No not Ken I'm my line of work (Social care for adults) I spend a lot of time with the elderly I have to say it's enlightening. Some of the things you hear from the war, WAFFS, what they had to go through but also the good times really makes you think. IE kids today never had it so good. It's not a easy job by any thought of the imagination but sometimes makes you smile which is always good Just saying
We did some work recording oral history in some of the more rural communities here some years ago. It was extremely rewarding. The vast majority of people don't have the inclination or the confidence to put pen to paper to record their lives, but everybody wants to talk. It's better for them, it's far easier, it happens in real time, so it's much more spontaneous, and it encourages older people to search for their words, helping them to keep their thought processes clear and routine. Plus the joy it gives them to recount cherished stories to somebody who has sought them out specifically to hear them. Everybody wins.
I have to be careful when recording information for 2 reasons. Ensuring it's recorded in a way the person tell me. and ensuring this is recorded in their words so others don't think i'm being rude or uncaring and also that I don't give people the answers so you get their own information and experiences it takes time but worth it in the end
We miked up a table in a library and had half a dozen of them sat around telling tall tales. The most fun was when they started arguing. "Ee never 'ad two bulls, the lyin' bugger. E'e was using old Tom Buckley's prize'n fer most of the time. Old Tom never got paid neither." "E'e always wuz a parsimonious old swiner."
