In this blog founder and director of Reading Force, Alison Baverstock, recalls her personal experience in young adulthood of just how powerful getting a family story down on paper can be…
My grandmother would often regale us with the story of her parents.
Her mother (my great-grandmother) had eloped, realising that her strict parents would never accept her choice of husband. My grandmother’s grandmother, was furious and never saw her daughter again. But there was a mysterious older man who turned up at her parents’ house at regular intervals. His presence was never explained but he always seemed particularly interested in her. She later realised this was her grandfather.
My grandmother ended her days in a care-home, riddled with arthritis. With nothing much to do, she looked back – and the stories just kept coming.
The summer before I went to university, finally released from exams, I went to see her, armed with an exercise book, and wrote it all down. I typed it up and she knew it now existed as a story.
It would be hard to overestimate the impact this had. She was just so excited by the process – and would talk of little else for the next few months. Her memory, once released, kept finding extra details. Because they were aware I was capturing her story on paper, other family members forwarded odd pieces of paper with important dictated notes.
I don’t think she particularly minded that what I wrote never became a book. Her satisfaction came from someone else taking an interest, and the fact that henceforth her story existed – and she was no longer responsible for remembering. The dramatic tale that had resulted in her birth would outlive her.
I think subconsciously this experience must have motivated my interest in self-publishing, an area I have researched in some detail. No longer having the responsibility for remembering, particularly if the memories are difficult, can be a huge relief – and deliver profound wellbeing. Subsequent research took me further. I found that happiness levels amongst the self-published were generally greater than among those traditionally published.
Which leads me to encouraging you to think about recording your own memories. If you or your family has a connection with the military, you have probably had an interesting life: lived in more places than others – and seen world events in a different context.
I am ashamed to admit that having had this powerful experience with my grandmother, I never asked my father about his wartime experience in Germany. He died young and sadly now it’s all gone.
Our memoir-writing competition is now open: Tell us a Story 2025 – Reading Force
We welcome you to capture your story on paper and to enter.