William Forde: September 5th, 2017
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My Books
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- Strictly for Adults Novels >
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Tales from Portlaw
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- No Need to Look for Love
- 'The Love Quartet' >
-
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
>
- 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
- Bereavement >
- Nature >
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Bill's Personal Development
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- What I'd like to be remembered for
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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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"Be as the heart, eloquent in its warmth and make your waters of life the well you draw from when satisfying the thirst of others. The sanctity of the soul knows the joy to be brought through the act of giving, so remain generous in all you do; cherish the smile of a happy child because it radiates its own eternity and reminds the adult that this is what life is all about."
William Forde: September 5th, 2017
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Thought for today:
"'Look at my face. Few would ever know that my middle name was, 'Might have been.' I am the eternal pessimist; the preserver of lost opportunities. When a window of opportunity faces me, instead of rising to it, I pull down the shades and draw the curtains.' So it is with too many people in this world. They fail to see the opportunities before them and therefore miss them. Opportunities are like sunrises; stay in bed too long with your eyes closed and you will miss them! One more day of your life will have passed you by. I wonder, how many times do we let an ideal opportunity pass us by? Often we become so preoccupied with life around us that we cannot see the wood for the trees. I have frequently wondered how many soul mates passed me by during my years I spent alone or what positions in my working life I might have had if only I'd been bold enough to apply. Seizing the opportunity doesn't mean hanging around waiting for an opportunity to knock on your door, but it does imply that one should never leave a knocked door unanswered. You may wait a life time listening for the right words to be spoken, or for the ideal man or woman of your dreams to be introduced to you, but unless you always have an open heart, you will sadly remain unemotionally available to all potential partners when they do come along. My mother used to tell me as a child, 'Billy, you are your own best friend and your own worse enemy. Any lack of confidence you have will hold you back more than six wild stallions pulling you in the opposite direction of which you want to go.' She was in effect telling me that if I wanted to succeed, that I must be prepared to knock on the door of my own destiny, and when it felt right, to 'go with my feelings' and trust my judgement. She also often said, 'Billy, prepare well and someday your chance will come.' Over my life, I have found that like a bird with places to go and things to do, an opportunity never perches. And contrary to popular belief, though we may miss many opportunities that come our way, they are never lost, because someone else is sure to take them. Just imagine meeting the finest woman in the world with the sweetest smile, the warmest heart, and the most gracious and loving of natures and not being bold enough to take her as your wife and soul mate. Do you think that you can put down such a treasure without another quickly picking her up as his own? It is a sad fact, but many of us fail to see an opportunity until it has ceased to be one. When I look back now and call to mind the many opportunities I might have had but didn't take, it would be so easy to start to regret the passing of time and the onset of old age. And yet, fortune has indeed smiled upon me when it brought myself and my wife Sheila together in perfect union in the autumn of my life. I genuinely believe that nothing is more irretrievably missed as a daily opportunity; an opportunity to be a better person today than you were yesterday, an opportunity to be fair in your dealings with all men, an opportunity to strengthen your character and develop your personality to one that is respected and admired by others, an opportunity to begin a new day and to start life anew. That is the eternal opportunity that awaits all people who prefer love over hate, right over wrong and fairness over injustice. Such an opportunity awaits each of us at the start of every day. Even those loved ones who have died and left us their knowledge and the best of their traits help our growing young to become ever stronger. It is the most satisfying of thoughts to know that each generation goes farther than the generation preceding it. Because it stands on the shoulders of that generation, it provides more opportunities than we've ever known." William Forde: September 4th, 2017. Thought for today: "As we move into September and approach the Autumn of our year, I rejoice that I have been allowed the most pleasant of summers; most of which has been spent in our allotment. My greatest hope now is that God grants me the opportunity to see the flowers that Sheila and I planted this year and to taste the vegetables over the coming year. Nothing halts the pleasure of my senses more than the passing of a season. I love all four seasons of our green and pleasant land in equal measure, yet love them for different reasons. I love the spring because of the new birth it represents, the summer for the pleasures of life it provides in abundance, the autumn for the true purpose of change it reveals and the winter for its timely reminder that hibernation and rest is good for the mind, body and soul. And yet to witness summer slowly die and know that flowers will fade, grasses wilt, leaves prepare to fall and creatures withdraw once more to their woodland bolt holes and hidden nests above and below ground, produces a time of personal reflection upon the gradual passing of one's own existence. But behold the new life that awaits all; fear not the passing of yearly months and nature's seasons for they will never die. There is a great comfort in knowing that though our life within nature's woods is often confined to no more than three score years and ten, that we too will face rebirth in every child we ever parented and every family relation that bears our name, shares our resemblance or adopts our perculiarities. Rejoice for their springs to come, the summers of their dreams yet to be realised and the bountiful harvests of their heritage. Just before he died a number of years ago, the entertainer and good friend of mine, the late Roy Castle was due to read one of my books in a Yorkshire school assembly. He had to cancel his attendance at the last moment due to having been taken into hospital, but on the morning of the book launch, mere weeks away from his death, he phoned me up go wish me and the book well. I promised him there and then that I'd write a book to raise money for his charity, 'The Roy Castle Appeal' and it would be on sale in six months. His reply was, 'Thank you, Bill, and though I won't be around to read it, life will still go on. The wind will still blow, the birds will still sing and the flowers will still grow.' Roy was so right in his words. The book I wrote and had published in his memory was entitled, Nancy's Song.' It is about the death of a father in a musical family and the impact it has upon his wife and daughter. It introduces children aged ten and over to the concept of death and seasonal rebirth and is also suitable for adults. Please beware however, that though non-harmful, it can make both children and adults cry and it is wise to be around for your child when they read the book to comfort and reassure them if necessary upon completion and answer any questions they might pose. It was the most favourite book of mine that was praised by Dales woman, Hannah Hauxwell; the actor and film star, the late Brian Glover, and the Television presenter of Gardener's World, the late Geoffrey Smith. These three friends of mine loved the seasonal change we experience yearly and cherished the pleasures of the outdoor life. The book can be purchased in e-book format from www.smashwords.com or amazon kindle. Should you prefer to read in hard copy, the book is available from www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com" William Forde: September 28th, 2013.www.amazon.com/Nancys-Song-William-Forde/dp/1326919148/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1504430791&sr=1-1&keywords=nancy%27s+song+by+ Thought for today:
"I awoke this morning and the first thing I saw was the sun smile at me, shortly followed by the smile of my wife, Sheila. We have been doing a lot of work in our allotment over the past month, and I might add, spending a great deal of money replenishing the plants, adding enriched soil, etc in the process. We even invested in purchasing a new garden shed that will be delivered next week. Initially, having spent a lot of time at the allotments recently, we did intend to have a somewhat lazy weekend today and tomorrow, but all that, however, was before the sun came out this morning. Seeing the heaven smile down on us, we decided to make an early start and see what Sheila had been hiding in the old, crammed shed for the past fifteen years! I then remembered a piece of prose I once wrote about wasting a day in our precious lives. '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 those who bury. 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 in waste 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, envy, depression and damnation. A wasted opportunity may superficially seem 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 the true 'you' and remaining the good person we were born to be.'" Copyright William Forde. September 2nd, 2017. Thought for today:
"Of all things guaranteed to make the body more restful, I can think of none better than sitting in the centre of a woodland area or by a calm stream watching peaceful waters flow. Peace is the perfect marriage between a person and the planet. As Albert Camus said, 'Peace is the only battle worth waging.' Within each man, woman and child can be found a centre of stillness surrounded by silence, This is what I have come to know as the serenity of the soul. Its importance lies not in it being able to show you the way; it is the way! It is not surprising that being close to raging seas fascinates mankind and that being beside still waters calms him. Far better, when stressed with the everyday worries of life to find some peaceful stream to sit by and allow your cares to drift away with the current of its passage. It is no coincidence that water covers 71% of the earth's surface and that without it we could not live. Look therefore upon water as representing the mother and matrix of nature, and still rivers as the medium of solitude and perfect peace. Over the past four years, due to my condition of cancer, I have often been in considerable pain. Had I not possessed the ability to mediate that pain, my life would have been very hard to negotiate. I have lived with a degree of pain in my legs every day since the age of eleven years and have mainly used relaxation and meditation as opposed to analgesics to manage that pain. As a person who has practised relaxation training for sixty years and taught it for fifty, I know the importance of distraction and imagery in the process of finding relief. We each have different scenes which help us to relax and to focus our mind away from pain. Mine has always been either the verdant and vibrant woodland or the passage of a peaceful stream. Both scenes bring the body back into union with the beauty of nature and represent the peaceful passage of life. It becomes physiologically more difficult to feel pain when you are experiencing a vivid image of beauty which induces peace and tranquility of mind. An image or any action which produces pleasure releases endorphins in the body that block the passage of pain.Endorphins are neurotransmitters found in the brain that binds to opiate receptors and produce a feeling of pain relief also known as analgesia. Consequently, knowing that the longer you can hold that peaceful image or feelings of excitement, the longer you will block the passage of pain to your body. Imagine any activity which is capable of giving you intense pleasure such as sex. At the height of one's pleasure, there is no likelihood that one's mind will be on their painful hands or feet, is there? Imagine having a body constantly filled with intense pain, when suddenly, you see your son run towards you; a son you believed had been kidnapped and killed ten years earlier. Don't be surprised as you hold him in your arms if all thought of personal pain is nowhere to be temporarily felt. Whenever I have had any operation in hospital since I first practised meditation techniques as a teenager, my mind will be not on any area of body pain, but on my peaceful stream which flows through my woodland. Even when the pain does not disappear, it is greatly diminished and mediated. In such manner of distraction have I made the pain in my body tolerable since my teenage years.Have a nice day." William Forde: September 1st, 2017. |
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