently don’t know and to be honest don’t care, only time will tell.
I don’t profess to be a skilled writer far from it for this will be my first attempt ever to put anything like this down in writing and the number of spelling mistakes and grammar in this document would make my old English teacher spin in her grave, But thanks to the modern technology such as “Spell Checkers” and such like, hopefully this document will be at least readable, I’m not going to apologise for any grammatical mistakes I will inevitably make because I am what I am – a guy with a average intellect with no air’s or graces. At times I may tend to ramble on to much, this you will have to bear I’m afraid, and also I think I tend to write very much how I speak or think, if this is the case then the grammar will definitely get chucked out the window.
The words that follow are my thoughts of the events and situations in my life as they stand today, they may well change in the future and have indeed changed over the years, I’ll try and recount as accurately as possible but don’t forget that these will be my perceptions (today) of the situation then, and may not be at all factual, time does weird things to your head. So to all my friends, family and individuals who read this and are mentioned in this story or not (whichever the case), please don’t take offence or judge me cruelly for I mean to offer no offence to anyone. This is my story and I’ll tell it how I perceive it.
I’ve not put any thoughts or planned anything into how I’m going to get this done, I guess I’ll wing it a bit till one memory revives another and another and so on, and when they do, get it into this document before it fades away, maybe never to see the light of day again oh well I’ll give it a shot.
Anyways I’m just going to make myself a brew, have a fag then I’ll be back and hopefully the words will start flowing out of my head through my arms and fingers via the keyboard into this document.
Ok I’m back and thinking where the hell do I start, “at the beginning” I can hear you all shout so not wanting to buck the opinions of you all, that’s where I will start.
So hear goes….
The above is the introduction to what I am now compiling into my life story, why am I doing it? I don't really know. However if someone can take enjoyment or learn from it then it will have been worth it. If my kids or grandkids ever read it, then maybe they will understand whom their father or grandfather is/was. All I know is that if I don’t get it down in writing at some stage in my life then all my memories and stories will be lost forever. No time like the present.
I guess what I'm trying to say is, Why don't you give it a go, what have you got to lose. Chat about how you are going to approach it, what method you are going to use and your experiences while you are writing it.
I will post my results on here when each period of my life is down in writing, proof read and spell checked. I’ve just finished the beginning period of my life up to the first day I started school…..Watch this space
TTFN - Doc
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Sues
New Member
46 Posts
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Posted - 13/02/2007 : 18:38
Reading Docs topic made me remember something I read,
Come look with me inside this drawer,
In this book Iv'e often seen .
At the pictures,black and white
Faces proud,still,serene
I wish I knew these people
These strangers in the box
Their names and all their memories
Are lost among my socks
I wonder what their lives where like
How did they spend their days
What about their special times
I'll never know their ways
If only someone had taken time
To tell who ,what,where,and when
The faces of my heritage
Would come to life again
Could this become the fate
Of the pictures we take today
Take time to save your stories
Seize the opportunity when it knocks
Or someday you or yours
Could be strangers in the box
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melteaser
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Posted - 13/02/2007 : 19:42
I like that Sue.
Doc - have you finished you first day at school yet?
Mel
http://www.briercliffesociety.co.uk |
moh
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Posted - 13/02/2007 : 19:48
Yes come on Doc - it's been a time now nearly 3 years - must have more stories now - especially after running this site all this time
Say only a little but say it well |
Flutterby
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Posted - 13/02/2007 : 23:37
Good Luck with it Doc!I am hoping to get something down about my life too, if only for my Grandchildren so come on get a jildy on! ( not sure where that came from?) |
mporter
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Posted - 13/02/2007 : 23:42
"Jildy" not sure of the spelling - I think is a middle eastern word for hurry up............where I got that from I do not know but I am sure someone told me years ago.....it may even have been dad...was it Stanley??
Margaret Porter
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Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 14/02/2007 : 05:46
Yup. Old army word that probably came back from the Indian Army or perhaps from the time the Cheshires spent in Egypt.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
belle
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Posted - 14/02/2007 : 14:05
Sue, your poem is what I live. i inherited all the family photo's including a fantastic old gilt album of my grandparents. i can find my grandfather and some of his family and my grandmother, and my father and his sister as children, but the rest are nameless faces. However, last year through jeans reunited i met a grandaaughter of on eof my grand fathers sisters (second cousin?we went through all this on here at the time!) the most delightful part of the meeting was that she had so many of the same photo's . We both had gaps but were able to fill in a bit more of the family history....my favourite thing about these photo's is seeing genetics at work in the present generation, but like the person in the poem . i wish i knew more.
Life is what you make it |
Flutterby
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Posted - 14/02/2007 : 15:04
I may have got the word from my dad who was in the Army during the second world war as ayoung Captain he was based in Deolali Camp in India!Strange how it just came into my head? |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 14/02/2007 : 15:56
Almost certain Flutters. Going 'Doolally' was the phrase for madness. There was a big hospital there.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
Flutterby
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Posted - 14/02/2007 : 16:46
He wrote a diary and did some wonderful illustrations, which my sister has. She was a baby then, its a pit y they arent published! As very interesting! |
Sue
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Posted - 14/02/2007 : 18:54
When my father in law was very ill with cancer, he wrote his life story on aold type writer on the back of some old letters. I retyped it in WORD, added family photos and had it bound for his 80th birthday I called it THE FIRST 80 YEARS. I found it very moving to write, especialy the last chapter which was devoted to the TLC given by my Mum in law. What an insight it all was to life in the early 1900s. Many others have read it, and sections were read out at his funeral. We now have it, a family heirloom
Sue
If you keep searching you'll find it |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 15/02/2007 : 05:44
Sue, that's why I wrote me memoir. Just so that the next generations could put a handle on me and understand where part of their genes came from. While doing it I also found what a powerful therapeutic tool it is to write about your life. It opens up explanations to events that you never recognised and probably buried over the years. I think I finished up a better man because of it..... it certainly helped me to resolve a lot of painful old issues.
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
handlamp
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Posted - 15/02/2007 : 15:34
As Eric Sykes says "If I don't write my memoirs, nobody else will!" The coolies in Cochin were `encouraged' to improve their output by the exhortation of Jildy, Jildy!
Ted |
Stanley
Local Historian & Old Fart
36804 Posts
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Posted - 15/02/2007 : 16:29
There was also 'shufti kush badin?' A useful phrase but so filthy we mustn't even attempt a translation.....
Stanley Challenger Graham
Barlick View
stanley at barnoldswick.freeserve.co.uk |
moh
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Posted - 15/02/2007 : 20:21
You always think your children/ childrenschildren etc. will not be interested in your life - maybe not now but in the future I guess it would be great for them to read it. So many memories come back as you get older - jiving up the Majestic - double seats at th back of the Majestic - the shelter off Essex Street - Letcliffe Park on a sunny afternoon - all in the 1950's - does not seem so long ago now - to me - but a lifetime to our children
Say only a little but say it well |
Writing your Memoirs - WHY?
