Blog Archives - FordeFables

December 31st, 2015

31/12/2015

Thought for today:
"On this day, the eve of the New Year, it is perhaps not surprising that one's mind turns to years gone by. Many of you will make New Year resolutions, only to see them broken long before spring. Why not make this year's resolution one that is not only easier to keep, but will serve you better in the long run. My mother once told me that we all have a song to sing, so this year 'Be prepared to sing your song' and make that your New Year's resolution.

I grew up listening to my mother sing her Irish songs all day long. I would like to say that she had a sweet voice; one that commanded your immediate attention and instant adulation, but that would be stretching the truth too far. Despite being a wonderful mum and having a beautiful face and the most generous of hearts, mum was probably the worse singer I ever heard. Like Les Dawson, she sang all the right notes but in the wrong order!

I once berated mum for her caterwauling one day after my ears had been assaulted by one of her songs and told her that she couldn't sing for toffee. I will never forget her reply: 'Billy, just because you can't sing doesn't mean you haven't the right to sing. Everyone alive has a song to sing and I have as much right as anyone else to sing my song. The birds sing, not because they can, but because they have a song to sing!'

Mum was right as usual. If everyone started off their day singing, the world would be a much happier place. If every person truthfully expressed their feelings and stood up for their values, the world would be a more understanding place.

My mother was an eternal dreamer and she also branded me one. Her favourite song which she sang out of tune daily as she worked about the house will remain forever in my ears. Ironically, it was sung by a woman who later became a good friend of mine and was to help me many times with my charitable work in later life; the Forces Sweetheart, the great Dame Vera Lynn singing 'Far Away Places.' My mother would have been so thrilled to learn that her eldest child and her favourite singer eventually became friends. Love you mum. Wish that I could hear you sing this song of yours today. Happy New Year. Bill x" William Forde: 31st, December, 2015.

https://youtu.be/Y5RhWVlXF0Q

December 30th, 2015.

30/12/2015

Thought for today:
"All it takes is one kind word to warm three winter months. He who does not find the spirit of Christmas in his heart as the New Year fast approaches, opened his presents at Christmas, but not his heart. Good intentions can never be enough to endure a full year. A person says a lot of things in summer that the don't mean in winter.

I give thanks for the year which is soon ending. There have been times during 2015 when I have been disheartened by mankind's cruelty to his fellow man, but such occasions have been far less in number when compared to the good deeds I have witnessed being carried out between one neighbour and another.

2015 has been a hard and difficult year for so many people across the world. Countries have been ravaged by civil war, millions of people have been killed and an absence of food and access to clean water has affected many. 2015 has witnessed mass displacement of populations followed by the greatest exodus of people ever counted; people fleeing their homeland in search for a safer place to live. Such dangerous journeys have been made across seas in overcrowded and unsafe crafts in which many have died. Many of the lucky ones who survived the sea crossing then marched hundreds of miles across Europe with their aged and young family members still haven't found homes for the future.

Back inside Great Briton, millions of people facing their own levels of austerity and mounting debt have depended on cardboard boxes as blankets for their cold nights on the streets; others have relied on food banks to feed them along with inadequate and overpriced rented accommodation to house them. During the months ahead they face many uncertainties, but for today and the remainder of this Christmas week, they place their worries to one side and do all that they can to make their children's Christmas as happy as they possibly can.

Soon, the New Year of 2016 will be upon us. Please give each of us the strength to continue to see all the goodness that still surrounds us, whatever our circumstances and to touch the hope that only shared love and human consideration is bound to bring. A happy and blessed New Year everyone." William Forde: December 30th, 2015."

December 29th, 2015

29/12/2015

Thought for today:
"I recently overheard an allotment holder I know tell another how next year's crop would hopefully be bigger and better. Then I saw this picture recently on Facebook and apart from it looking sweet, it reminded me of many gardeners I have known who prided themselves in growing prized overgrown specimens of one vegetable or another.

This thought took my mind back to a story that my mother told me as a child. It was about a cruel Head Master of her youth who delighted in beating his pupils with the swish of his cane at every opportunity during his forty-year career. He became so proud about the discipline of his class that he frequently boasted about it on a night time in the pub to many an adult whom he'd beaten as a child. In fact it was said that he was never seen inside or outside the school without his cane in one hand, which he carried like a walking stick. He carried it like a badge of pride in his school and community and even had it to hand in his home, should ever his wife step out of line and cross him.

When the cruel Head Master teacher eventually retired, he became interested in growing vegetables and each day he would attend his allotment. Greatly missing being 'number one' in his former school position where he would beat his pupils daily, he decided to start beating everyone in the Portlaw community who dared to try and win 'First in Show' in the annual 'Waterford Vegetable Cup.' For seven years he won the trophy for 'Best in the Show' and bragged constantly to all and sundry at every opportunity that he was the best man in Portlaw. Everyone detested his presence, yet feared him and his cane.

The day came when one of Portlaw's former residents returned from America, where he'd emigrated as a young boy. Following the ex Headmaster's boasting, he accepted the bully's challenge and hefty wager as to who would grow the largest vegetable and win next year's show. When this quiet man who'd returned to Portlaw from America had been a boy, he'd attended the school of the cruel headmaster and had often been beaten mercilessly by him with the swish of his cane.

Determined to get his revenge, he discovers the bully's secret to growing giant-sized vegetables and assisted by a secret ingredient of his own, wins the wager and carries off the cup for 'Best in Show.'

I won't reveal the secret here and spoil it for any future reader of the book. I elaborated the germ of my mother's tale, and with the use of poetic licence, I have written it up as one of my 'Tales from Portlaw' which can be freely read on my website or bought in book form. The story is entitled, 'Bigger and Better' and is freely accessed to be read in its entirety by following the link below. Anyone wishing to purchase the book in either e-book format or hard copy can do so from www.lulu.com or amazon.com All profits from book sales go to charity." William Forde: January 29th, 2015.

http://www.fordefables.co.uk/bigger-and-better.html

December 28th, 2015

28/12/2015

Thought for today:
"This Christmas week, please avoid drinking and driving whatever the temptation. I must admit, though I am not a big drinker, when I am having a good time, I have no difficulty drinking three or four gin and tonics which I know would take me over the permitted driving limit. While no family member or friend of mine has ever had a serious accident having drunk and driven, my previous work as a Probation Officer has led me to see the extreme outcomes of such foolishness more than once.

I will never forget one Christmas during the 1980s, two days before we broke for the festive holiday. I made a home visit to see a young male client of mine who had just come out of Borstal, only to discover a distraught mother answer the door in a flood of tears. Her eldest son and a friend had stolen a car in Birstall the previous night and had been chased by the police in a patrol car. Her son had been drinking heavily that night and was drunk before he got behind the wheel. They crossed the Birstall traffic lights at red around midnight and collided with a car travelling from the direction of Batley. Both my client, his friend and one person from the other vehicle died as a consequence.

The young man's mother never did seem to get over her son's tragic death and though I kept in touch with the family for a number of years thereafter (when the younger son became the subject of a Probation Order), Christmas for them was never the same again. Even for me, never a Christmas passes without my temporary recall of the face of the dead boy's mother.

Christmas is known as a time when we miss our loved ones who are no longer with us more than other times of the year. While my parents have been deceased for many years now, the feelings of loss, though tempered, have never really left me and they come to the fore without fail every Christmas.

I suppose that all humans are the same when it comes to coping with the death of a loved one. The less natural the death, the harder it is to come to terms with feelings of loss. Once you lose someone, there will always be a part of you missing however wholesome a being you are. Have a happy Christmas season and whatever the temptation, please don't drink and drive!" William Forde: December 28th, 2015.

December 27th, 2015

27/12/2015

Thought for today:
"Having been an author since 1989 with over sixty published books to my credit, rarely a week goes by without me thinking about an idea for a new story. Sometimes those stories are written, but more often than not, the skeleton of my idea is scribbled down and is put away in the bottom drawer to gather dust. Sometimes it is retrieved and worked into a story, but on most occasions it remains at the back of the drawer. This being the season of Christmas however, I thought I would share my most recent idea that popped into my head a few days ago. Remember, it is in skeleton form only, but it may help to serve the curiosity of so many people who constantly ask me 'Where do you get your ideas for the stories you write and how do you start plotting a story?' I mostly reply that my ideas come usually from my life experiences, but on many occasions they just come when I close my eyes or drift off into nothingness. Herein follows the opening for a story I will probably never get around to writing:

'Having got through a difficult Christmas, my thoughts have naturally moved on to the New Year. Six months have passed since you said you loved me and wanted us to marry, and I'm now starting to show. Soon, I will be obliged to tell my parents of the child I am carrying.

Why, oh why did you lie to me? It would have been kinder to have taken me in lust rather than have me under the false pretence of love; leaving me with your unborn child and the foolish idea that we would soon be wed. Six months without a word from you; no letter, not even a phone call to let me know who you really are and where you are. I cannot even tell you that you are soon to be the father of our child.

I know now that you have duped and abandoned me, but however hard it proves, I will not abandon the child within me. The child will act as a reminder of your wrong and my foolishness in trusting you. But mark my words, where you brought me pain, the child will bring me pleasure and provide me with a purpose for going on. I don't think that I will ever trust another man as long as I live!'

I cannot believe that I allowed myself to have been fooled by you, and yet, despite all that has happened, I cannot stop thinking about you, wanting to touch you once more and loving you. I still hold love for you which I cannot erase however hard I try to put you from my mind. I'm such a fool to have ever trusted you. I wish I'd never loved you!'

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That night when I arrived back home from the beach where I'd spent the afternoon in deep reflection thinking about you, I saw the letter which had arrived in the noon post.The writing on the envelope was unfamiliar, so I thought its contents unimportant. For half an hour, I left it on the floor where it had fallen once pushed through the letter box, wholly unconcerned of what it might say. Finally, I picked it up and open it. The letter provided reason of your lack of contact since I last saw you and within a few minutes of reading it, all revived hopes were bitterly squashed and feelings of shame and loss started to overwhelm my senses for doubting you.

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The letter was from an army buddy of yours. He said that you had been a soldier for the past six years and had served five terms of duty in Iraq. During these missions he had been your army buddy and closest friend throughout.

He told me that when we first met, it had been during your two week's leave and because soldiers were frequently made unwelcome by many private citizens in Great Britain today, you choose to wear civilian clothes during your time at home instead of your army uniform. Your buddy said that upon your return to Iraq, you told him about this wonderful woman you had met on leave which you described as being the girl you knew that you truly loved, even after the first night out. I was told that you had been fearful of telling me that you were a serving soldier until we'd known each other much longer than a mere fortnight, as you still had three years left to serve. You feared that no right minded woman would be foolish enough or brave enough to tie themselves to the uncertainty offered by any serving soldier fighting in a war zone.

After you returned to your unit in Iraq, you had planned to write and tell me the whole truth in your very first letter to me and hope for my understanding. That letter was never penned though. Two days after you returned to duty, you were blown up on patrol by a land mine. Being an only child whose parents had been killed in a traffic accident five years earlier, there was no next of kin to inform of your death and had it not been for your close army friend, who was seriously maimed in the land mine explosion that killed you, I would never have known. He had undergone five months rehabilitation at Stanford Hall in Nottingham after the loss of both legs, before he decided to write to me. Without his letter, I would never have been informed as to the reason behind your absence of contact.

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My feelings now are filled with belated grief and guilt for having so misjudged you, my love. At least a large part of you lives on in me and remains to justify our love and my continued existence. I love you so much, dear Richard and I'm so sorry for ever doubting your love for me. When our child, little Richard grows up, I'll proudly tell him about his dad and I promise that we will never let one Christmas go by without the two of us lighting a candle in your memory at Midnight Mass. I love you so much, Richard. Milly and the little one x " William Forde: December 27th, 2015.

December 26th, 2015

26/12/2015

Thought for today:
"It is only through the grit of life do pearls of wisdom eventually emerge. Make greater patience your New Year resolution and you will not wait without reward." William Forde: December 26th, 2015.

December 25th, 2015

25/12/2015

Thought for today:
"On this special day, I wish all of my family and friends a most joyous and happy Christmas. I also thank you all for your generosity over this past year and your constant support with regard my medical condition. I have greatly valued your contact, love and concern and feel blessed that you have been a part of my daily life and have allowed me to be part of yours.

For those of you who are currently experiencing health issues, loneliness, money problems, relationship difficulties or are presently feeling bereaved of person or bereft of purpose, it is my dearest wish that you do not allow self loathing, negativism or hopelessness to steal into your life and rob you of any remaining strength you have.

Take courage from the fact that you are not alone in your experience. Look behind you, in front, all around you and you will find others in similar situations. You will also find others prepared to stand alongside you if only you'll let them. Know that if you feel to have no friend, you are wrong, because I am your friend. Know also that when you find yourself again, you will discover the best friend you will ever have; yourself. Happy Christmas everyone. I love you all. Bill xxx" December 25th, 2015.

December 24th, 2015.

24/12/2015

Thought for today:
"As Christmas Eve arrives and Christmas Day draws closer, my feelings are always a mixture of happiness and sadness. I am happy to know in this holy hour that my God, family and friends have never given up on me and never will. My feelings are however, always tinged with a touch of sadness as Christmas can never go by without me giving thought to the passing of loved ones and particularly that of my dear mother many years ago. I will never forget all my years between five and twenty-one walking to midnight mass with her one mile down the Hightown Road to the Catholic Church in Cleckheaton.

The greatest hero in anyone's life is that person who never gives up on you. When the going gets tough they help you to stick it out and make it work. They sacrifice things in their life like their energy and dreams in order to help you grow wiser and better. They give up what they want because you need it more. They work hard and overcome all adversity that impedes their long term hopes for you. If they flag or fail for a moment, they quickly get back up on their feet to show you that nobody ever has to stay down. They tell you that they love you at every opportunity and show you through their actions that they lie not. They teach you that having a voice is a courage not to be wasted and voicing your fears and expressing your feelings honestly is a thing never to be denied. They may sometimes stay silent to make you feel more comfortable, but love you enough to tell you when you are wrong, whether or not you want to hear such truth.They are fearless and will do whatever it takes to bring about the greatness in the ones they love because doing so brings them peace and satisfies their prime purpose in life. Their name is Mum and they are the fountainhead of all fortitude and the cradle of your courage.

As my first teacher, mum taught me the art of loving and living and how the two cannot be separated if I wanted to get the most out of each. My mother told me early on in life to give her flowers when she could smell them instead of putting them on her grave. I recall opening my very first wage package at the age of fifteen years and going home via the nearest garden centre. The first thing I bought was a bunch of flowers for mum. Until I first married and left home, I never once arrived home from work on a wage day without some flowers for mum which I bought along the way.

A Merry Christmas to all my family and friends and all you young children out there. Allow this old man to tell you the most powerful secret I ever learned. If you want to give your mum the very best Christmas present she will always treasure, before you go to bed on Christmas Eve, look your mum the eye, smile and say, 'I love you Mum.' Then make your New Year resolution a promise to never allow one day to pass without repeating this action. You can even add dad if you love him also! And when you are old enough to pick wild flowers, pick a bunch for your mum. Mum's just love a posy of daisies from your tiny hands more than the biggest bunch of red roses that the world has ever seen bunched in one bouquet.

You know, you never get over being a child while you have a mother to go home to or remember. Miss you and love you lots, Mum. Merry Christmas from your eldest child, Billy xxx.” William Forde: December 24th, 2015.
https://youtu.be/kRGtDpg0GzE

December 23rd, 2015

23/12/2015

Thought for today:
"During my life so far, I have never lived through times when the world has been so unsettled and as dangerous as it is today. We see millions of refugees and migrants moving in mass exodus from east to west, risking life and limb to secure a safer and more prosperous life for themselves and their families. We, here in the west are naturally concerned about the changes to our own lifestyle, standard of living and way of life that having so many newcomers to our shores will bring, not least of all, easier access to the terrorists who hide among the crowds of walking innocents. Here in England, Scotland and Wales, as a small island there is naturally a limit as to how many immigrants we can properly assimilate, but there is no limit on the capacity of our hearts to embrace their problems, understand their situations and help in the best way we can.

I have always believed in all countries taking in their share of the world's refugees, along with operating manageable levels of migration. I believe in richer countries giving free trade to poorer countries instead of placing them in the economic shackles of unfair commercial practices which prevents them exporting their country's natural produce all over the world. The latest winner of The Nobel Prize in Economics argued that Foreign Aid does more harm than good to the countries it is supposed to help and that engaging in free trade market agreements would be infinitely better and more long term.

However much our own National Health Service depends upon the help of doctors and nurses from overseas to keep it functioning, I will always feel that we here in the west are allowing our wealth as a nation to wrongfully attract doctors and nurses who are needed more in their own country than here! We cannot even argue that we are simply borrowing them for a few years, training them up and seeing them return to their country of origin better skilled. No! We recruit them, we tempt them away from their own land with the promise of richer pickings here and finally, once they've come, we do all we can to keep them here forever more!

Meanwhile, as a nation, we are growing fewer in number year upon year of nurses, doctors and consultants born here. Why? I cannot believe that there are so few of the indigenous population wanting to enter these professions. Go onto any hospital ward today and see that it cannot exist without nurses and doctors from overseas, supplemented by agency nurses at three times the cost of the usual nurse. Just as many unemployed persons have unwittingly over the years, been encouraged to become more and more welfare dependent, so our hospitals have also become too dependent upon staffing from overseas sources instead of training and using home grown stock!

I know not the answers to all these problems, but I do know that if we counted every refugee and migrant currently on the move across the globe, along with every nurse, doctor, consultant, teacher from overseas working in Britain, they would still number far less than the vast millions of people in the world today who do not have clean water to drink between daybreak and sunset!

Now here is an area where the ordinary man and woman can significantly help the poorest people in the world with a modest contribution from their purse. Here is an area where we can all make a difference to the life of an entire village of poor people. For as little as £2 a month to the charity Water Aid or £24 total, a rainwater system for an entire African village can be made possible for needy people without the absolute basics. If this is too large an amount to give, every pound given is doubled by the Government.

Love flows and spreads its influence to everything it touches, just like water cleanses the body and sustains it through life. It takes the hardest of hearts to see a poor child stoop so low to survive on earth's impurities while living in the comfort of our homes. I make no apology to appealing directly to your better nature this Christmas time as you prepare for the festive celebrations because you are the person you are; that is why you are my facebook friend. Merry Christmas all. Peace and love. Sheila and Bill xxxx" William Forde: December 23rd, 2015.
www wateraid org uk

December 31st, 1969

22/12/2015

December 22nd, 2015

22/12/2015

Thought for today:
"I can remember attending an Old Time Dancing School in Milnsbridge, Heckmondwike between the ages of nine and eleven, but I cannot recall whether it was to meet young girls or to improve my footwork on the dance floor. Either way, I did both! At the age of eleven, just as I was about to start winning the medals, I incurred a bad traffic accident which kept me off my feet for the next three years.

My absence from the dance floor led me to miss out on modern ballroom dancing completely and when I re-entered the dancing world around the age of sixteen years, the beat had greatly changed.This was the era of rock and roll and bopping was the new craze. Week after week I attended the 'Ben Riley Dance Hall' in Dewsbury and this time I knew what attracted me. It was most definitely both the girls and the bopping!

I have always tried to take away one thing from all my experiences in life that I have learned through the encounter. I hadn't been going bopping too long before I realised a practice by the boys which was pretty standard in picking their dancing partner. Say a boy wanted a dance and saw a group of three girls waiting to be invited onto the floor; one being reasonably good looking, the second definitely good looking and the third being absolutely stunning, it was either girl number one or two who was invited to dance and rarely the stunner!

I invariably failed to follow this convention and never understood the logic behind it. I always asked the best looking girl onto the floor, unless of course they happened to be the worse dancer. Being puzzled though by this general practice of my mates, my conversation with my beautiful dancing partner led me to discover the following. She told me that for a girl, being beautiful in looks was a distinct disadvantage in life. She then explained that a boy's first consideration was usually, 'Which girl of the three was most likely to grant him his wicked way after the last dance?' closely followed by, 'Which girl of the three was the least likely to turn down his request to get up and dance when asked?'

I knew that no boy liked committing himself to the long walk across the floor to ask a girl for a dance, only to have his invitation declined in the full public gaze of his friends and others. Those poor chaps who were declined were often so embarrassed by the rejection that instead of walking straight back to their starting point to face the giggles and put down jokes of their mates, they'd go to the toilets, go buy another drink at the bar or walk back all around the dance floor instead of taking the shortest route.This usually provided them with sufficient time to think up a good excuse as to why the girl they'd asked for a dance had declined their offer.

My beautiful dancing partner then told me that she knew why her stunning looks invariably relegated her to being the wallflower at the dance. It was the male fear of being rejected or to be considered as being unworthy, were they to drum up their courage and ask her, only to be then refused with all looking on. Better to play it safe and keep one's male pride and get a decent-enough-looking dancing partner seemed to be their motto!

From that moment on, I never refrained from asking the best looking girl in the crowd if she would dance with me, date me, etc. etc. Without sounding arrogant, besides accepting that I was never the best looking chap doing the asking, I never once found myself without a beautiful dancing partner during the rest of my life.

So all you good looking women out there who happen to have itchy feet like this wanderer used to have, life is too short to sit it out. There will always be dirty dishes to wash, so put them back in the sink and let's dance! Well, I ask you, would you stunning ladies have declined to bop with this 1960 teddy boy who dared to ask you?" December 22nd, 2015.

https://youtu.be/Arq-340mIUQ

December 21st, 2015.

21/12/2015

Thought for today:
"My younger brother, Peter is currently down South getting a new knee exchange for Christmas. He has had a difficult month as his father-in-law died recently and naturally my thoughts are with him and his wife Linda.

In every family there is always one sibling who takes it upon themselves to be the family fool. They start clowning about in young childhood and remain acting out the role of fool for the rest of their lives. In our family of seven siblings, it is my brother Peter who wears the jester's crown.

As a seven year old child, to get his own back on his older brother, Patrick, Peter caught a moth, killed it and spread it between Patrick's sandwich. He didn't tell him until he'd eaten the last bite. Once when my mother couldn't pay the rent man and muttered, 'I wish he'd go away until next Friday' , Peter kindly granted her wish by taking a long-handled brush, opening the door and after hitting the rent collector hard upon his head, sent him scarpering. When Peter was eleven years old, he was so tall that he was known as 'the gentle giant.' I recall the time when an officious bus conductor, upon finding out that his school bus pass did not take him to the next stop yelled, 'Off the bus instantly, boy. Off the bus now!' Peter was having none of it and instead of getting angry with the small conductor, he smiled broadly. Next, he placed his strong arms around the narrow waist of the mouthy bus conductor and after hoisting him from the platform of the double decker bus and placing him on the road, Peter rang the bell and commandeered the bus to the cheers of all the passengers.

In later life Peter became an educational psychologist and while he was always great at relating to the children whatever their problems were, he was constantly at loggerheads with his bosses. In short, he would never follow the rules of the establishment he worked for, particularly if he perceived those rules to be working against the best interest of the child/children concerned. Often, to make his day pass more pleasurably, if he found himself at loggerheads with his neurotic boss he would hide his cup (knowing that he would die of thirst before putting his lips to another). He might also occasionally borrow his boss's key to the executive toilets, and armed with a pencil and a piece of hard card along with a smile of mischief, make his secret visit to the loo. Once inside the cubicle, Peter would unroll the loo paper and with the aid of the cardboard and pencil he was armed with, he would carefully write the word,'Plonker' on each sheet and return the roll to its normal position knowing that his childish prank would never be discovered. The first time he performed this prank on his boss, Peter was 52 years old!

There was one occasion when my Uncle Willie, who was a heavy drinker of alcohol and whom Peter hadn't seen for six years, turned up late at Peter's house wanting to sleep there after the pubs had closed. Peter opened the door to see Uncle Willie the worse for wear after two or three days on the drink. Uncle Willie said, 'I've come to stay here for the night.' so Peter laughed out loudly and said,'Stay there then!' and shut the door.

Whatever the time of day or whatever the occasion, Peter would fool around. It's as though he was born with an inner desire to see folk laugh and believes that it is his prime role in life to make this happen. I love you brother, but I can simply see no point in you having acquired two degrees if you are left with only half the sense you were born with!

In mannerisms, my brother Peter reminds me of my late old friend, the great Norman Wisdom and especially his most identifiable song." William Forde: December 21st, 2015.

https://youtu.be/2Mn_w9wEdOA

December 20th, 2015.

20/12/2015

Thought for today:
"No relationship worth its salt will ever exist without the occasional cross word being exchanged between partners of disagreeable minds. When such falling outs emerge, the couple usually sit looking away from each other. Yet, even in their highest moment of contrariness and fractiousness, they find it impossible to abandon all concern and feeling for their sweetheart's continued well being. You know you truly love somebody when they hurt you, but all you can think about it is the times when they made you smile." William Forde: December 20th, 2015.

December 19th, 2015

19/12/2015

Thought for today:
"With only six days left until Christmas Day, there will be thousands of parents planning to buy a gorgeous little puppy to fulfil the wish and constant demands of their children. Driven by the pester power of their young in the run up to the big day, many parents may give way to their seasonal impulse and plan their pet surprise without giving full thought to the months and years ahead.

For a few days, the magic of the puppies will add seasonal glitter to the family festivities; then before they become house trained and the carpets are torn, the furniture chewed, the walls scratched and small puddles and poo patches appear wherever one walks, parental patience will start to wear thin.

'Who's going to look after them when we're both out at work? They're small now, but give them six and months and they'll cost more to feed than our three children! I told you to check their sex before you bought them, didn't I? Two bitches will certainly have the garden filled with neighbourhood strays all year round! And you'll be the one to walk them early morning and the last thing at night whatever the weather; it was you that gave in to the children!'

Within the month, sadly many children will come home from school to find their pet puppies gone. Dad or mum will come up with some pretend reason to explain away their sudden absence and once the children realise that their pets will not be returning, they suffer their first feelings of bereavement and heartache. The untold harm these thoughtless and inconsiderate adults have caused to two of God's harmless creatures and three children is unthinkable!

And yet, it happens every Christmas without fail. Indeed, some heartless individuals will abandon the Christmas puppies out in the wild in the misguided belief that they will somehow be able to survive by their own instinct or be found by a new owner. I have even heard of the cruelty of drowning in some instances and even saw it occasionally when I was young. The lucky ones are deposited at the dog pound and if not claimed within a short span of time or found new owners, they are humanely put down! Such are the cruel facts after the Christmas spirit has worn off.

Please remember, a dog is for life, not just for Christmas. Each year immediately after Christmas and often before the festive tree has been taken down, thousands and thousands of abandoned dogs in dog pounds are put to sleep. Council dog pounds do not have the space to keep them like most refuge centres do and there are too few refuge centres to meet the problem faced all year round. So please have a care before you bring a puppy into your home this Christmas, however appealing the idea first seems.

If you are an animal lover like me and my wife Sheila, you will already know of the unique bond that can exist between human and pet. Sheila has had many dogs over the years and all of her dogs have come from rescue centres. Having a dog in your life enhances all that is good in life. The content of their feeling is visible in their faces. Just look at the health and happiness of Goldie and Abby who are the pets of our friends, the Dowers from County Waterford. The fact that these dogs love their lives and owners is evident for all to see.

I believe that both place and manner of a dog's death is a sacred one. It should be carried out in a place of quiet reassurance with the owner by the bedside to say 'goodbye.' As the German sociologist, Theodor W. Adorno, remarked: 'Auschwitz begins wherever someone looks at a slaughterhouse and thinks, they’re only animals.'

Have a lovely Christmas everyone and if you are thinking of getting a dog for Christmas, please remember a dog is for life, not just Christmas. Do not buy from litter farms. Look first in the refuge centre nearest to you and be it pedigree or mongrel you desire, you'll most likely find the perfect dog for you.

All dog lovers out there, be they child or adult, will love my book 'Tales of Bernard' in which all the characters are different breeds of homeless pedigree dogs. The book is available in e-book format or hard paper copy from www.lulu.com or amazon. All profits from book sales go to charity." William Forde: December 19th, 2015.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-forde/tales-of-bernard/paperback/product-21857409.html

December 18th, 2015.

18/12/2015

Thought for today:
"I once lived close to a man in Mirfield called Arthur. Arthur lived approximately twenty yards down the road from me in one of the old folk's bungalows. Arthur was in his mid eighties when I first met him, yet was still mobile enough to get out of his house daily. For over one year after moving into my property, I would frequently see Arthur each Sunday afternoon standing by the bus stop with a modest bunch of flowers. He always wore a flat cap and an old pair of National Health spectacles which rested snugly on the bridge of his nose and gave the impression that he looked over them to see you instead of through them. I would greet Arthur as I passed him, but before he ever spoke to you, he had this habit of first gently stroking his grey moustache as though he was smoothing out the words he planned to say before voicing them. Polite in every respect, he was what we would call 'a perfect gentleman.'

I had a young family at the time and being a busy Probation Officer who often left for work before the children breakfasted each morning and returned at the end of the day just in time to read them their bedtime story, I mostly saw Arthur on a weekend and knew very little about him initially apart from the fact that he had served in both the First and Second World Wars. For reasons unknown to me, he had no children and for well over a year, I wrongly presumed that given his age, he was a widower.

I was later to learn that Arthur was not a widower and that he and his wife had been married for over sixty years. When I enquired about Arthur's wife, I learned that about six years earlier she had developed a form of dementia and over this period she had lost her capacity to remember faces, people and recent events, though she would often speak of happenings which occurred sixty years ago with great clarity. I also learned that when his wife Alice had first entered the Home that Arthur visited her daily. Over time, his visits became less often because of his own ill health issues and increased difficulty in movement.

During the last three years of his life, I spoke with Arthur and gradually got to know him more as he lived next door but one to an old friend of mine called Mary Milner. I would usually call in and check on Mary daily and occasionally I would knock on Arthur's door and inquire if he was okay. Arthur would always invite me in for a cup of tea and sometimes I would accept his offer and we would talk a while. It was during one of those visits that Arthur told me about Alice's gradual loss of short term memory and the onset of Alzheimer's in its later stages. I naturally asked him if he found it hard to cope with seeing his wife in a Home because he could no longer care for her in their bungalow. I regretted asking him the question almost as soon as I'd voiced it once I sensed him well up in tears as he considered his reply.

Over the following months, Arthur told me that his greatest hurt was not seeing his beloved wife in a home, but in being obliged to observe the gradual loss of her memory. He cried silently as he told me that there are as many times that she does not recognise him. She might acknowledge a familiarity in his presence without knowing precisely who her visitor was or indeed, even remembering that she'd had a visitor. Arthur reminded me that though true love between him and Alice was still as real as it ever was, like a ghost, which many talk of but few ever see, it sometimes seemed a thing of the past. He lamented that old age is the most unexpected of things to happen to a happy couple as they go through life and he spoke of a kind of rare love that can only grow out of friendship, understanding and genuine respect that still stands proud between a couple when all else has fallen.

He told me that when he visited Alice, despite knowing that her mind will not comprehend who he is, why he's there or what he's saying, he still tells her about his day and also talks to her about the neighbourhood goings on. 'I know it may mean nothing to her now' Arthur said, 'but it means something to me.'

Once Arthur showed me a photograph of his bride on the day they married and spoke of her beauty. As he described her as 'the best looking lass in the
village', he told me that he still sees that beauty in her today, even though the face has changed and lost its lustre. His words reminded me of a wonderful saying I once read by the Irish playwright, Sabastian Barry, 'I miss her face, it's beauty, and its beauty lost.'

The thing that will stay with me longest though when I think of Arthur whom I knew too briefly and his wife Alice whom I never met, is the reason why he continued to visit a wife who no longer recognised who he was. It was because as Arthur stated, 'Alice may have forgotten who I am, but I still know who she is! You know, it is possible for you to love someone so much that you will move heaven and earth to stay near them, but you can never love them as much as you miss them when they leave you. Each day, I sense Alice moving farther away and I hate the fact that I cannot drag her back.' " William Forde: December 18th, 2015.

December 17th, 2015.

17/12/2015

Thought for today:
"There is a farm up past the golf course in Mirfield, where a young foal was born called 'Midnight Fighter.' The foal was one of twins and as any horse person know, it is highly dangerous for a mare to give birth to twins. One foal died at birth and the other struggled to survive.The lady farm owner worked the farm alone and after it was discovered that the surviving foal was most unlikely to live or ever walk properly, all looked bleak. The foal's mother did not have enough milk to feed her colt and without bottle feeding it every few hours throughout the first month of its life, it would most certainly die.

Help came in the form of a guardian angel five miles away. In fact it was a teacher from a school in Rawthorpe, Huddersfield. The long school summer holidays had just begun and in order to try save 'Midnight Fighter', the female teacher cancelled her arranged holiday abroad and gave up all of her summer break. For the next two months she lived and slept in the stable with the poorly foal, bottle feeding it at three and four-hourly intervals. Midnight Fighter did live, but because of damage to its fetlocks, he required numerous operations and eventually had to be put down in his second year of life.

Occasionally, when I go through Mirfield, I will detour and drive up the lane past the field where Midnight Fighter and his mother and father once grazed; and though he be long dead, I always sense his spirit nearby. I always had an affinity with Midnight Fighter, the young colt with injured legs; having been unable to walk myself for three years as a boy, following a traffic accident that left me with spinal injuries and damaged legs between the ages of 11 and 14 years.

When I first became acquainted with the story of the teacher from Huddersfield giving up the whole of her summer holidays to help a newly born foal survive, I became determined to capture the essence of the tale in a children's story book which I also called 'Midnight Fighter.' I changed the characters and used all proceeds from book sales to go to a charity which houses children and young adults who cannot, walk, speak or function adequately on their own. To widen its appeal, we also arranged to have the story professionally read and recorded; accompanied by background music for radio transmission and to enable children to listen who could not read. The television Magician Paul Daniels even recorded an additional version of the story for charitable purposes.

The audio version of 'Midnight Fighter' is freely available to listen to on my website by following the link below. It is suitable for the 5-11 year old child; particularly any lover of horses. The book can also be purchased in e-book format from www.smashwords.com If however, you wish the story in hard paper copy, it is included as one of two stories in a book called, 'Fighter' from www.lulu.com or www.amazon.com. The book 'Fighter' also tells the story about a boy called 'Maw' with stunted growth who is bullied at school and whose only wish is to play in the school football team. All profit from book sales goes to charity." William Forde: December 17th, 2015.

http://www.fordefables.co.uk/midnight-fighter.html

December 16th, 2015

16/12/2015

Thought for today:
"In spite of all the bad news that we daily hear and the multitude of atrocities we see flash across our television screens, the world is still full of good people who are prepared to give of themselves to others in greater need. Good people are known by their unselfish actions and their fearlessless of the consequences for helping another out. When we help the shoeless by giving them our sandals, we do much more than protect their feet from soreness and discomfort; we effectively encourage them to walk the path of good example.

Often in my life, especially in my dark past, I have fallen short of the mark and have done bad things. On each occasion that I've been in danger of drowning, it has been a good person who has pulled my head back up above the water line.

As a child, even when I did bad things, my mother always told me that I was a good person. In my more recent years, I have often been described by some as being 'a good man'. Whenever I consider the justification of this accolade and think upon the kind of person I am today, I now readily acknowledge my own 'goodness.'

This acceptance stems not from self adulation or the presence of any arrogance or immodesty, but instead sheer pragmatism. You see, the bottom line remains that I've had very little choice in the matter as all of my life I've been surrounded by a multitude of good people. Indeed, I've been so blessed by this constant experience that it would have been almost impossible not to have emerged from their influence, an all-round better person myself! " William Forde: December 16th, 2015.

December 15th, 2015.

15/12/2015

Thought for today:
"One day you will ask me which is more important, you or my life? And when I say 'my life', you might walk away not knowing that you are my life. Since we met, my life is no longer measured by the number of breaths I take and the amount of time I live. You never know, sweetheart, but the greatest love story ever told could be told by me and you. I do believe that true love touches a person but once in their existence, lasts for a life time and never lets go until we are no more. I also believe that the greatest love we feel is also the greatest hurt we are asked to endure. It is to love so much that you cannot bear to see it die; yet better to see your loved one die and be buried beneath the green sod alongside you than to to have true love die within the realms of marital recrimination and the relationship failure of divorce.

Five years ago today, me and Sheila met in Haworth for the first time and before that moment I would have never known that a person could be touched by so much happiness in one lifetime. When I met Sheila I came face to face with beauty incarnate, selflessness unadulterated and sheer goodness in pure abundance. I knew instantly that I was in the presence of someone who I was always meant to end my days with; someone whom I did not want to lose. But being a born winner, I need not have worried. Since Sheila became my sweetheart, partner and wife, contentment has always been close to hand and heaven on earth has never seemed far away. I've loved you lass every minute of the past five years since we first met. Now, get yourself dolled up 'cos I'm taking you out to our favourite eating place, Bill x" William Forde: December 15th, 2015.

December 14th, 2015

14/12/2015

Thought for today:
"When I was a boy, my mother took me to Manchester. As we walked out of the railway station an old tramp buttonholed her with a dirty outstretched palm to beg 'the price of a cup of tea.' Without a second thought, my mother smiled at the tramp, opened her purse and gave him two shillings; a goodly amount in those days and which she could then ill afford, having seven children of her own to feed. Although barely ten years old, I berated mum for her foolishness and said her two bob would be spent on beer and not tea. Her reply was, 'You're probably right, Billy, but if I stop giving to down and outs, the day will come when I harden my heart and refuse to give to someone who really needs it. Besides, there's many a gentleman to be found beneath old clothes.'

As Christmas approaches, please make it a point to give to one person who is down and out, whichever part of the country or world they come from. If we only knew their story, I am sure that we might understand their situation much better.The cruellest thing of all about life is its habit of sometimes kicking us when we are down and knocking the stuffing out of us so much that we both fall and rise a victim.

I recently read that millions of people in Great Britain are only one pay cheque away from not paying their rent or monthly mortgage and being made homeless due to their high debt level, yet they have not yet reached the stage of the down and out who has given up trying altogether. Strangely, when I read this, it didn't depress me; in fact it did the precise opposite, it heartened me how strong and resilient in the face of adversity people can be.

Overall, if people teach us anything, they teach us that tough times never last, but tough people do. They teach us that anyone who has not yet met adversity head on, knows not their own strength. There are many people in this world who have been hardened so much by adversity that while they often experience disappointment, they never give up hope or belief in themselves to eventually win through. You know, it's hard to beat a person who never gives up and it is totally impossible to keep down a person who maintains their self respect whatever the odds.

So give a thought this Christmas to those millions of ordinary people who are our next door neighbours. They may not have lost their home and regular lifestyles yet, yet keep on struggling in silence from day to day, in the hope that times will improve. Such ordinary folk are the true heroes during the country's time of austerity. They are the folk who pray; not just when it rains, but also when the sun shines.

During my early years as a Probation Officer in West Yorkshire before the children were born, for two Christmases I spent Christmas morning helping serve homeless people in a soup kitchen in Oldham. Even then in the early 70s, I was surprised to discover how many young women lived rough on our streets during the cold of winter. This was a mere six years after the television drama of 1966, 'Cathy Come Home' shocked the nation. One year later, I am proud to say that I was able to persuade my probation colleagues at the Huddersfield office to begin a 'Cathy Come Home Fund' to help any woman who found herself homeless. When I look back on these days, while I frequently stood alongside the great, I preferred to sit with the broken, as their experiences were the most uplifting and helped me understand my life, purpose and self much better.

As a token of your concern this Christmas, if you have not yet donated to a charitable cause, please give a few pounds to Shelter, the main charity in the country for the homeless person. If you are a dog lover and don't come across a charity box for Shelter and you would still like to contribute, then consider purchasing a copy of my book 'Tales of Bernard', all sale profits will go to Shelter. This is a book for 10 years to adulthood about a pack of stray pedigree hounds. It was initially read and praised by Christopher Timothy (the television actor who played the vet character, James Herriot) and can be purchased in e-book format from www.smashwords.com or in hard copy from amazon or www.lulu.com for the price of £5.49." William Forde: December 14th, 2015.

http://www.lulu.com/shop/william-forde/tales-of-bernard/paperback/product-21857409.html

December 13th, 2015

13/12/2015

"Thought for today:
"A wise Irish woman once told me that all lasting relationships should be built on a solid foundation of fun and sarcasm, a liberal sprinkling of alcohol, the occasional willingness to be inappropriate in whatever place, the ability to enjoy whatever pleasure takes your fancy, and finished off with a good splashing of shenanigans for everyone who still lives and has still got much to be thankful for!

Everyday of our lives we have something to be thankful for. Today, this loving couple in the photo were thankful that the photographer was behind them instead coming to meet them face on.

For me, it is the arrival of another day and an opportunity to live it that most pleases me. Since April, 2013 when I learned I had terminal leukemia, I have been blessed with family and friends and my beautiful wife and soul mate, Sheila. I have also been blessed with seeing out three more Christmases. I love Christmas; I'm a Christmas person through and through and Christmas, 2016 will represent another landmark for which I am truly thankful.

As we approach Christmas Day, I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and thank my wife, family and friends for all their support over the past year. However strong a person is or thinks they be, they are made infinitely stronger facing any future when they don't regret the past or have any need to ever stand alone. Merry Christmas everyone and God bless you all and your families this Christmas season. xxx." William Forde: December 13th, 2015.

December 12th, 2015

12/12/2015

Thought for today:
"How joyful to see a couple entwined in love and to sense the happiness to be found in tender embrace. Love is a passion which includes in its dreams the happiness of someone else. It forms the heart and is the perfect shape of all that is selfless. It has the power to transform and make us 'larger than life' individuals while limiting our possibilities to loving no other as much as today's sweetheart. It changes our past and defines our present. Love is a choice we make from moment to moment and to express it in joyful union with one's soul mate is no less than heaven on earth. I'm simply nuts about you, Sheila x" William Forde: December 12th, 2015.

December 11th, 2015

11/12/2015

Thought for today:
"'It was Christmas Eve, that magical time of the year when hope for a better tomorrow can be found in the promise of a shining star; that time during December when the smallest amount of generosity possesses the power to enter and soften the hardest of hearts.

Snow began to fall from the starlit sky over the Yorkshire village of Marfield Dell, transforming the harsh, rugged landscape of the mining village below into a picture postcard of seasonal delight.

The soft, white snowflakes fell to the ground like small pieces of compassionate Christmas sky, bringing with it a message of goodwill that reminded the occupants of one house and the next that the time had come to strengthen fragile relationships and to heal any old wounds that still festered.

Inside the village houses, poor parents placed their gifts of love beneath the Christmas tree while their children were wrapped up snugly in bed, too hungry to relax and far too excited to sleep.'

The above paragraphs are the opening passages to my Christmas novel, 'Tales from the Allotments', a story which opens on Christmas Eve and is designed to bring out that Christmas spirit in all of us. It is a must for any adult who has a connection with miners, allotments or Christmas magic and it is one of my favourite stories.The book is available in e-book format, kindle or hard copy from www.lulu.com or www.amazon.co.uk. All profits go to charity.
http://www.lulu.com/…/tales…/paperback/product-21906867.html

Hold fast to the Christmas message that unless we make Christ's birth an occasion to share our love and spread blessings to family, friends and neighbours, all the snow in Alaska and the North Pole won't make it white." William Forde: December 11th, 2015.

December 10th, 2015

10/12/2015

Thought for today:
"Today I go into hospital for a blood transfusion which keeps my body organs oxygenated. It is almost two years since I was informed that I had a terminal illness and a year since I completed a nine month course of chemotherapy, since which I have received blood transfusions between fortnightly and three weekly intervals. I will be moved to four weekly transfusions after Christmas.

While in hospital today, I will also be thinking about my sister-in-law's father, Ken Gamble, who sadly died out in Australia earlier this morning. My deepest sympathy goes out to his wife Mavis and all the family. Mavis and Ken spent a great many years of their earlier life as free spirits, travelling the length and breadth of Australia in a camper van.

During the past year, I have had pneumonia for almost two months, a leg ulcer which resulted from a fall and which can take over a year to heal and I have also been diagnosed with Capel Tunnel syndrome in each hand. I have had one painful hand operated on and will hopefully get the other hand operated on soon after Christmas.

Given that I was born in the Chinese year of the horse, I am content to believe it is that magnificent creature from where I get my constitution, along with the freedom for my mind and body to roam. I mention this series of incidents, not to elicit your sympathetic response of 'poor you', but instead to hopefully illustrate 'lucky me.' When I consider that with having no effective immune system the pneumonia alone could have killed me off, I regard myself as being truly blessed to still be around to tell the tale and open my presents on Christmas morning.

Over this past couple of years, I have never been happier in my life. Had anyone previously told me that such a state was possibly under such circumstances, it would have been hard for me to believe, but I assure you it is perfectly true. I know full well that my lovely wife and siblings and many friends are largely to credit for me being able to maintain my disposition of contentment, but I also know that this reason stands not on its own as full explanation. I know that how I see myself is and has always been important to my outcome, and after 73 years I can truly say that I have fully come to terms with myself, the decisions I've made and the life I have led.

I will not pretend that this has been an easy process as it is often difficult having a good hard look and admitting to oneself where one has gone wrong and might have done things better. Over the past few years, I have found my writing to flow far easier than ever before and today, it requires no greater energy than the turning on and off of a tap. Nowadays, I really enjoy writing in a way that I haven't always experienced. I enjoy the daily exercise of marshalling thoughts, composing stories and recalling events I have lived. It all helps to keep me in touch with my roots and to keep my ego grounded.

Over the past year I have literally added over one thousand extra Facebook contacts from the place where I was born and places I have lived since childhood; Ireland, Hightown, Canada, Mirfield and Haworth, and there is rarely a morning now when I don't have many dozens of messages on my laptop to answer before I can look at other interests. I am particularly pleased that my 'Thought for Today' is well received by a great many of you across the globe and also that is known to be of some help from time to time.

The last year has simply been a wonderful year for me all round. I have never felt as happy or so blessed in my life from the support I have been given and the many new friends and contacts I have made. Were I able to go back to my early twenties when I tended to be more aloof, believe me when I tell you that I would not have been afraid in the slightest to have thrown opened my heart then as widely as I could have done and received the flood of love I have tasted in return this past twelve months. Thank you. I love you all xxx.

During one's life there are special songs and singers who manage to mean something extra special to us at certain times for one reason or another. As my special Christmas gift, I offer you this message: 'If you find it too hard to face or believe in the coming year, it helps if you break it down and learn to believe in today. Take each moment life offers you graciously and just as the proverbial alcoholic is advised, take each year one day at a time!'

I gladly introduce you to my designated Christmas song and the singer that I have most enjoyed this past year. The words of the song epitomises the essence of my message, the purpose of my being and the very core of my beliefs. It is a song I am unable hear without crying at its sheer depth of meaning. Bill." December 10th, 2015.

https://youtu.be/foUrBztgzZA

December 9th, 2015.

9/12/2015

Thought for today:
"It's okay to have your head in the clouds, so long as you also have your feet firmly on the ground.

When I was growing up, I was very fortunate to have a mother, who although a realist in many ways, was also a dreamer. She would make her everyday decisions with both head and heart, but whenever the two came into conflict she would always follow her heart. It took me many years to discover why this was so.

It was as if in the midst of all her ignorance she had discovered a knowledge of which only the heart can know; the one who looks outside, dreams, but who looks inside, awakens. Throughout her life, her heart never hardened, her temper never tired and her compassion never abandoned her. My mother knew that all grand thoughts first spring from the heart and though the mind sometimes forgets the good things in life, that gratitude is the heart's indelible memory at the end of the day when we give thanks for all we have.

'Always look after your heart, Billy', she would counsel. 'Always keep it open.' I often wondered if someone had told her that Chinese proverb that when you leave a bough open, the singing bird will come to occupy it. It was as though she was teaching me by example that when one listens to their heart, one is listening to that part of oneself that is most interested in one's own well being. Mum's head was always in the clouds as it kept her continuously closer to her heart and heaven bound." William Forde: December 9th, 2015.

December 8th, 2015

8/12/2015

Thought for today:
"So often in my life have I heard people say, 'I always fancied doing this...being like that... going here and there.....etc.' Whenever I hear such common expressions of regret it saddens me; not because the person never did them, but rather that they never tried and therefore never knew if they could! Just because we've never done it, doesn't mean we haven't the ability to do it.

I once owned a bitch called Abby, who never seemed to do anything except sleep around all day long. Every time I looked at Abby, she was napping. I can tell you most truthfully that not once did Abby ever go too near a river, let alone enter one. Never in her lifetime did Abby need to swim, but I know instinctively that she could have done had she found herself in deep water. Humans are no different in many respects; we too have the innate ability to succeed beyond our wildest dreams when push comes to shove and staying still is no longer an option for us.

Some want it to happen, some wish it would happen and others will make it happen! If you want something in life badly enough, you've just got to learn to bite the bullet and 'go for it'. These are the bare facts of how to be content instead of leading a life of permanent regret. Success or satisfaction in life is no more than a waking dream. Ask yourself, 'If not me, who? If not now, when?' Had mankind never aspired of reaching the moon or not dreamed that we would one day get there, we never would have!

There are many reasons for never taking the plunge; fear of change along with uncertainty of outcome are chief among them.

As C.S. Lewis said, 'There are far,far better things ahead than we leave behind.' So breathe in deeply and take the plunge. The water isn't as cold as you fear and you may even like it. I guarantee you'll not regret it!" William Forde: December 8th, 2015.