LifeStory

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.

Andrew Grant decided at the age of 15 that he would like to join the Merchant Navy  He did the deck apprentice course at Leith Nautical College and after applying to several shipping companies got a job with Shell Tankers. His first voyage took him to the Carribean  then he was off to the Middle East in fact he saw the whole of the  World apart from the Antartic during his career. We hear how he rose through the ranks from deck apprentice to first mate.We hear what tasks he had to do as he progressed from cleaning the ship to overall responsibilty of the ship. He met his wife Molly at the dancing and courting at a distance wasn't easy The only way to communicate was by letter sent and received on board ship when in port. Andrew moved shipping companies several times but came to the decisioin to change career and became a Geography teacher. The perfect job for a well travelled man.

Robert Hume Patterson is 100 years old and has amazing memories of growing up and working in Portobello. He takes us on a tour of the different streets Bridge St, Tower St, Pipe St to name but a few and we hear what happened to them with with the passing of time. We get to hear about different characters who lived in Portobello including Ned Barnie who was the first Scot and oldest person to swim the English Chanel. He remembers the Glaswegians who holidayed in Portobello during the Glasgow Fair. After leaving the Army he worked in Portobello Power Station for 40 years and he has lots of interesting facts about the Power Station and its connection with the Outdoor Swimming Pool

May Hoare was born in Malawi on the 24th May 1935.Her Father had an engineering business in Malawi and May lived with her older sister and parents in a house that had been built especially for them. May takes us a tour of the house and the large garden that were maintained by several servants. Holidays were spent on the Zomba plateau or swimming at Lake Nyasa. We hear of the school aeroplane which was the safe way for the sisters to travel to school in Rhodesia. We also hear of the flying boat that took the family from Southampton to Malawi via Italy, the Nile and Lake Victoria.

In this episode we meet Robert Hume Patterson who was brought up in Portobello in the 1920s & 30s.He was the youngest of 4 children and they lived at no 4 Bridge Street with their Mother and Father. We hear how he nearly drowned at the age of 3 only being saved as he was wearing his wee red coat and how he continued to be accident prone He and his friends had a lot of freedom and they explored their area from The Marine Gardens to Joppa and Musselburgh. After leaving school at the age of 14 he had various jobs before joining the Army and it's whilst he's in the Army that there's another accident involving a milk wagon when he ends up in hospital yet again

Margaret Laird who was born in 1948 tells us about growing up in Corstorphine in the 1950s and 60s Her father opened a large Ironmongers on St Johns Road and it was there that he met Margarets Mother. Margaret had two brothers who attended Heriots  but she was sent to Mary Erskines where the headmistress Miss Jennings was feared by the pupils and teachers alike. We get to hear what  Margaret did to incur Miss Jennings wrath. We then get to hear what Margaret does after leaving school

In this episode Tommy Carson takes us out dancing. Its 1935and Tommy who is 13 years old puts on his Dads flannels and heads out to Dalgleish Dance Hall on St Mary's Street Edinburgh. This is the first time he's ever gone to the dancing and he copies how the older dancers move and hold themselves. He loves it and not only that he's good at it. From then on Tommy goes dancing every night and some afternoons. We get to hear of all the dance halls in Edinburgh that he could go to. Being in the army didn't stop him He visited dance halls in Manchester, and Liverpool

The episode starts at the end of the War and VE day with bonfires and singing in the streets. Then we hear of attempting to camouflage the Power Station difficult when the chimney was 60ft high and barrage floating in the sky over Woods Park. Then James goes back to his life in the Royal Navy and the Merchant Navy. Looking after the Commanding  Chief of Portsmouth and meeting the stars of the day in the British Legion

In this episode James Yorkston Reminisces about his school days at Tower Bank and Portobello High He enjoyed school but wasn't averse to skipping .If caught the punishment varied. It could be lines, kept in after school or being hit with bend and over his teacher Mr Walls 2 rulers. This didn't stop James from admiring Mr Walls and thinking he was a good teacher. He played for the school and enjoyed school camps in Humbie.

In this episode we revisit  James Yorkston and his memories of growing up in the Portobello area in the 1940s and 50s Sadly James is no longer with us but what comes across is just how much he enjoyed life when he was here. He makes it all sound like great fun hearing the air sirens and watching the lights from his window as the planes tried to bomb the Forth Bridge and the Power Station. He had the freedom of the beach and the outdoor pool which had waves a raft and a 36 foot diving board. He had lots of friends and a large family around him. It was a time when everyone knew each other and there was a real sense of Community. Then he joined the Navy and got paid to see the world. As James says it was the best time of his life

Margaret McGuire had an interest in antiques from an early age. She started  doing antique fairs at the Assembly rooms George Street with her husband.  Working from one table she sold silver, china and jewellery. Whilst doing this she made several contacts with other people in the trade and ended up opening a shop in Causewayside with a colleague who sold furniture .This was an unsuccessful venture as all her jewellery was stolen. She left the shop after only 6 months and went back to doing Fairs in Edinburgh ,Glasgow, Stirling and Harrogate After a while she started  working alongside Kenneth Bruce in a shop in St Stephen Street although working together they had separate businesses and this was very successful for the next 18 years. She remembers. this time as being great fun. We hear of the ' unsuitables' who they sent off to the Pawn shop, working at the Grassmarket fair during the Edinburgh Festival, buying trips to France and much much more