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<\/a>The idea for the book came from a conversation with Fiona Russell who, while working at Mosman Seniors Centre, was inspired to help older adults feel more valued \u2013 why not through the celebration of their stories in a book?! <\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/a><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\nWith support from Mosman Council, Mosman Community Care, and the Mosman Rotary Club, the theme was to be the local council area of Mosman. Fantastic! Seniors were contacted far and wide through our various networks, calling for stories, poems and artworks about Mosman. Some were interviewed and their entries transcribed; others wrote and submitted their own. It was my privilege to edit and prepare their words for print. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
From domestic details such as grocers writing down household orders at the kitchen table, to memories of transport with trams and ferries, to military endeavours during wartime, the anthology paints such a colourful and meaningful picture of the past, it is one to truly treasure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
My personal experience of the value of generational stories comes from the fact that my dad was fifty when I was born, so in his seventies when I graduated from university. He was so proud of me. My honours degree in English Literature was the highest form of education anyone in our family had achieved. Born in the 30s Depression, his had been a different life. He left school at fourteen to work in a fish \u2018n\u2019 chip shop, served in the navy during World War II, worked his way up to become a hotelier then lost everything in the 80s recession, so had to work well into his eighties. He knew tough times. He knew all kinds of times. And I listened to his stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n