"This past year has been a good year and next year will be a good year also. Years are what you make them. We must learn to make our own years and live our own lives. Once we are married to the idea of making our own decisions and not living our lives simply to please others at the expense of our own happiness, our future years before us shall all be 'good years' and our lives shall alter for the better. Our life shall become filled with spontaneous joy, exciting experiences mingled with the touch of sadness from unpleasant happenings in the lives of family and friends, and oh so much happiness, satisfaction and contentment that you feel like you could burst in sheer jubilation and shoot your message of love and peace across the cosmos. Such is the magic of Christmas and the secret ingredient of happiness." William Forde: December 31st, 2012.
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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
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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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- 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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Thought for today:
"This past year has been a good year and next year will be a good year also. Years are what you make them. We must learn to make our own years and live our own lives. Once we are married to the idea of making our own decisions and not living our lives simply to please others at the expense of our own happiness, our future years before us shall all be 'good years' and our lives shall alter for the better. Our life shall become filled with spontaneous joy, exciting experiences mingled with the touch of sadness from unpleasant happenings in the lives of family and friends, and oh so much happiness, satisfaction and contentment that you feel like you could burst in sheer jubilation and shoot your message of love and peace across the cosmos. Such is the magic of Christmas and the secret ingredient of happiness." William Forde: December 31st, 2012.
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Thought for today: " In my opinion, there is simply too much fraternising and sleeping with the enemy these days for either man or woman to emerge singly victorious in the 'battle of the sexes.' The only type that seem to emerge clear winner is the transvestite; either way, he/she is going to come out on top!" William Forde: December 30th, 2012. Thought for today: "If only dead soldiers could speak, they would tell us that there is rarely anything to gain long-term through the advancement of war. If only the survivors learned from the lessons of war, they would never sanction any Government prosecuting it again in their name. And if only mankind could develop the practice of knowing when to 'leave some things unsaid', most arguments, ill-will and long-term family disputation would vanish overnight. Give way to this reasoning and allow peace to embrace you and family unity to remain intact." William Forde: December 29th, 2012. Thought for today: "Fifty years ago Britain fell into the arctic grip of one of its bitterest winters on record. What became known as the 'Big Freeze' began on December 22nd, 1962 and continued without abatement until March 6th, 1963, bringing with it ten solid weeks of crises and suffering along with its toll of human and animal life. Not since the 'little ice age' of 1740 had there been a colder winter and it was the only time in my life that I saw frozen grass blades as sharp as any pirate's cutlass. It was so bad that it drove me to emigrate to Canada in December 1963, where I sought the refuge of a warmer climate in Nova Scotia and Quebec at the height of its winter there. Given the drastic decline in our weather systems over the past few years, I feel the breaking of another British record coming on. With the coldest of possible winters still to come after having just experienced the wettest summer for 100 years on record and the wettest autumn for 224 years, we may be in line for the Triple Crown if we get 'the worst of winters.'" William Forde: December 27th, 2012. Thought for today: "It is likely that Boxing Day began in England during the Middle Ages. Some historians say the holiday developed because servants were required to work on Christmas Day, but took the following day off. As servants prepared to leave to visit their families, their employers would present them with gift boxes. Another theory is that the Alms boxes placed in churches where parishioners deposited coins for the poor were opened and the contents distributed on December 26, which is also the Feast of St. Stephen. So whether it be receiving the relief of a day's break from one's employers the day after Christmas or the receipt of relief from the Church's poor boxes, Boxing Day has always been associated with providing 'relief' in one way or another to the most needy among us. Did you know that the giving of one pound coin only can relieve one needy person today from experiencing death itself? An awesome thought and an unpalatable truth that is well worth considering over the Christmas period while still having sufficient left in one's own life to fully enjoy one's true purpose of life." William Forde: December 26th, 2012. Thought for today: "Christmas Day celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ and represents the day when the 'power of good' entered the earth's orbit and descended, carried by a 'star of hope.' Let us all give birth to the most precious of all ideas, of 'Peace on earth to all.' I wish you all a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year." William Forde: December 25th, 2012. Thought for today: " When I was young, I always thought that I would fly a plane when I grew up, make a dream come true and break a few female hearts along the road of finding true love. I never did fly a plane, but in my defence, neither did I ever possess the cruelty of heart to leave without water a dying flower nor display a malice of mind that was capable of trampling a daisy underfoot." William Forde: December 24th, 2012. Thought for today: "I used to think that 'getting old' was all about developing arthritis,losing one's hair and sexual drive, becoming less steady when climbing stairs, having a face wrapped in wrinkles and learning to exist on a much-reduced income, but it isn't. It is more about losing people that you love and no longer having your parents around to console you in your grief like they did when your husband never returned from the battle fields or your first child died at birth." William Forde: December 23rd, 2012. Thought to today: " Life can be so unfair between the sexes. Whereas a man can play 'Jack the Lad' and have no earthly need or expectation to behave like an angel in order to become a saint in the eyes of others, it takes a lifetime of female guile and photogenic practice with a mop and duster, brush, baking bowl and rolling pin in the kitchen as well as developing the art of donning suspenders and stockings in a dignified manner in the bedroom for a 'slapper' to become a sex symbol and woman of the house." William Forde: December 22nd, 2012. Thought for today: " When I obtained my first job in a local mill after leaving school, my mother told me that if ever I was to buy her flowers that I wasn't to waste my hard-earned money by placing them on her grave after she had died. She said that she wanted me to buy her flowers while she could smell them and not when she couldn't. If your dear mum is still alive, buy her a bunch today." William Forde: December 21st, 2012. Thought for today: " It doesn't happen often that a child is able to get 'one over' on an adult, but it tastes sweet whenever it does. Likewise, commoners rarely experience gaining access to the 'seat of power' before the monarch does. It therefore creates a sweet taste that I did, almost 20 years before Queen Elizabeth II managed it on December 18th,2012. During a visit to 'Number 10' in 1992, Prime Minister John Major and Norma gave me a conducted tour around 'their pad.' During the tour whilst being taken to see the Cabinet Room, the PM invited me to sit down in his chair at the cabinet table, which I naturally did. Later that day, I remember allowing a devilish streak of mine to break out when I stuck a piece of chewing gum beneath Walpole's Desk in the Reception area. I have often wondered if it is still there!" William Forde: December 20th, 2012. Click to see item: /theres-nowt-stranger-than-folk.html Thought for today: "The refusal to wipe a snotty nose remains the domain of the 7-year-old brat and the 97-year-old senior citizen who couldn't give a cuss what anyone else thinks. The abandonment of all civility is first present at the onset of one's teenage years and in the twilight of one's own age when a cuss isn't given what anyone else thinks. The adoption of airs and graces begins when one brings home one's loved one for the first time to meet their prospective in-laws and when an old person tells their children about their recently discovered terminal illness; at a time when it does seem to matter what others think. But the unapologetic laughing at the face of fools shall forever remain the domain of infants and the senile, when neither gives a cuss what anyone else thinks." William Forde: December 19th, 2012. Thought for today: " My parents were relatively uneducated, yet very wise people; each of whom taught me a very important truth in life. My mother, who always extolled the virtues of being a gentleman used to say,' You can think like a wise man and still be popular, as long as you express yourself in the same language as the company you are in.' My father, who was always a hard worker, frequently reminded us, 'The best thing in life you will ever get is the chance to work hard and well at work worth doing.' As neither parent were 'readers' as such, I have always ascribed such thoughts as coming from their own experiences." William Forde: December 18th, 2012. Thought for today: " Life can be regarded by some pessimists as being no more or less than a bad dream between two awakenings, but I choose to think of it otherwise. I believe in God; in spite of the disasters that have struck mankind since the earth was created. I believe in mankind; in spite of the fact that his inexcusable bad behaviour is often hard to believe. Finally; I believe in the future, in spite of the past. Why? you may ask. Because I believe in the power of love over that of hate and the greater capacity for mankind to do good more than harm. And I also believe in me." William Forde: December 17th, 2012. Thought for today: " Brainstorming is not too unlike that of breeding rabbits. One starts off with a couple of ideas and before you know it, dozens are rattling around in the mental cage. Whereas not everything that counts in one's head can be counted, similarly, not everything that can be counted , counts. The greatest test for a person travelling through life is to follow the 'path of glory' all of the way towards one's destiny because of its nature and exacting demands upon one's character. The path of glory does not come any straighter than being able to stare facts in the face, always telling the truth and living with the consequences; for it is only through such actions that one can be truly known and judged." William Forde: December 16th, 2012. Thought for today: " It was two years to the day when Sheila and I first met. It didn't take long before I realised that Haworth was the place that I wanted to be and that Sheila was the woman whom I wanted to be with. Since that brief passing of time, circumstances have greatly changed, along with our own looks. Sheila has grown more beautiful day by day and I have grown more content. Looking for a true refection of the likeness of oneself is not the easiest thing for us mortals to do. However impartial and objective we believe ourselves to be, at best, all that we will ever truly achieve is 'an approximate likeness of how we think ourselves to look at that moment in time.' Look again tomorrow however, and you may see a different image." William Forde: December 15th, 2012. Today, the 12/12/12, is a most auspicious day in the New Millennium. It is the last day of the year in 'The Forde Calander' for us to contemplate the direction of our lives. It is a day for deep thought and light-heartedness. Have you ever considered why we meet the people we meet at certain times in our lives and what impact upon our lives they have? The earth and universe was not created in random composition and made up of indivisible matter. We don't meet people by accident. They are meant to cross our path for a reason. Sometimes it is to help us or perhaps illuminate our passage and show us the way. On other occasions it may be to bring us down a peg or two or make us stop, reconsider our proposed action or even re-examine our primary purpose in life. Whatever the purpose of our meeting, let us embrace the message and never blame the bearer of the news." William Forde: December 12th, 2012. Thought for today: "A woman who is forever ready for 'take off' whenever the fancy takes her is never going to stray too far from the mark of probity in all that she undertakes. There were two activities that my mother loved; one was dancing and the other was ironing. Her eldest daughter, my sister Mary, seems to have inherited these twin towers of maternal affection from our dear mum, albeit with one noticeable distinction; Mary never quite managed to master performing both activities simultaneously!"William Forde: December 10th, 2012. Thought for today: "Ah, December is on us once more; the most auspicious month of the year. Ever since Christ exploded onto the scene with his universal message of 'Love and peace' 2,000 years ago there has been a seismic shifting of Mankind's morals of earth-shattering proportions. On December 1st, 1955,Rosa Parks, a black woman from Alabama was arrested for failing to give up her seat on the bus to a white woman and, by her action, Rosa was primarily responsible for 'blowing apart' any misguided notion remaining that America was the 'land of the free and the home of the brave.' Many years earlier, on December 11th, 1896, the Swedish chemist, the inventor of dynamite and later philanthropist, Alfred Nobel died. On December 19th, 1871, the author, Mark Twain received his first of three patents. It was in respect of a clothing garment accessory that eventually would, after numerous alterations by other inventors, 'blow the minds' of all red-blooded men with an eye for the leg of a lady; the suspender. Doesn't the month of December simply blow you apart?" William Forde: December 8th, 2012. Thought for today: "My niece Janie recently posted that 'she refuses to grow up, but shall behave in public.' One of the better things I've discovered that comes with being older, is the recognition that you have probably gone as far as you are likely to go, so there is less imperative to watch one's 'Ps' and 'Qs' in order to impress others or sway their opinion in your direction. It isn't the kind of arrogance of 'not caring what others think' that might lead one to behave so boldly, but instead, a steadfast reassurance of self in relation to others, along with a satisfaction in one's sense of identity. Age teaches one that life is too damn short to be too damn civilised on too many occasions to too many folk who, simply don't deserve it because of the bad behavior they constantly display without any regard or thought to others. I frequently wonder what does mankind gain if I eventually depart this life at a future date and leave such folk with the erroneous impression that anyone really likes them or truly gives a damn what they actually think about this or that as they sally and sully on with their sad little lives, knocking others at every opportunity?" William Forde: December 7th, 2012. |
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