Derek Davidson & Big Iain Whyte: Best Pals for 65 Years

In the 48th edition of Lifestory at the age of 80 Alistair looks back on 40 years of working life with the store, from joining Alloa branch as a clerk at 15 to becoming Chief Executive of Borders Co-Op.

The 47th edition of The Living Memory Association's 'Lifestory' podcast sees 85 year old historian Andrew Grant looking back on his working life in the 1960s after he had returned from time spent on the ocean waves.   Taking us from the Royal Infirmary to record shops and driving Globe Juice bottles around in search of a daily wage!

The 46th edition of our Lifestory podcast features the colourful life of Stuart Roy McIvor, who spent 30 years in the Metropolitan Police and 5 years as a City Councillor in Edinburgh for the SNP.  At the age of 78 with a great appreciation of the where he is now, Stuart looks back on a life packed to the full with both sunshine and shadow.  

Episode 45 of The THELMA Lifestory podcast introduces us to David and Hilary Thomson, happily married for 55 years in September 2022.  We hear tales of growing up in Portobello and Ratho in the 1950s & 60 and of a romance born on the badminton court!  Packed with great stories of a full life, working hard at business and family with a lot of laughter along the way.

Born in Hackney in 1954, Martin Penny grew up in King’s Lynn and then moved to Enfield.  His father was a successful businessman who sold feather dusters then moved into selling packaged butter, taking the family from no central heating into a house with all mod cons, from proper East End to privileged.

We follow Martin's journey from throwing objects at passers by from the safety of a silver birch tree in his back garden to a successful career in radio, TV and management consultancy, Martin takes us through a laid back life filled with laughter. With celebrity guest cameo appearances in Martin’s life from Mark Nopfler, Frankie Howard, Clint Eastwood and Jim Carrey!

Our dear friend Tommy Carson sadly passed away in June 2022. He was 99 years old and an absolute force of nature. This is a short podcast where he goes through his eight tips for a good life. All practical suggestions from a man who remained active and living independently right until the end of his life. One thing shines through though, his positivity. A lesson to us all. Also never take life too seriously. Tommy you were a star.

Born in 1949, David Franks takes us on a reminiscence journey packed with stories from growing up in Jarrow and Hebburn all the way through to retirement in Glasgow.  David's adventures take him from Junior School to Newcastle University, from audit assistant to partner in Price Waterhouse, with many twists, turns and laughs along the way.

Former manager of Meadowbank Thistle, Stenhousemuir and Alloa Athletic and head teacher of Ainslie Park and Musselburgh Grammar, Terry Christie has packed an awful lot into his 78 years.  Moving from Ireland to Edinburgh at a young age, Terry's love for football was born in the streets with a tennis ball and in going to watch Gordon Smith play for his beloved Hibs with his Mum and brother.  We hear of Sunday fry ups after church, winning football trophies at Primary School, becoming DUX of Holy Cross secondary and attending Edinburgh University, following a path to education whilst building a parallel career on the pitch.    Terry was scouted and signed by Dundee but always knew that he would be a teacher.  We hear tales of juggling the classroom and a football career for 43 years, whilst pulling off countless shocks and triumphs on a shoestring budget, of a happy retirement and a great love of family life.  Back in time we go...

In the second part of our conversation about living with dementia, with Otto still listening and making his presence heard,  May talks about the loss of communication with Douglas and how she felt they had lost much of the laughter in their lives. As Douglas lost interest in many of the things he had loved doing, the day-to-day routine dominated and May's own health did suffer. May movingly describes how Douglas's death was not so distressing for her, as the man she loved had already disappeared. His funeral, held when there were limits on numbers due to Covid, was only the family, who had been with him and cared for him during his dementia journey and May feels that was right for Douglas and for her. Although May's grief about Douglas's death is fresh, she is also grieving about the last years they had together. May also comments that the condition runs in Douglas's family as two of his brothers as well as his mother, also had dementia .As there is an increased risk of inheritance with Alzheimer's this is something that may affect their children in the future. A point about which May feels strongly, is that families should be helped to understand the diagnosis and its implications, to enable them to be able to support their partner or parent living with dementia. There is no doubt that May's story will resonate with others who may have experienced, or be experiencing, similar circumstances and emotions

Douglas Barbour and his wife May lived with Douglas's Alzheimer's Dementia for many years .In this podcast May describes noticing early changes in Douglas's memory and how these changes affected their lives .May's background in nursing as well as volunteering at the local day centre meant she had a bit of experience ,knowledge and some insight into the challenge that faced them. Her primary concern was always to protect him and this need to protect also extended to their family, which meant that May was quite reluctant to make use of other support services. With hindsight she feels that she didn't handle things as well as she could have. When Douglas did start going to and enjoying visits to the day centre Mays first reaction was to feel resentful and jealous his happy smile going off in the bus was a reminder of how Douglas used to be. Perhaps this is not an uncommon reaction but it was hard to admit. Living with Dementia for so many years affected their health and well -being however having a family dog continued to be very important for everyone in the family particularly Douglas and May and the current Labrador Otto misses Douglas a lot. He joined us sitting at May's feet, contributing to our conversation with a couple of barks and wagging of his tail against the table leg.