20th Nov 2008

Firstly I must admit i never thought i’d have so much fun talking to 2 older ladies, as today! Fiona and Mary were so fascinating and had interesting stories to share with us. I really enjoyed it when they talked about the sixties as I would love to have lived in that era, and loved hearing about the beatles concert and all the screaming (just goes to show that nothing changes!!!) I have learnt so much from this experience but to be honest, found Mary's stories emotional and at certain times i felt a little uncomfortable, as such memories can be horrible for a child, and were horrendous to hear, but, without sounding patronising!!!!!, made me feel certain pride in the older generation, as they have managed to come out from something like that with such an amazing outlook in life, and a sense of sadness, as it makes you think what they have been through and can sometime be treated so cruely and suffer consequences that could be avoided.

After they had finished telling their stories, (which, i personally feel i could have listened to all day!!), we had an opportunity to ask a few more questions, before we separated into groups and performed one. There was such a variety which actually made it difficult to make a decision, as there were parts we loved in all of them and some we felt were best to avoid. Our group chose Fiona's story of when she met her husband which was, for lack of another word, clumsy, but very very funny! All of the pieces (oddly enough, were different, and not just on how they were told, but the stories chosen) told Mary's and Fiona's stories well. Both said they enjoyed watching our pieces and thought it was strange seeing their lives performed back to them. When we were performing our piece I was concerned that aFiona would take offence as we were over exaggerating it a little, however, at the end said she really enjoyed it, especially the part where we danced around our hand bangs (a part of the story she forgot to mention!!!! ^_^) .

Again, i just have to say i enjoyed this lecture so so much and would like to thank them both for making it a great experience (and please can we have them back one day!!?).