Mary shares her fascinating life
Reporter: Beatriz Ayala
Date published: 09 April 2009
MARY KENNEDY has lived through two world wars, married twice, brought up nine children, worked in a rubber factory and can play the piano.
So when 92-year-old Mary was asked to write a book about her life, she wasn’t short of things to include.
The sprightly great-grandmother lived at Barons Court, Failsworth, until August, 2008, when she moved to Royley House Residential Home, Royton.
It was there she became involved with the Life Story project run by Age Concern.
A team of trained volunteers visit older people living in residential care homes throughout the borough.
Recall
Through friendly chats, they help residents recall and write their own book which is then used as a memory aid and helps the professionals who care for them.
Age Concern stores the books on file but a copy is also given to Oldham Local Archives and Studies with the family’s consent.
The average book length is 50 pages but, as a result of Mary’s sharp memory and eventful life, her final draft has reached a whopping 150 pages.
She said: “I found it easy to tell the tale of my life.
“I can remember back to when I was three-years-old. I must have a good brain, but I don’t please everyone with it.
“I’ve been through lots of happy times and lots of sad ones such as the loss of my first husband William Rouse.
“He was serving in the Navy during Second World War when his boat was blown up taking supplies to France. His body was never found.
“We had only been married for two years.”
Mary remembers playing the piano as part of a 50-strong troupe which included two 15-year-old comedians who became known as the Oldham Brothers.
And she has fond memories of meeting her second husband in the rubber factory in Bank Bridge, Clayton, where she worked. Added Mary: “My second husband Joseph Kennedy was always singing — I fell in love with his voice — it was just like Mario Lanza.”
Mary’s daughter Rona Flint said: “I proof-read the book. It didn’t need altering much — everyone did a great job. The project helped my mother settle in when she first came to Royley House.
“Age Concern should be proud of this project.”
Project co-ordinator Lindsay Pateman said: “Mary is a wonderful lady who has lived a very full life. It has been a privilege to work with her.”
Courage, love and redemption
OLDHAM-born author Chrissie Gibson has published her second book “Somewhere in France 1939”.
The 84-year-old’s wartime novel is an unforgettable story of courage, love and redemption set against a backdrop of Europe at war.
It tells the story of a young English woman who goes to work in France as a nanny, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. But she is trapped when the Germans invade and her employers arrested.
Chrissie attended Leesfield St Thomas’s School but moved to Keighley, West Yorkshire, in 1957. Her first book, “Teenagers in War”, was published in 1989 and chronicled the experiences of being a child from a working class background before and during the war.
She was 14 when the war started and recalls sheltering in the cellar as a German rocket demolished near-by houses in Roundthorn.
Chrissie worked in a munitions factory before working in a mill after the war and then working in insurance collection.
She said: “I still have friends and relatives in Oldham. The new book is selling well. I’m considering writing a second part where the children are grown up after the war.”
The novel is out in hardback, priced £13.99, and is available from Waterstones or publishers Melrose Books online at melrosebooks.com or by calling 01353-646 608.
