FordeFables
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      • The Priest's Calling Card >
        • Chapter One - The Irish Custom
        • Chapter Two - Patrick Duffy's Family Background
        • Chapter Three - Patrick Duffy Junior's Vocation to Priesthood
        • Chapter Four - The first years of the priesthood
        • Chapter Five - Father Patrick Duffy in Seattle
        • Chapter Six - Father Patrick Duffy, Portlaw Priest
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        • Chapter One - The Early Life of Sean Thornton
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        • Chapter Four - Sean Thornton marries Sheila
        • Chapter Five - Discoveries of Widow Friggs' Past
        • Chapter Six - Facts and Truth are Not Always the Same
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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 >
        • Chapter One
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        • Chapter Three
        • Chapter Four
        • Chapter Five
        • Chapter Six
        • Chapter Seven
        • Chapter Eight
      • The Life of Liam Lafferty >
        • Chapter One: ' Liam Lafferty is born'
        • Chapter Two : 'The Baptism of Liam Lafferty'
        • Chapter Three: 'The early years of Liam Lafferty'
        • Chapter Four : Early Manhood
        • Chapter Five : Ned's Secret Past
        • Chapter Six : Courtship and Marriage
        • Chapter Seven : Liam and Trish marry
        • Chapter Eight : Farley meets Ned
        • Chapter Nine : 'Ned comes clean to Farley'
        • Chapter Ten : Tragedy hits the family
        • Chapter Eleven : The future is brighter
      • The life and times of Joe Walsh >
        • Chapter One : 'The marriage of Margaret Mawd and Thomas Walsh’
        • Chapter Two 'The birth of Joe Walsh'
        • Chapter Three 'Marriage breakup and betrayal'
        • Chapter Four: ' The Walsh family breakup'
        • Chapter Five : ' Liverpool Lodgings'
        • Chapter Six: ' Settled times are established and tested'
        • Chapter Seven : 'Haworth is heaven is a place on earth'
        • Chapter Eight: 'Coming out'
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        • 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’
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        • Chapter Seven ‘The All Ireland Ballroom Latin American Dance Final.’
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        • Chapter Nine: 'Beth in Manchester.'
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        • Chapter Fourteen
      • ‘The Postman Always Knocks Twice’ >
        • Author's Foreword
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        • Chapter One
        • Chapter Two
        • Chapter Three
        • Chapter Four
        • Chapter Five
        • Chapter Six
        • Chapter Seven
        • Chapter Eight
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        • Chapter Ten
        • Chapter Eleven
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        • Chapter Thirteen
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        • Chapter Twenty
        • Chapter Twenty-One
        • Chapter Twenty-Two
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July 10th, 2015.

10/7/2015

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Thought For Today:
"It is our last day in Ireland today as we sail home tomorrow. Our final day will be spent visiting a Facebook friend Danielle in Carlow and later, my cousin John Brennan and his wife Kaye in Kilkenny.
It is fitting that the last Irish contact I shall meet is John Brennan as the Brennan family were a major part of my father’s early life.
My father came from the poorest of large Irish families and in his early teens, he was effectively brought up by my cousin John’s parents, Ann and Mickey Brennan, who took him under their roof.
After my father’s footballing career ended (then an unpaid activity, even at international level), he came to England to find work down the mines and establish a home to bring his wife and first three children across to.
During our early years living in England in the late 1940s, we Irish were discriminated against until we had settled into English ways. In the late 50s and 60s, the discrimination then changed towards the West Indian immigrant and by the 70s, those of Pakistani origin. Today, we discriminate against all manner of other social groups and nationalities.
Then from the mid 90s, the Northern Riots between black and white citizens broke out and racialism between both groups spread from Rochdale to Bradford at a ferocious and alarming rate.
The Northern Riots emotionally moved me so much that I wanted to capture the spirit of it in book form. I also wanted my own opportunity to put the record straight as my personal experience had shown me that it wasn't a 'one way street'. I wanted to portray the discrimination that was practised by white towards black, by black towards white, by black towards black and by white towards white in all countries, and particularly Ireland, Jamaica and Northern England. I decided to write a trilogy of books called ‘The Kilkenny Cat’; the sales of which were used to provide vital basic educational materials for the 32 schools in the old slave capital of Falmouth, Jamaica.
I decided to make all characters (with the exception of two) in this allegorical trilogy, a group of travelling cats through Ireland, Jamaica and Northern England. The travelling cats face discrimination wherever they go. The only two characters in the books, which aren’t cats, were Ann and Mickey Brennan, who adopted an abandoned kitten after its mother had died; very much as the real Ann and Mickey Brennan had adopted my father in his youth.
The Kilkenny Cat Trilogy took five years to research and write and is ‘a must’ for any adult cat lover or person concerned with any form of discrimination. It is available in E-book format from www.smashwords.com or in hard copy from Amazon or www.lulu.com. All profits from book sales will be given to charity as have been all my 64 published books since 1990 (over £200,000).
So you see, the Brennan's are in many ways largely responsible for me being born in the first place by helping to rear my father, and it is fitting that John Brennan should be the last person in my family tree that I see on Irish soil."
William Forde, July 10th 2015
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