Has anyone made recordings of elderly relatives?

building_with_lego

ttc39 wrote: »

ooh sounds good. who is the book by please? can it still be bought?

These are the books, I bought my Dad's one from Am@zon for about £8.

pukkamum

I have a wonderful letter written to me by dh's granddad accounting his time in ww2.
He was part of the normandy landings and was blown up shortly after, losing a large part of his skull, the use of his right leg and arm.
He talks of the friends he lost and being left in the field injured amongst his dead comrades, only being spotted by a lone medic.

I can post the full letter if any are interested.

I now have the letter framed with a picture of him in service, he was 18.
Unfortunately it seems I am the only person to have asked him about his time in the war and he died shortly afterwards.
I always ask questions of relatives but so many don't my mum's dad died when she was 9 and she never asked her mum about his life so now nan has gone she knows nothing about him, so sad.

Person_one

Errata wrote: »

You may be uninterested in your grandparents memories, but they may be fascinating to others.

Why would you assume that?

I've been talking to them while they're alive, no need to wait till they kick the bucket.

madget_2

zaksmum wrote: »

My daughter got me a book entitled From You To Me. It's a sort of question and answer book...there are blank pages for the recipient to fill in response to such questions as what games did you play when a child, what are your memories of early schooldays, what was fashionable when you were in your teens, how did you meet my father etc.

It ends the book by asking what you would have done differently if you had the time again - and what would you like your epitaph (!!!) to say.

Your whole life history really. It was interesting to fill in and my daughter says she will treasure it always.

Zaksmum - I wanted to thank you for letting us know about these books. In fact, I've just finished ordering one (crying my eyes out in the process!) for my dad, who has cancer.

I always meant to record on tape or video my grandma's amazing stories of her life. (She was a born storyteller and used to have us rapt with attention and often in gales of laughter.) Sadly, she died of a sudden heart attack in her very early 70s before we got round to it. Absolutely devastating.

My dad has already taken me on a day of memories, visiting his childhood homes, schools and favourite places to play when he was a boy. I would love to have more of his thoughts and memories written in his own hand as a special treasure. (Believe it or not, I still own, given to me by my grandma, one of his early attempts at writing - in an old, dog-eared Be-Ro recipe book as they were so poor that they couldn't afford to buy writing paper.)

Thanks again, Zaksmum. And what a lovely, thoughtful daughter you must have.