Mum, do you ever have to record really boring lifestories?

My daughter asked me this the other day, and this was a very easy question to answer. No, I said, never.

And this is not because I only record people who have lived big and colourful lives or those who remember significant historic events or come from other countries. I do record many such people and that is a privilege but it is not only these stories that are fascinating and need to be captured and preserved.

I have just chuckled to myself, listening back to a little story I recently recorded for a Life Story Book. My storyteller recalled how, as a very young man, he had been hired to perform a magic show for 200 people at a street party celebrating the Queens Silver Jubilee. He told me how he felt setting up, and how hard he tried to put on a good show for the local community.

The picture he painted with his words allowed me to feel like I was standing right behind him, as he performed his tricks and ran through his entire repertoire, as he tried to entertain all the guests from the back of a lorry, placed in front of one long long table on the street, on that Saturday afternoon in 1977. When the book is complete I know that his friends and his family will feel this sense of connection too with a little moment 45 years ago.

Was it the most exciting story I have ever heard? No, maybe it wasn’t, nor was it the most significant moment in my storyteller’s life, but even so, it does tells us about our storyteller and the world he lived in. It illustrates his enthusiasm for life, his values, his energy, his love for being bold and giving back. These are all characteristics that his friends and family recognise and appreciate in him and so hearing and preserving these personal stories is anything but boring.

And, if you want to know more about books, as I don't talk about them so much do drop me a line!