"Whether it be the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force or the Royal Marines, the soldier boys win hands down in my book. They do say that all the nice girls love a sailor or a Squadron Officer with his wings, but I guarantee you ladies that once you've clapped eyes on the Royal Marines in or out of their full kit, you'll soon tell the RAF chaps to fly their kites elsewhere and the sailor boys where to shove their oar!" William Forde: September 5th, 2014.
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- About Me
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My Books
- Book List & Themes
- Strictly for Adults Novels >
-
Tales from Portlaw
>
- No Need to Look for Love
- 'The Love Quartet' >
-
The Priest's Calling Card
>
- 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 >
-
Sean and Sarah
>
- 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 >
-
The Life of Liam Lafferty
>
- 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
-
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
- Bereavement >
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Bill's Personal Development
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- What I'd like to be remembered for
- Second Chances
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- Holidays of Old
- Memorable Moments of Mine
- Cleckheaton Consecration
- Canadian Loves
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- 'Early life at my Grandparents'
- Family Holidays
- '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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- My Wedding
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Thought for today:
"Whether it be the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force or the Royal Marines, the soldier boys win hands down in my book. They do say that all the nice girls love a sailor or a Squadron Officer with his wings, but I guarantee you ladies that once you've clapped eyes on the Royal Marines in or out of their full kit, you'll soon tell the RAF chaps to fly their kites elsewhere and the sailor boys where to shove their oar!" William Forde: September 5th, 2014.
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Thought for today: "Today I enter hospital again to receive my sixth month of chemo treatment on the drug drip. I dearly hope that after the completion of this current six-month course of treatment, I am given some time in remission before I need to restart the process as there is no way of knowing whether it will be months or years. I will not pretend that the past month has been anything other than a difficult month to get through. There have been occasions when my positive spirit has been truly tested and though it emerged marginally greater than my body capacity to sustain the side effects of the treatment without bringing to mind the presence of doubt, on a few occasions I found my lips framing the word, 'enough'. All of my life I have prided myself on being positive in thought and hopeful in spirit, and yet, I cannot deny that even the power of positive thought is only capable of stretching as far as truth itself will allow it to travel. I know that to take it a few steps farther than its factual comfort zone is merely to deceive oneself. Positive thinking was never designed to deny the presence of real feeling, fear or doubt. Instead its purpose is to reject futile defeatism where any semblance of hope still exist. It is the best of companions to carry the body on through the most difficult of days, along with the support of faith, family and friends. During my worse days over the past month, I have been ever mindful of all the blessings that life has bestowed upon me. Fate has never left me wanting and my destiny has taken me through times that defy the courage of all secret cowards and the reason of all mankind. Often I have thought upon the struggle of others; my grandparents and my parents alike, and to do so has brought marvelment to my mind and has enabled me to maintain a proper sense of proportion. My mind cannot escape the memory of my dear mother to seven children spitting up blood when she was little more than in her mid forties and then quickly disguising its presence with a morning smile as my siblings arrived downstairs to get their breakfast served as she sang out some Irish song from the kitchen that was invariably out of tune. Nor will I ever forget my father's return home from a twelve-hour hard-day's work down the pit or in the foundry, wracked with weary bones that ached so much that he chose to wash and go straight to bed early and prepare his body's strength for tomorrow's working day rarther than eat his evening meal. Whatever degree of 'rest' or 'food' was required to physically carry on, he was invariably too tired to exercise the luxury of choice. I recall an elderly neighbour and good friend to the family who had lived through the bombing of the Second World War in London once telling me of a woman in the same street to her whose house and earthly possessions had been reduced to rubble in one of the nightly bombing raids. The bombing also killed one of her children and family pet dog. During the following morning, my elderly friend said that her bereaved neighbour could be seen searching through the ruins of her house in an effort to retrieve whatever she could; particularly a framed image of her child who'd died in the bombing. My friend said, 'The poor woman was overcome with grief and loss. I even started to believe that if she found her doorstep in the rubble that it wouldn't have been beyond her grief to get out the Donkey stone and wash it down for future visitors, as her mind had taken a holiday from the cruel reality of the hour.' There are so many incidents and experiences that tempt our minds to take a holiday from the cruel reality of the hour; too many personal accounts to testify to the strength and fortitude of the human spirit of which all of you will no doubt know about, but I challenge you to think of one where a negative belief will ever produce a positive outcome. The mental planting of negative seed will never produce positive growth. Not even the magic of miracles is capable of bringing such about and some would believe that it is even beyond the gift of God. Yes it's true that during the past month my mind has too often recalled the pain felt by my parents and endured by many others in the past, but such recall has only made me stronger and has replenished my bucket of hope.The very last image that I will ever hold of my parents will be wrapped in postive remembrance. It will be a picture of my mother's infectious smile and my father's steadfast courage to live on another day with the hope of a better tomorrow yet to come." William Forde: September 4th, 2014 Thought for today: "Seizing the opportunity doesn't mean hanging around waiting for opportunity to knock on your door. You may wait a life time listening, but hear no knocking. You are your own best opportunity and if you want to succeed, you must be prepared to knock on the door of your own destiny. Be prepared to do whatever it is that requires doing at all times, recognise all opportunities that come your way and be willing and bold enough to grab them as they pass by. The better you are able to develop your own personality and build within it a self-image that looks and acts the part, opportunity shall not pass you by and perfect balance shall be restored to your life." William Forde: September 3rd, 2014. "Thought for today": 'What a waste': Copyright William Forde. "A wasted day is one spent without the sound of laughter or lived in a woodland where birds no longer sing, wild flowers have abandoned their roots and soft breeze refuse to travel through the trees. A wasted breath is one that is foully spent in the mocking and derision of others who outrank you in everything that is generous, wholesome and good and to whom your agreement or approval cannot be given. A wasted coin of the realm travels not between industrious hands, but is hoarded and buried in treasure chests and secret vaults where it lives like stinking fish; accruing interest that is never spent, doing no good for either borrower or burier. Far better to have spent it frivolously than saved forever more; far better still to have deprived oneself of its ownership and to have given to another in greater need. A wasted life is one lived in a state of permanent regret, never having known the love of self or felt the love of others while walking nature's path. It is a wasted year without the warmth of summer in season's stride, without the spring of surprise in one's journey through a woodland of floral hope. A life ended is when we choose to live no more and when we decide to surrender to the ease of endless pain. A wasted surrender is when to give in to greed and the debilitating forces of hostility, depression and damnation. A wasted opportunity seems to offer more to the instant advancement and gratification of self than the softness of generosity thrown freely in the caring confetti of good will to all. So waste not, want not and refuse not the salvation that is offered to all by merely becoming and remaining the good person we were born to be.'" Copyright William Forde. September 2nd, 2014. Thought for today: "Instead of procrastinating for the rest of your life, why don't you just take a deep breath for once and simply 'go for it!' You've been farting about on that old glacier for the past four years saying, 'Will I.....Won't I.....Will I.....Won't I?' Well if you don't test out the water now it's your loss Buster. Test it out now while you've got the courage and the balls to bounce back if you hit rock bottom." William Forde: September 1st, 2014. |
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