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Read all entries from the competition here

The Winners

"Sweat, Spit & Rock 'n Roll"

Bill Hart

The Beat Boys heavy gear was set up in one corner and we the crowd were excitedly accommodated by the other three. The soft drinks bar was further along and through a wide door in another adjoining ro...

"The Overcoat and the Passage of Time"

Bridgid Hess

I returned to Britain in the winter of 2008 and was greeted by my mother Ruth's 1949 overcoat, which kept me warm that year; her name sewn into the well-turned tailored collar. Faint whiffs of Chanel ...

"Aaron Biber, Barber"

Mareka Carter

In the London Riots of August 2011, I met an amazing man - 90 year old barber, Aaron Biber. Working with scissors and clippers his entire life, since 12 years old (with a spell protecting Tower Bridge...

"My Story - from Germany to London"

Anne Bruh

My name is Anne Bruh and I was born near Dusseldorf, Germany in 1922 to a Jewish family with two sisters and one brother. My earliest memories growing up there was bliss,enjoying the curiosity of life...

"John's Journey"

Ray Thomson

My family story is one of struggle and hardship...My family of John,Agnes and little four year old Aaron travelled by foot from Glasgow to Liverpool circa 1848.Where they eventually arrived in Liverpo...

"Travelling House Artist"

Mark Hilsden

After loosing my job as a bus driver in Lancaster, I was wondering what to do with myself and how to earn a living. As a child I had drawn pictures of houses and wondered if ...? I spent a year o...

"Liverpool Cruel Sea Project - Demetrios Glinos (97 years old)"

David Glinos

Demetrios Glinos was born in Greece on the island of Andros in the small village of Pitrofos. He left Greece in 1940 for 6 months service in the Greek Merchant Navy. Demetrios arrived in the port of L...

""I don't drink, but I do like Champagne!""

Andrew Porter

Born in Belfast in 1920, Georgina Fredeline Kennedy Millar (Georgie) was the fourth of 7 sisters. She was named after her Daddy, George Frederick Kennedy Millar (GFK), "a cabinetmaker at Harland and W...

"Hebridean Sailor: cradle to the grave"

William Cumming

Norman Macleod was born in 1874 in Swordale, a small village of Hebridean crofters and fishermen. Viewing his gravestone, just a mile from his birthplace, few would imagine that he travelled the world...

"THE MILKMAN"

Tayo Lee Nelson

Milk has been delivered to my door since I was born. In itself maybe not that impressive, but I wasn't born until 1979. Also when you discover that John has been delivering that milk the whole time,; ...

"7th September 1940"

Christine Champion

This was the day when Hitler decided to launch an all out offensive against the British mainland which came to be known as ‘The Blitz’. This was also the day that Gerald Champion and Roma Gowling...

"Faith? Becoming a Make Up Artist"

Lan Nguyen

First vietnameise born Irish girl in the 1980 camp of the boat people, a young girl name Ai LAN Thi Nguyen named after 'Ireland' would break traditions of what path her mother had set out. Growing up ...

"From the beginning"

Jenne Goulding

I was born on the South Coast in 1967. My mother was Scottish and had two toddlers already. I was unwanted and unloved from the day I was conceived. After my birth, my mother ignored and neglected me...

"Broadening your Horizon"

Fiona Crawford

You get to be a woman of a certain age, and can feel a bit cut off, invisible, as if you don't really count anymore. Well I say bollocks to that. Last year in my 50s, I conceived and delivered with a ...

"Views of Menengai Crater: Farming El Donyio Lengai"

James Levy

The wind rustled, carrying nostalgic memories that were now nothing more than weather beaten stains on the scorched African earth. Past Menengai Crater, travelling the twenty odd miles from Nakuru an...

"It was me!"

Christopher Skripek

In 1986, our local city newspaper The Derby Evening Telegraph ran a ¼ page article entitled ‘Vest Village – Mystery Prankster changes Weston Underwood’s name,’ and reported how locals thought...

"Christmas Past and Present"

Bill Relyea

My fondest childhood memories are of waking up Christmas morning to see a pillowcase full of goodies at the end of my bed. This usually included a Selection Box (with board game on the back), some fru...

"Sun, Sea and...Kidnapping?"

Norah Ferriss

When I was a young baby my mum and dad took me and me brothers and sisters on a lovely (what they thought would be relaxing) holiday to Italy. I'm the youngest in the family (and so obviously the favo...

"My place in history "

Ann Patterson

A devastating flood occurred on February 1st 1953 along the east coast of England, an appalling tragedy with many lives lost. My place in this moment of English history came about because of the need...

"How I became a sailor at 18"

Julija Svetlova

at 18 I fell in love with the guy for the first time. He knew I didn't want to go out with the sailor because at that moment we lived in a port town where almost all the men were sailors and were abse...

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