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General => The Common Room => The Lighter Side => Topic started by: MrsLizzy on Thursday 12 April 07 13:49 BST (UK)
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I went with my partner on Easter Sunday to his church, and was introduced to a lady who is 96 years old. Now I know that's not particularly unusual these days, but when I got home, I realised she was born before Titanic sank, that she was about four years old when WW1 broke out, and a young woman when Love Is The Sweetest Thing was a hit! When she was my age, WW2 was only a recent memory and no-one had ever heard of the Beatles.
I don't think we often realise what a treasure the elderly are - they are walking repositories of memories and information and we need to grab them and get them talking before it's too late. I think the University of Essex does an Oral History course - wouldn't it be great if this was more widespread and we could get recordings of people talking about their memories, that will otherwise soon be lost?
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Mrs Lizzy - I completely agree. Life must've been so different for them growing up. There must have been more advances in technology during the last century than any other before it so what must a 96 year old lady have seen change during her lifetime? Cars, music, changes every single aspect of her life. I would love to interview a group of old people simply to get their stories recorded.
When I was working for a local newspaper as a lowly copy typist (and with aspirations to get my name in print that was sadly not matched by the editor) I interviewed my gran about her time at Newark Park (Ozleworth, Glos) as the underhouse maid. I wish now I'd recorded it on tape as I don't have a copy of what she said, I didn't submit it to the newspaper from lack of interest and now, sadly she's no longer with us.
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I have been involved recently in an Oral History Project in Sussex, memories of living on Ashdown Forest and it is one of the most rewarding projects I have been involved in.
My involvement was only typing up the transcripts but the memories of these elderly people are fantastic. It has been interesting to place their memories of world or national events in with other's views of those events and to see how their views differ from other peoples.
One of the parts I find the most interesting is simply when they talk about how the area/village has changed over the years. Very enlightening.
If anyone gets the opportunity to become involved in Oral History I really recommend it!
Kerry
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I suppose there's nothing stopping people from seeking out elderly people to interview, as long as the right questions are asked and agreement sought in advance. Imagine the wealth of material that could be recorded and archived. It would be wonderful!
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What is so sad is that there are many 90 year olds sitting around in hospital wards and care homes with no-one talking to them and just gazing at the telly all day.
Many years ago when I did a stint on a geriatric ward I was very struck at how many of these people had amazing stories to tell, even when they were not able to function adequately in the present day. I heard stories of living in Lambeth in the 20s and 30s, and all about the Blitz, heroic WWII service exploits etc. Many of these folk were written off as "demented".
Maybe there would be some way to harnass the surge of interest in Family History and have teams of people chatting to these (in my view) often neglected old people!
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Maybe we need some kind of nationwide scheme to do that. There is a charity though, called Contact The Elderly, I think - which is essentially that you collect some elderly people in your car and take them back to your place for tea. This is to counteract loneliness in elderly people.
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Until she died in May, 2005 aged 99½, nearly every Sunday I used to visit a lady who lived for the last five years of her life in a care home.
She had been a schoolteacher in Leicester, although she was born and brought up in Huthwaite on the Notts/Derbys border.
It was fascinating listening to her recount the tales of living in a mining village where practically no-one could read or write and no-one ventured far from home.
People used to bring letters to her Father to read to them.
As a young child she had to cycle to Mansfield to take the rents to the bank that she had collected from the tenants of some of the properties that her father had managed to to acquire.
When she went to Grammar School in Nottingham, the village was astonished. "Why does thy lass want to go all that way to school?"
Then when she went to Teachers' training college in Leeds.. "What's she want to go to college for? Thou wilt never get a penny out of her. She'll just go off and get married." She never did.
Peter
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How things have (or may haven't!) changed. I can't think of many things that I think more important than education, fulfilling potential, etc. Even the current attitude that seems to be so popular, that education isn't worth the effort unless it's going to get you a great job and earn you lots of money, scandalises me. It grieves me when I hear people talk about the "School of Hard Knocks" or the "University of Life" - almost all of us have been to those and the entrance exams aren't exactly what you'd call stringent, are they?! You just have to be breathing!
But I digress! 8)
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What is so sad is that there are many 90 year olds sitting around in hospital wards and care homes with no-one talking to them and just gazing at the telly all day.
Many years ago when I did a stint on a geriatric ward I was very struck at how many of these people had amazing stories to tell, even when they were not able to function adequately in the present day. I heard stories of living in Lambeth in the 20s and 30s, and all about the Blitz, heroic WWII service exploits etc. Many of these folk were written off as "demented".
Maybe there would be some way to harnass the surge of interest in Family History and have teams of people chatting to these (in my view) often neglected old people!
I totally agree with you and wonder if Help the Aged would already be looking for volunteers for visiting old folk. I don't know whether they do this sort of thing, it was just a thought that occured to me.
Kerry
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Looking at their website, I am not sure that they do it, but they could put one in contact with befriending schemes.
Contact the Elderly also looks very worthwhile
http://www.contact-the-elderly.org/
They get people to run tea parties in turn on Sundays in their own homes.
This is imortant, but I am most concerned by people in Care Homes and long-stay hospitals. Some of these are good, but some are very sad.
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I am really brainstorming now!
The Oral History Society site is very interesting:-
http://www.ohs.org.uk/index.php
I shall contact them.
I suppose the idea I have in my head is one or two trained Oral Historians going into a Care Home, giving a general chat and asking if people would like to talk in a group or alone. Thereby "doing" oral history, but also interacting with rather ignored elderly persons.
Work in Progress!
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Well I'd support it pjbuk007, !
Work in progress here too!!!
Wendi :)
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Looking at their website, I am not sure that they do it, but they could put one in contact with befriending schemes.
Contact the Elderly also looks very worthwhile
http://www.contact-the-elderly.org/
They get people to run tea parties in turn on Sundays in their own homes.
This is imortant, but I am most concerned by people in Care Homes and long-stay hospitals. Some of these are good, but some are very sad.
I agree with you SO much. My partner's mum worries about being put in a home - I keep telling her that if I have anything to do with it she never will be, but my partner isn't so sure we would be able to cope. I am so against the idea of trusting care staff not to abuse or neglect her and would far rather she could either stay in her own home or live with us and we pay for private nursing. I'm sure I've heard it's cheaper than care home fees.
I'm really pleased by all the ideas and links on here - they look so useful and I am going to look some of them up. I know a lot of people think elderly people are boring but I have a soft spot for them and would happily sit and listen to them tell me their memories (while the tape runs of course!)
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This thread has made me realise how slack I 've been. Dad was 84 last week and for ages I've 'been going to" get his memories down on tape. When i think of what he's lived through and the changes he's seen...........................
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There is a similar scheme to that propesed run by the B.B.C and my home town museum/library,in Liverpool,Lancashire.Probably other,s elsewhere that haven't been well publicised..
There is also a school,s project knocking about in some area,s,not only for memorie,s recorded but also for the pleasure of giving and receiving of enjoyment in each other,s company.
Reliable tape recorder,s and spare batterie,s a must!
Goggy. ;) ;D
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Some local Girl Scouts did that at a nursing home in town. They interviewed some of the ladies, wrote a "newspaper" and then presented their project. It was a wonderful experience for everyone.
Kath
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Some care homes do run Reminiscence Activities for their clients. It helps with maintaining memories and also self-esteem in older people. Remembering all the things that you have done in your life can be a big boost when you are sitting in a nursing home unable to look after yourself.
There's an extract from a work book here:
www.elderlycarebooks.co.uk/ttr.pdf
I hadn't thought before about how valuable this work is for family historians. At the moment the exercises are run with a group of older people. It would be winners all round if our elders could exercise their memories AND have a willing listener who is thrilled at hearing their stories.
Monica
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My great aunt is 102 this year and still as sharp as pin! I love listening to her tales of childhood in London.They were VERY poor, there lodgings burnt down when she was about 10 and they were homeless! The red cross fed them! Her aunt wanted to take her to America to start a new life in 1912 but her parents wouldn`t let her go and the ship that she would have sailed on sank on it`s maiden voyage!( I realised she was talking about the Titanic)She would follow the friut and veg barrows and when no one was looking would cut the bags open with a knife to let all the fruit fall on the floor and as it did her "gang" would grab the fruit and run!It was how they survived! she said she was ALWAYS hungry!
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No one had the "fat" gene in those days!!
Liz