"Who could ever mask the happiness of the moment that is present in the face of an innocent child. When I think about how quickly teachers and Government want their classroom charges to learn about all manner of things adult that should never be placed in the mind of a child until they are at least of teenage years, I despair. We are a society who is in the process of robbing our children of their innocence far, far too soon before they naturally want to give it up. The worth of innocent childhood memories are too precious to cut short as they are capable of enduring into one's old age and bringing solace and comfort to the aging mind as it advances towards its final resting place. It is the children of modern times I'm afraid who will pay the price for the mistakes of their parents of today, who ought to know better. It is kinder to leave well alone instead of playing the Pied Piper and coaxing them out of their childhood years before such years are truly spent; it is far kinder not to lead them too earlier towards the less certain times adulthood." William Forde: August 6th, 2013.
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Tales from Portlaw
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- No Need to Look for Love
- 'The Love Quartet' >
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The Priest's Calling Card
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- Chapter One - The Irish Custom
- Chapter Two - Patrick Duffy's Family Background
- Chapter Three - Patrick Duffy Junior's Vocation to Priesthood
- Chapter Four - The first years of the priesthood
- Chapter Five - Father Patrick Duffy in Seattle
- Chapter Six - Father Patrick Duffy, Portlaw Priest
- Chapter Seven - Patrick Duffy Priest Power
- Chapter Eight - Patrick Duffy Groundless Gossip
- Chapter Nine - Monsignor Duffy of Portlaw
- Chapter Ten - The Portlaw Inheritance of Patrick Duffy
- Bigger and Better >
- The Oldest Woman in the World >
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Sean and Sarah
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- Chapter 1 - 'Return of the Prodigal Son'
- Chapter 2 - 'The early years of sweet innocence in Portlaw'
- Chapter 3 - 'The Separation'
- Chapter 4 - 'Separation and Betrayal'
- Chapter 5 - 'Portlaw to Manchester'
- Chapter 6 - 'Salford Choices'
- Chapter 7 - 'Life inside Prison'
- Chapter 8 - 'The Aylesbury Pilgrimage'
- Chapter 9 - Sean's interest in stone masonary'
- Chapter 10 - 'Sean's and Tony's Partnership'
- Chapter 11 - 'Return of the Prodigal Son'
- The Alternative Christmas Party >
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The Life of Liam Lafferty
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- Chapter One: ' Liam Lafferty is born'
- Chapter Two : 'The Baptism of Liam Lafferty'
- Chapter Three: 'The early years of Liam Lafferty'
- Chapter Four : Early Manhood
- Chapter Five : Ned's Secret Past
- Chapter Six : Courtship and Marriage
- Chapter Seven : Liam and Trish marry
- Chapter Eight : Farley meets Ned
- Chapter Nine : 'Ned comes clean to Farley'
- Chapter Ten : Tragedy hits the family
- Chapter Eleven : The future is brighter
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The life and times of Joe Walsh
>
- Chapter One : 'The marriage of Margaret Mawd and Thomas Walsh’
- Chapter Two 'The birth of Joe Walsh'
- Chapter Three 'Marriage breakup and betrayal'
- Chapter Four: ' The Walsh family breakup'
- Chapter Five : ' Liverpool Lodgings'
- Chapter Six: ' Settled times are established and tested'
- Chapter Seven : 'Haworth is heaven is a place on earth'
- Chapter Eight: 'Coming out'
- Chapter Nine: Portlaw revenge
- Chapter Ten: ' The murder trial of Paddy Groggy'
- Chapter Eleven: 'New beginnings'
-
The Woman Who Hated Christmas
>
- Chapter One: 'The Christmas Enigma'
- Chapter Two: ' The Breakup of Beth's Family''
- Chapter Three: From Teenager to Adulthood.'
- Chapter Four: 'The Mills of West Yorkshire.'
- Chapter Five: 'Harrison Garner Showdown.'
- Chapter Six : 'The Christmas Dance'
- Chapter Seven : 'The ballot for Shop Steward.'
- Chapter Eight: ' Leaving the Mill'
- Chapter Ten: ' Beth buries her Ghosts'
- Chapter Eleven: Beth and Dermot start off married life in Galway.
- Chapter Twelve: The Twin Tragedy of Christmas, 1992.'
- Chapter Thirteen: 'The Christmas star returns'
- Chapter Fourteen: ' Beth's future in Portlaw'
-
The Last Dance
>
- Chapter One - ‘Nancy Swales becomes the Widow Swales’
- Chapter Two ‘The secret night life of Widow Swales’
- Chapter Three ‘Meeting Richard again’
- Chapter Four ‘Clancy’s Ballroom: March 1961’
- Chapter Five ‘The All Ireland Dancing Rounds’
- Chapter Six ‘James Mountford’
- Chapter Seven ‘The All Ireland Ballroom Latin American Dance Final.’
- Chapter Eight ‘The Final Arrives’
- Chapter Nine: 'Beth in Manchester.'
- 'Two Sisters' >
- Fourteen Days >
-
‘The Postman Always Knocks Twice’
>
- Author's Foreword
- Contents
- Chapter One
- Chapter Two
- Chapter Three
- Chapter Four
- Chapter Five
- Chapter Six
- Chapter Seven
- Chapter Eight
- Chapter Nine
- Chapter Ten
- Chapter Eleven
- Chapter Twelve
- Chapter Thirteen
- Chapter Fourteen
- Chapter Fifteen
- Chapter Sixteen
- Chapter Seventeen
- Chapter Eighteen
- Chapter Nineteen
- Chapter Twenty
- Chapter Twenty-One
- Chapter Twenty-Two
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Celebrity Contacts
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Thoughts and Musings
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Bill's Personal Development
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- 'Mother /Child Bond'
- Childhood Pain
- The Death of Lady
- 'Soldiering On'
- 'Romantic Holidays'
- 'On the roof'
- Always wear clean shoes
- 'Family Tree'
- The importance of poise
- 'Growing up with grandparents'
- Love & Romance >
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Thought for today:
"Who could ever mask the happiness of the moment that is present in the face of an innocent child. When I think about how quickly teachers and Government want their classroom charges to learn about all manner of things adult that should never be placed in the mind of a child until they are at least of teenage years, I despair. We are a society who is in the process of robbing our children of their innocence far, far too soon before they naturally want to give it up. The worth of innocent childhood memories are too precious to cut short as they are capable of enduring into one's old age and bringing solace and comfort to the aging mind as it advances towards its final resting place. It is the children of modern times I'm afraid who will pay the price for the mistakes of their parents of today, who ought to know better. It is kinder to leave well alone instead of playing the Pied Piper and coaxing them out of their childhood years before such years are truly spent; it is far kinder not to lead them too earlier towards the less certain times adulthood." William Forde: August 6th, 2013.
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Thought for today: "I once heard a story about the courtship of a most unusual couple that one might imagine. There was a beautiful female and a not-so-attractive-of-face male who lived in the same street. Every male in the street wanted to marry the beautiful female, but her heart and happiness was too important to give away for anything short of a perfect mate. All of the fawning males who paid her attention were at heart 'dogs,' who deep down merely wanted a trophy wife who could be taught to fetch and carry at their masculine bidding; a partner that they could keep at leash-length and call 'bitch' whenever they felt like being domineering and chauvinistic. Each day when she walked down the street to admiring eyes, the one who truly loved her was too shy to show his face to one so beautiful. So he began to love her from a distance as he daily looked down on her pass by. One morning the beautiful maiden spied her secret admirer looking down on her from up above and stopped to chat with him. She asked,'Why do you watch me every morning as I pass your property, but never speak to me?' 'I would never dare to speak first to one so beautiful as yourself,' the secret admirer told her, 'and only then if you first spoke to me.' Tom was his name and timid was his nature; but a kinder and more sensitive creature cat one could never hope to meet on any street corner. 'Walk with me' the beauty invited her feline admirer, 'as I have much need of someone to stimulate my mind and to stir my senses away from the trivialities of life's vanities and lesser things.' So the couple walked and talked and walked and talked some more.The more that the pair talked, the more they found they had in common. The beauty found her male companion to be a wonderful, wise and sensitive companion and though they be of different breed and race, before too long, each knew that they were meant to walk out together until their legs could walk no more. Today, many who see them walk side-by-side think them an odd couple, but all who know them, know that they are true soul mates who always look up to each other and never look down on any other creature." William Forde: August 5th, 2013. Thought for today: "The next time you feel wanting and sorry of self, remember that the amount of food that we in the West daily eat on average would feed a family of four in the poorer East for at least three days. And to reach it, all most of us need to do is to walk to the fridge and enjoy! If these few words touch your heart, please give the price of your next cup of coffee to fend off starvation for one person in the Third World for one day of their life and involve yourself in a kind of 'give a latte' and 'make their day.'" William Forde: August 4th, 2013. Thought for today: "If one was walking along a country path and came across a large muddy puddle that stretched almost the full width of the lane, if sensible, one would naturally walk around the bothersome obstruction. Why then do some people seem hell bent on never walking around or away from trouble when the opportunity presents itself to them to avoid it? It stumps me, but there again, I have been stepping around puddles for many years now. If I allow myself to think truthfully, however, I would have to confess to the occasional splash as a child. Also, one of the things which endeared me to my Sheila was her willingness to sometimes jump in puddles for the sheer hell of it!" William Forde: August, 3rd, 2013. Thought for today: "Love and respect all children for they are the guardians of our heritage and the angels of our future. It is they who will shape the future of the world and the type of society we live in; they who shall map out the road of the nation's moral conscious and they who will carry the torch for the older generation in our aging years. It is our children who shall decide if they want a lasting peace with tradition, Parliament, monarchy, capitalism, socialism, Europe, employers, church, neighbouring continents or whether to endure an unsettled truce. God grant them the wisdom never to abandon concern and care for those at the bottom of the heap who are unable to help themselves and enable them to grow old wisely and live out their lives courageously, honestly and with dignity for all who live and breathe." William Forde: August 2nd, 2013. Thought for today: "What a topsy-turvy world we live in today! In the past, life was more simple and followed a natural order. Despite many material hardships which are generally unheard of today, most people seemed more content with their lot in life then than they are today; however humble that lot was. The safety of children was the collective concern of their parents and parents in old age became the responsibility of their children. The community was essentially policed by the law, but was held in the accountability of everyone who lived in it. Everything in the past had its place and everyone in every place had their pride. If one did something wrong and was challenged, one owned up and took their punishment. When you messed up, you cleaned up the aftermath yourself and didn't expect others to pull you out of the proverbial pile. When a robber got cornered by the Bobby, he held up his hands and said, 'Fair cop, Guv" instead of trying to leg it with all guns blazing. Whatever one's status or intelligence level happened to be, it was generally accepted by all that if one wanted to get on, only hard work would get one there and that there was no work considered either too hard or too lowly for the proud parent raising their family or the proud person earning a living. Not everything about the past was either rosy or desirable as anyone who experienced the dirt, grime and the bleak look of damp and paperless walls of the many poor households before the 1950's will testify. Those were much harsher times in many ways when one would need to look inside the home of a wealthy person to find a gold fish bowl that wasn't fashioned from a jam jar or a lavatory that wasn't shared by a number of neighbours. And yet, our parent's generation have much for which to remain proud of. Instead of walking around with their heads in the clouds, dreaming of the day when they would win the 'X factor,' they got on with putting their families, communities and country first; winning two World Wars in the process, besides dismantling a global empire and granting its peoples independence. They may have held nothing grander than jam jars to sometimes drink from, but at least they held them high and walked in proud stride as they fought for what they believed in." William Forde: August 1ST, 2013. |
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