Memorable Moments of Mine
Life will give us all moments that are special; moments that are out of this world and boosted by our love and fond memories of loved ones both past and present. There will be moments of sheer joy, disbelief, shock, pleasure, happiness, surprise, sadness and awe; almost any emotion we are capable of experiencing and expressing.
Top of one’s list of memories is my first day at school, the memory of my first birthday and Christmas, the fear of my first fight, the first pair of long trousers I ever wore, the magic of my first kiss with Sylvia Hinchcliffe when aged six years, receiving my first wage package, the day of my marriage, the first time I made love, the birth of my first child etc. etc.
It is those other unforgettable things that I now refer to, those experiences which were unexpected and are uniquely peculiar to one’s own circumstances which define and distinguish us from others.
It is these things of our past that shape so much of out character, making us the type of person we are prone to become.
It is those other unforgettable things that I now refer to, those experiences which were unexpected and are uniquely peculiar to one’s own circumstances which define and distinguish us from others.
It is these things of our past that shape so much of out character, making us the type of person we are prone to become.
I recall the very first singing contest I won at the age of ten years and the pleasure it gave me to hand my parents the two white £5 notes I received as my prize. This was in the 50s when £10 represented a full week’s wage for my father. I remember the pleasure on my mother's face when I handed it over to help pay for more food for the family that week. Whenever my mother had a 'windfall' it would never be used to reduce the overall debt, but used instead to bring a bit of extra pleasure today. She was a great believer that one should live today because one is dead a long time. One of her favourite sayings was , 'Billy, worry not. Tomorrow will look after itself!'
I remember getting run over by a big lorry on Third Avenue, Windybank Estate and remaining conscious for over an hour as they tried to retrieve me from beneath the vehicle because my body was wrapped around the main drive axle. Then I remember going in and out of consciousness in the hospital as the surgeon fought to save my life. I recall seeing his face from the operating theatre and his soft African smile as I lost consciousness. I am sure that the pleasure of seeing his beautiful, black face when I eventually came around against all odds was the motivation which led me to fight the ugly face of racism wherever it crossed my path thereafter.
I remember hearing the hospital consultant in his white coat tell my father on my first night in hospital, “Don’t go home tonight as he will not be alive in the morning!” As I lay there, I recall saying to myself, ”Oh yes I will! Who are you to say if I live or die?” There was simply no way that this Catholic boy with sins yet to confess intended to die without receiving absolution from a priest.
I remember my first promise to God as I lay there dying. “Please save my life. Let me walk again and I’ll work for the good of others for the rest of my life.” I have never broken that promise. Over the next two years, I read extensively about eastern traditions and in particular the 'Yin' and 'Yang' philosophy of the Chinese. I also listened to a great deal of radio and in particular the music of the time. I will never forget that the hospital radio was constantly playing the latest hit, 'The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane' by the Ames Brothers.
When I eventually pulled through, I was told that I'd incurred a damaged spine and that I'd never feel pain below my waist again. This condition prevailed for a number of months. Then, when I eventually did feel my lower legs once more, I was told that I would never walk again due to the severe damage caused to my legs. I had one leg that was three inches shorter than the other due to over fifty operations braking and re-setting it and the other leg wass devoid most of its kneecap and could neither bend or starighten from its 45 degree angle.
I remember my first bicycle that my dad bought me after my accident. The fact that I had been left with a spinal injury, along with a medical prognosis that I would never walk again, didn’t prevent him keeping the promise that I'd extracted from him as I initially lay dying in the hospital. It cost my dad two years of his spare money to buy me that bike which had the top of the range ‘Stormy Archer’ three-speed control.
I remember my first bicycle that my dad bought me after my accident. The fact that I had been left with a spinal injury, along with a medical prognosis that I would never walk again, didn’t prevent him keeping the promise that I'd extracted from him as I initially lay dying in the hospital. It cost my dad two years of his spare money to buy me that bike which had the top of the range ‘Stormy Archer’ three-speed control.
When I eventually felt pain increasing beneath my waist around six months later, I knew that pain indicated a re-connection between my brain, spinal cord and lower body. Over a number of years, whilst I still hadn't re-established my ability to walk properly, I nevertheless refused to allow such a small consideration to stop me riding my new bicycle. I needed to re-learn how to ride my bicycle however, as I had to ride it with the propulsion of one leg only as I could only bend one leg and couldn't bend the second leg at all. This condition made it virtually impossible for me to pedal a full 360 degree cycle with both legs in order to turn the wheels.
My father sorted this problem by converting my bicycle to one with 'fixed gears'. This modification enabled me to propel the bicycle forward by using the turning power of one leg only (the longest leg), to move it along the road. I went out on the bicycle every day, whatever the weather. Over time, I managed to remain upright on the bicycle when it wasn't moving. However, in the beginning it wasn't so, and falling off the bicycle was a frequent occurrence. When I had occasion to stop, I would fall off the bicycle and lie on the ground until some stranger came along and acceded to my request to put me back in the saddle.
My parents, God bless them, allowed me the right to hurt myself with my many bicycle falls over the next year or so rather than see me resign myself to being a cripple for the rest of my life. My dad even made me a bunker out of four large pram wheels that was constructed from a few planks of wood with a rudimentary steering device and wheel brake. When I couldn't walk, my sisters Mary and Eileen would pull me in my bunker like a pair of trusty Shire horses.
My father sorted this problem by converting my bicycle to one with 'fixed gears'. This modification enabled me to propel the bicycle forward by using the turning power of one leg only (the longest leg), to move it along the road. I went out on the bicycle every day, whatever the weather. Over time, I managed to remain upright on the bicycle when it wasn't moving. However, in the beginning it wasn't so, and falling off the bicycle was a frequent occurrence. When I had occasion to stop, I would fall off the bicycle and lie on the ground until some stranger came along and acceded to my request to put me back in the saddle.
My parents, God bless them, allowed me the right to hurt myself with my many bicycle falls over the next year or so rather than see me resign myself to being a cripple for the rest of my life. My dad even made me a bunker out of four large pram wheels that was constructed from a few planks of wood with a rudimentary steering device and wheel brake. When I couldn't walk, my sisters Mary and Eileen would pull me in my bunker like a pair of trusty Shire horses.
It took me 24 months before I could pedal with both of my legs. This was shorter than the length of time that it took my dad to pay for the bicycle on the ‘never never’. With the bike adjustment of a ‘fixed wheel’ (a device that allowed the bicycle to be propelled forward only, and with one leg if sufficiently powerful), I soon developed the skills of a trick cyclist and could stay on the bicycle upright in a stand-still position for up to ten minutes. In addition however, whilst learning these skills, my falls from the bicycle resulted in me having at least three more fractures to my leg and numerous Plaster of Paris cast replacements.
Each day I rode my bicycle towards the same destination. My daily destination was a hill on the other side of Huddersfield. Although eight miles away from my home, I could see it on the skyline out of my back bedroom window. The Huddersfield landmark had been a beacon over one hundred years ago and was called, ‘Castle Hill’. It represented my greatest fear that I may never walk again and this fear led me to at least want to get there on my bicycle. Because of its importance in my life, I included it in my most popular book, ‘Douglas the Dragon’ and referred to it in the story as ‘The Hill of Fear’. I was in my fourteenth year of life when I eventually reached the bottom of ‘Castle Hill’, but couldn’t get to touch the castle ruin on the hill until I was able to walk again at the age of 15 years.
Between the ages of 15 and 21 years, I remember overindulging in every contact sport I could get into, including judo, boxing and wrestling. Having been left with one leg marginally shorter than the other, my balance was adversely affected. I was determined to avoid being seen as anything other than 100% fit, and my false pride would never allow me to be perceived as being a cripple. I needed to be able to handle myself if physically attacked and not depend on others to fight my battles for me.
At the age of eighteen years, I first appeared on the front page of one of the national newspapers when I became the youngest Textile Trade Union Shop Steward and the youngest Youth Club Leader in Great Britain. Within six months of taking this position at ‘Harrison Gardners’, I brought nearly two hundred employees out on strike. The strike lasted three days before the management backed down.
The year was in the spring of 1961, a time in England where much racialism prevailed, trade unions had a strength that employers ignored at their peril, and people of black skin were discriminated against in all walks of life.
The year was in the spring of 1961, a time in England where much racialism prevailed, trade unions had a strength that employers ignored at their peril, and people of black skin were discriminated against in all walks of life.
Harrison Gardners was a family firm and one of the best paid jobs in textiles for miles around. A father and mother might work there, and gradually their children and other relatives may also join the workforce.
It was the first strike that had ever taken place at Harrison Gardners since it had opened over sixty years earlier in 1901. What was remarkable at the time wasn’t that two hundred men and women were prepared to follow an 18-year-old newly-appointed Shop Steward out on strike in the first instance, but rather the reason for the strike.
Allow me to momentarily digress. It was 1961 in Great Britain, a time when England was openly racist and wasn’t afraid to be so. This was a time when so called men of black skin were openly called, ’N.....’ with no fear of legal reprisal; a time when landladies would put up signs in their windows that said ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’. This was a time when some trade unions barred membership to non-white workers and Working Men’s Clubs and all manner of other social memberships were reserved exclusively for whites only.
It was the first strike that had ever taken place at Harrison Gardners since it had opened over sixty years earlier in 1901. What was remarkable at the time wasn’t that two hundred men and women were prepared to follow an 18-year-old newly-appointed Shop Steward out on strike in the first instance, but rather the reason for the strike.
Allow me to momentarily digress. It was 1961 in Great Britain, a time when England was openly racist and wasn’t afraid to be so. This was a time when so called men of black skin were openly called, ’N.....’ with no fear of legal reprisal; a time when landladies would put up signs in their windows that said ‘No Irish, No Blacks, No Dogs’. This was a time when some trade unions barred membership to non-white workers and Working Men’s Clubs and all manner of other social memberships were reserved exclusively for whites only.
The reason for the strike was because Harrison Gardners had a vacancy advertised and a West Indian man applied for the job. Despite being suitable to do it, he was rejected ‘because of the colour of his skin; he was black’. To the workers eternal credit, they could see the injustice and blatant discrimination of the situation and were prepared to strike in solidarity of the cause.
The victory was more symbolic than practical as it turned out. The West Indian man didn’t want to take the job by the time it was offered to him, having acquired another in a Batley-based mill in the meantime. I remain proud of the stand we took at the time however, and will forever think fondly of the men and women who were prepared to stand out from the crowd, most of whom are now dead.
This was remarkable fore the time, That was the first strike that Harrison Gardner ever had. My brother, Patrick became a shop steward at the same firm for a number of years after I'd left my employment there. Ironically, he was the only other shop steward ever to bring the work force out on strike. Two strikes in the space of 100 years of operation and two Forde brothers initiated them.
The firm shut for good a number of years ago and all the buildings demolished and the ground rebuilt upon. As it was being demolished, my brother Patrick managed to salvage the original sign that had been affixed to the frontage for most of the firm's existence. I had the sign framed and it presently hangs in my house in Howarth.
The victory was more symbolic than practical as it turned out. The West Indian man didn’t want to take the job by the time it was offered to him, having acquired another in a Batley-based mill in the meantime. I remain proud of the stand we took at the time however, and will forever think fondly of the men and women who were prepared to stand out from the crowd, most of whom are now dead.
This was remarkable fore the time, That was the first strike that Harrison Gardner ever had. My brother, Patrick became a shop steward at the same firm for a number of years after I'd left my employment there. Ironically, he was the only other shop steward ever to bring the work force out on strike. Two strikes in the space of 100 years of operation and two Forde brothers initiated them.
The firm shut for good a number of years ago and all the buildings demolished and the ground rebuilt upon. As it was being demolished, my brother Patrick managed to salvage the original sign that had been affixed to the frontage for most of the firm's existence. I had the sign framed and it presently hangs in my house in Howarth.
At the age of 21 years, I immigrated to Canada and travelled there over the Christmas period on the S.S. Sylvania. Originally, seven young men from the textile mill I worked at had planned to go together, but one by one, they each dropped out, so I decided to go alone. A few weeks before I left in the cold of winter, I recall that President John F.Kennedy was assassinated.
Alas, my time in Canada unfortunately revealed that racial prejudice and discrimination existed there and all across the continent of America at a more extreme degree than I’d ever witnessed it in England. It only started to get addressed in earnest after the assassination of Martin Luther King in April, 1968.
While in Canada, I remember falling in love. This was the real thing, but my pride and low income wouldn’t allow me to get engaged to Jenny as she wanted to. She was the daughter of the then British Trade Commissioner, Mr Downton, and because of the lifestyle she and her younger sister had been brought up in, I knew I could never provide for her in the manner to which she had become accustomed, so I eventually returned to England. As fate would have it, my last love, Sheila and my first love, Jenny, share the same birthday of the 29th November. The other birthdays of the other two significant women in my life were also the same, as they were both born on the 30th October. So, two of my wives shared the same birthday and the first and last of my loves also share the same birthday!
Alas, my time in Canada unfortunately revealed that racial prejudice and discrimination existed there and all across the continent of America at a more extreme degree than I’d ever witnessed it in England. It only started to get addressed in earnest after the assassination of Martin Luther King in April, 1968.
While in Canada, I remember falling in love. This was the real thing, but my pride and low income wouldn’t allow me to get engaged to Jenny as she wanted to. She was the daughter of the then British Trade Commissioner, Mr Downton, and because of the lifestyle she and her younger sister had been brought up in, I knew I could never provide for her in the manner to which she had become accustomed, so I eventually returned to England. As fate would have it, my last love, Sheila and my first love, Jenny, share the same birthday of the 29th November. The other birthdays of the other two significant women in my life were also the same, as they were both born on the 30th October. So, two of my wives shared the same birthday and the first and last of my loves also share the same birthday!
Whilst in Canada, the Downtons (Jenny’s parents) had managed to get hold of some tickets for the first open-air concert of 'The Beatles' in America and invited me to attend with them. I remember declining with the words, “No, thank you, but I’ve something else booked. Besides, they come from Liverpool which is only fifty miles away from where I live in England and I’ll be able to see them anytime when I go back home.” I certainly called that wrong!
When I returned to England, I returned to work in textiles and became a foreman. At the age of twenty five years I became one of the youngest mill managers in Yorkshire. It was a job I held for four years before I decided to go back to education and achieve my ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels that I’d abandoned in earlier life.
When I returned to England, I returned to work in textiles and became a foreman. At the age of twenty five years I became one of the youngest mill managers in Yorkshire. It was a job I held for four years before I decided to go back to education and achieve my ‘O’ and ‘A’ levels that I’d abandoned in earlier life.
At the age of thirty I joined the Probation Service. Having had sufficient 'second chances' in my own life, I was determined that this was where my future lay; providing others with a 'second chance'. Very quickly I discovered that I was unable to help the people I was being paid to help. They wanted their criminal behaviour changing, but for the vast majority of them, they were not in control of their behaviour at the time of displaying it.
Believing that one couldn’t justifiably hold a person responsible for behaviour that was beyond their immediate control such as anger outbursts, I decided to research and analyse hundreds of impulsive behavioural response patterns over the next six years in all my spare time after work hours and on attendance of numerous courses.
Believing that one couldn’t justifiably hold a person responsible for behaviour that was beyond their immediate control such as anger outbursts, I decided to research and analyse hundreds of impulsive behavioural response patterns over the next six years in all my spare time after work hours and on attendance of numerous courses.
Not being University trained until my mid thirties, I didn’t know anything about research methods and processes to begin with and so I engaged on a rigorous course of self-learning. This was a decision which was to witness my attendance on dozens of courses in Relaxation Training, Transcendental Meditation, Rational Emotive Therapy, Behaviour Modification, Hypnosis and Auto Suggestion, Autogenic Training, Assertion Training and Anger issues over the next twenty years.
Meanwhile, I continued with my own analysing and research. While I naturally became more knowledgeable in all manner of behaviour and the development of response patterns, I found the emotion of 'Anger' to represent the single most-problematic emotion which preoccupied me more than any other and which I more readily seemed able to more readilly identify with.
The upshot was that in time I learned how to access one’s involuntary behaviour through meditation, relaxation, auto-suggestion and hypnosis and 'voluntarise it' (e.g. bring it back under their control). Once this was achieved, the person could then decide whether or not to display the problem behaviour as it was now under their control and within their volition. The result was the very first systemised ‘Anger Management Group Process’ that I ran for over twenty-five years, and during which, I freely gave to the English speaking world. Countless workers had worked with angry people for numerous years, but my research was to provide me with a method that, when applied in a particular sequence, not only helped people of angry disposition to get their angry behaviour under control, but to keep it under control by sustaining and strengthening the progress daily and making it more automatic within their overall response pattern.
In simplified form, the three key emotions that govern all responses of a problematic order are too much fear, too much anger and an absence of positive self-image. The only way to make and sustain progress in all anger management work is to have four stages of vwork that needs to be carried out bin this precise order.
(1) Teach the angry person Relaxation Training skills that they use throughout bthe full programme of work.
(2) Because 'Fear' has more involuntry nelements to it than 'Anger' has, fear reduction methods and techniques must be used (in conjunction with relaxation exercises), to lower fear levels to manageable levels.
(3) All people with 'anger issues' display poor self images. They may not acknowledge such, but self deprecating behaviour is always present. This phase of their programme of work involves teaching them to love and respect themselves more so that they can then express love and respect towards others. This work is also done in conjunction with relaxation exercises.
(4) The final phase involves teaching anger control methods. During this process of the work, the anger (which is often inappropriately expressed assertion and agression), is now expressed as 'appropiate assertion'. This work is better performed in groups of people with like-minded problems or problem behaviours with seemingly opposite response traits. People who express 'too much fear' and 'too little anger' learn quicker from people who express 'too much anger' and 'too little fear!' The two types think that they are so opposite in response problems, but they are actually on the same problem continuum. This is also done in conjunction with relaxation exercises.
In simplified form, the three key emotions that govern all responses of a problematic order are too much fear, too much anger and an absence of positive self-image. The only way to make and sustain progress in all anger management work is to have four stages of vwork that needs to be carried out bin this precise order.
(1) Teach the angry person Relaxation Training skills that they use throughout bthe full programme of work.
(2) Because 'Fear' has more involuntry nelements to it than 'Anger' has, fear reduction methods and techniques must be used (in conjunction with relaxation exercises), to lower fear levels to manageable levels.
(3) All people with 'anger issues' display poor self images. They may not acknowledge such, but self deprecating behaviour is always present. This phase of their programme of work involves teaching them to love and respect themselves more so that they can then express love and respect towards others. This work is also done in conjunction with relaxation exercises.
(4) The final phase involves teaching anger control methods. During this process of the work, the anger (which is often inappropriately expressed assertion and agression), is now expressed as 'appropiate assertion'. This work is better performed in groups of people with like-minded problems or problem behaviours with seemingly opposite response traits. People who express 'too much fear' and 'too little anger' learn quicker from people who express 'too much anger' and 'too little fear!' The two types think that they are so opposite in response problems, but they are actually on the same problem continuum. This is also done in conjunction with relaxation exercises.
Within two years, 'Anger Management' courses began to mushroom across Europe, Australia and America. Although I never made a penny from this work and could have become considerably rich had I wanted to, it still gives me enormous pleasure and satisfaction to know that my work over forty-five years ago has helped innumerable people ever since. That work was partially recognised when The National Lottery paid for me to write and produce the Anger Management musical play, ‘Douglas the Dragon Play’ and to put it up on my website for any individual, school, organisation or drama group to freely download worldwide.
The 'Douglas Dragon Musical Play,' is a compilation of my four 'Douglas the Dragon' stories which have the themes of Fear, Anger and Love. It is my way of providing anger management messages to my young readers through the life, times and exploits of an angry dragon who stopps being angry with the world around him and is saved by the 'power of love'.
These have proved to be my most popular published book for children and even the late Princess Diane phoned me up and asked me to send her two books for her to read to her nine and seven-year-old sons, Princes William and Harry at their bedtime. It is nice to know that a future King of England and his younger brother had your book read to them by their mother at their childhood bedtimes.
The 'Douglas Dragon Musical Play,' is a compilation of my four 'Douglas the Dragon' stories which have the themes of Fear, Anger and Love. It is my way of providing anger management messages to my young readers through the life, times and exploits of an angry dragon who stopps being angry with the world around him and is saved by the 'power of love'.
These have proved to be my most popular published book for children and even the late Princess Diane phoned me up and asked me to send her two books for her to read to her nine and seven-year-old sons, Princes William and Harry at their bedtime. It is nice to know that a future King of England and his younger brother had your book read to them by their mother at their childhood bedtimes.
By the age of forty years, I remember being the very first person in Great Britain to introduce Relaxation Training courses to lifers in Her Majesty's Prisons. Many of these prisoners, especially the female lifers, had never felt loved nor had been able to express love to others. A great many of them had killed men or children.
I also provided Relaxation Training to Police Constables, Probation Officers, Nurses, Psychologists, Educationalists, Psychiatric Nurses and Psychiatric patients, Hospital patients and the general public for over twenty-five years, but the group of people that gave me the greatest satisfaction were mentally-ill patients in secure hospital wings. I had a natural affinity with this group of people; probably because of my own dear mother's mental illness during her 50s when she had to twice be admitted to Storthes Hall Psychiatric Hospital in Huddersfield.
By the year 2000, I felt that I’d devoted enough of my life to helping adults. I had started to write for children in 1990 and in 1995, I gave up my job as a Probation Officer and started to write for children full time. Working with children was so satisfying and pleasurable. Since 1990, I have had sixty-six books and a musical play published. My books were sold exclusively to West Yorkshire primary schools (200,000 copies sold) and all book-sale profit (£200,000 profit) was given to charitable causes. Since 2010, I had fifteen books for adult readership published. All my books are now available to purchase in e-book format from www.smashwords.com or in paperback from www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com All profits from book sales will be given to charitable causes in perpetuity.
My work with children always involved teaching them how to relax, how to healthily express their feelings, both positive ones and negative. I also showed children how to become appropriately assertive and not to be 'secretive,' especially about any bad, uncomfortable or frightening things in their lives. I taught children how to be more precise and accomplished in all they thought, said or did. I wrote about feelings and emotions in my children's stories that they find the most uncomfortable to deal with, pertaining to stressful matters that daily effect their little lives like parental death, divorce, separation and loss. In all my stories for children, I unashamedly reinforced the notion of family concepts and doing the right thing for the right reason.
I also urge both boys and girls to recognise the lack of equality between men and women today, and I encourage both sexes to refuse to accept and tolerate this state of affairs. Believing that males find it harder to give up privileges enjoyed for so long, even when such privileges are unjust, I encourage the girls at school not to let the boys get their own way simply because they are boys or to demand an excessive degree of their teacher's time in class above the time granted to girls. I also urge girls never to view any employment or role and function in society as being exclusively male or female!
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Very early on in my writing career, my work came to prominence after I got the idea of asking celebrities to visit Yorkshire schools and to read from my books to assemblies of children. Over a 15-year period, 850 (eight hundred and fifty) national and international celebrities and famous names read from my books in Yorkshire schools and libraries, while a great many others offered their help and support in many different ways. These included too many to mention individually, but they came from the arena of Royalty, Politics, Film, Stage, Television, Sport, Environment, Rugby, Football, Antarctic Exploration, Writing, Music, Song, Art, Motor Racing, Law and Order, Gardening, Church, Education, Veterinary Surgery, Magic, Puppetry and even from the world of a Clown! A few photographs of some of those royal supporters are positioned below.
I remember when Princes William and Harry were 9 and 7-years-old, receiving a personal phone call from their mother asking me to send her two books that she could read to the young princes at bedtime. She had become acquainted with my writings from some celebrity. I sent her two of my most popular publications, ’Douglas the Dragon’ and ‘Sleezy the Fox’. It’s a pleasing thought today in my later years when I think that the next King of England and his brother, Prince Harry had both books read to them as children by their mother, the late Princess Diana. When Prince William became the proud father to his son Prince George of Cambridge, I sent him and the Duchess of Cambridge copies of the same books to read to their children when they reach the ages of 7 years.
This wasn’t to be my only brush with royalty. As early as 1990, the late Princess Margaret spoke with me on the phone to tell me about her work with a Mirfield educational establishment for handicapped children and young persons I was raising money for. The Queen gave me a medal in 2002 for my services to the West Yorkshire Community; her first cousin the late Earl of Harewood and the Countess read for me in Yorkshire schools on three or four occasions during the 1990s, and HRH Princess Anne once opened a Disabled Centre in Dewsbury for me to coincide with the publication of one of my books that was being used to raise necessary monies for the Disabled Centre establishment in the late 90s.
I have also been able to work in conjunction with the Minister for Youth Culture and Education in Jamaica between 2000 and 2002, putting thirty-two schools in Falmouth, Jamaica into pen-pal contact with thirty-two schools in West Yorkshire, England. The purpose of this cultural 'twinning project' was to produce a greater understanding between different pupils and if possible, lead to a decrease in any racial and cultural discrimination that existed between the predominantly white English pupil and the black Jamaican pupil.This involved an in-depth look at the slave trade which existed in Jamaica centuries ago in which the English played a significant part in both its exploitation and its abolition.
I hoped that maintaining letter correspondence between children at both sides of the world helped to bring these two beautiful cultures closer in the minds of the 12,000 pupils involved in this transcultural-pen-pal-project. We also provided one hundred free books to each of the thirty-two schools in Falmouth, Jamaica from money raised solely by their twinned schools in Yorkshire. I wrote the children of Falmouth their own story books, one of which was based on part fact, called 'Bucket Bill'. I also wrote them 'The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy' to help reduce discrimination between black and white and also to raise valuable money for educational resources in their 32 Falmouth schools. After Nelson Mandela personally phoned me at the turn of 2000 and described my African, Indian and Jamaican stories as 'wonderful', the pupils of Falmouth, Trelawny felt much blessed that these books were placed on their school curriculum. Those books are available for purchase by following the link below, with all book sale profit going to charitable causes in perpetuity:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-forde/bucket-bill/paperback/product-21870077.html
https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=kilkenny+cat&type=
In addition, I have received help and support from two Presidents, two Prime Ministers, three princesses and a number of Ministers of the Crown. In addition, two Arch-Bishops, four Bishops and five Chief Constables have actively supported my writing and charitable work along with 850 national and international famous names who have read my books in 2,000 special assemblies held in Yorkshire schools between 1990 and 2002.
I hoped that maintaining letter correspondence between children at both sides of the world helped to bring these two beautiful cultures closer in the minds of the 12,000 pupils involved in this transcultural-pen-pal-project. We also provided one hundred free books to each of the thirty-two schools in Falmouth, Jamaica from money raised solely by their twinned schools in Yorkshire. I wrote the children of Falmouth their own story books, one of which was based on part fact, called 'Bucket Bill'. I also wrote them 'The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy' to help reduce discrimination between black and white and also to raise valuable money for educational resources in their 32 Falmouth schools. After Nelson Mandela personally phoned me at the turn of 2000 and described my African, Indian and Jamaican stories as 'wonderful', the pupils of Falmouth, Trelawny felt much blessed that these books were placed on their school curriculum. Those books are available for purchase by following the link below, with all book sale profit going to charitable causes in perpetuity:
http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-forde/bucket-bill/paperback/product-21870077.html
https://www.lulu.com/shop/search.ep?keyWords=kilkenny+cat&type=
In addition, I have received help and support from two Presidents, two Prime Ministers, three princesses and a number of Ministers of the Crown. In addition, two Arch-Bishops, four Bishops and five Chief Constables have actively supported my writing and charitable work along with 850 national and international famous names who have read my books in 2,000 special assemblies held in Yorkshire schools between 1990 and 2002.
A few from the vast number of celebrities to publicly read from my books in Yorkshire Schools and libraries and other schools have included, Norman Wisdom, Michael Parkinson, Timothy West, Prunela Scales, Norma Major, Christopher Timothy, the Earl and Countess of Harewood, Rosemary Leach, Richard Whiteley, Beryl Reed, Anita Roddick, Dianna Rigg, Ashley Jackson, Robert Swan, Paul Daniels, Geoffrey Smith, Brian Glover, Jeffrey Archer, Gary McAllaister, John Charles, Stan Barstow, Judge James Pickles and Sooty etc to name but a few. Others who actively supported my work include Dame Catherine Cookson and her husband Tom who paid for the first publication of my book, 'Action Annie' as a wedding anniversary present to the nation, Chris de Burgh and his wife Diane, and one Irish President. Anyone wishing to purchase 'Action Annie' which contains twelve seasonal stories for the 5-9 year old child, simply follow the link below. This book encourages young girls never to put themselves below boys in any respect.
http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-forde/action-annie/paperback/product-21858182.html
http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-forde/action-annie/paperback/product-21858182.html
Former Chief Inspector of Schools for OFSTED (Office for Standards in Education), Chris Woodhead, described my work to the press as 'high quality literature'. The most famous person to contact me was a President. I answered the phone at home one day to have a call relayed to me from Africa via the Home Office. It was Nelson Mandela who said, “Is that Mr Forde? Nelson Mandela here. Number ‘10’ has sent me a book you wrote about South Africa, India and Jamaica. I thought I’d tell you that it’s a wonderful story.”
One of the few signed books that I decided to keep instead of auction off was when Dame Vera Lynn personally signed my published book about a Jewish boy who lived throughout the Blitz, entitled 'Robin and the Rubicelle Fusiliers.' Dame Vera praised the book and kindly read it to a school of children from her own home town, to which I sent a free copy to every school child. I've never collected autographs in my life, but the signature of 'the forces sweetheart' on my book about the Second World War, I will always treasure, along with a signed cd Dame Vera sent me when it was released in 2017 to celebrate her 100th birthday.
When my dear mum was alive, her favourite male singer was Bing Crosby and her favourite female singer was Vera Lynn. Every time one of Vera's songs came on the radio, mum would make us all be quiet until the song had been sung. If only mum knew that her eldest (myself) would become good friends with Vera over the past thirty years, she would have been immensely proud.
One of the few signed books that I decided to keep instead of auction off was when Dame Vera Lynn personally signed my published book about a Jewish boy who lived throughout the Blitz, entitled 'Robin and the Rubicelle Fusiliers.' Dame Vera praised the book and kindly read it to a school of children from her own home town, to which I sent a free copy to every school child. I've never collected autographs in my life, but the signature of 'the forces sweetheart' on my book about the Second World War, I will always treasure, along with a signed cd Dame Vera sent me when it was released in 2017 to celebrate her 100th birthday.
When my dear mum was alive, her favourite male singer was Bing Crosby and her favourite female singer was Vera Lynn. Every time one of Vera's songs came on the radio, mum would make us all be quiet until the song had been sung. If only mum knew that her eldest (myself) would become good friends with Vera over the past thirty years, she would have been immensely proud.
Image by Sean O'Brien
However, the most memorable experience of all was when I returned to Portlaw, County Waterford, Ireland for a book-signing engagement after the turn of the New Millennium. Portlaw is the town of my birth. It was the very same week that Frank Sinatra had died. As me and my sisters travelled into Waterford I bought a newspaper. About ¾ of the front page was about me under the headlines, ‘Local author returns home for book signing’. Down in the bottom right hand corner of the front page were a few lines about Frank Sinatra, ‘Old Blue Eyes Dies’. Only the Irish would look after their own in such a manner and relegate the legendary crooner Frank to the bottom corner of their front page in favour of a relative non-entity home-grown author who was born in their town!
Then as we drove into Portlaw, the small town where I was born, we put on the car radio and across the air waves came a warm welcome ‘to local boy Bill Forde who is coming back home today for a book signing’.
We arrived in Portlaw and as we walked through the small town, in every window we saw posters informing the reader of my visit and inviting the entire town to attend a ‘Meet Bill Forde celebration’ at the local public house, 'The Cotton Mill' that Sunday.
We arrived in Portlaw and as we walked through the small town, in every window we saw posters informing the reader of my visit and inviting the entire town to attend a ‘Meet Bill Forde celebration’ at the local public house, 'The Cotton Mill' that Sunday.
They say that a prophet is never welcomed in his/her own land, but this saying obviously doesn’t apply to anyone from Ireland. I have never felt so proud or wanted in all of my life, and that visit to Portlaw will go down as my most memorable moment of all outside my direct family experiences. Had my dear mother still been alive to experienced the welcome Portlaw citizens gave me, I know that she would have been so proud and would have reminded me yet again that I was indeed a 'special person.'
Copyright William Forde April, 2012. (Amended and Added to April, 2018).
Copyright William Forde April, 2012. (Amended and Added to April, 2018).
