Oral history in palliative care

“At fifteen I was down the pit. You weren’t down full time, we used to spend, I don't know if there was one or two days a week something like that with the National Coal Board, when you were training. I got an apprenticeship with a Coal Board, great apprenticeship training to be an electrician but the reason that I went down the pit was so I could go in the Miners Welfare club, so that's why I went down the pit, really, if truth be known. I’ve been very lucky in my time, very very lucky apart from now… but yeah I went down the pit… it was scary and damned hard work. I mean my father was a miner, Dad was what they call a tailgate rip which was arguably the, in my eyes anyway, in the top three or four hardest jobs in a mine. Oh man that was some job, some physical job.”

“My father was a labourer, my mother was there to look after the house, wash and feed us ... I’m the oldest of seven… In the 1940s, 1950s, there were no contraception as there is now and a lot of houses had big families… as a poor family we couldn’t afford anything… most of’t groceries was on’t tick. You had a tick book if you couldn’t afford it… If you hadn’t got it you went without. But where we were, house next to us … they had chickens at top of garden, and if they killed a chicken or a pig in’t abattoir and we knew somebody were roasting, we’d take bread next door and ask if we could dip it in their fat. Put a bit of salt on and you had a dripping sandwich. I still eat pork dripping with jelly in it... Even today I eat jelly on my toast and it flavours it up lovely.”

“I’m a happy go lucky kind of person and if I can have a laugh I will, have a laugh at the doctors you know, because they’re humans like we are and they do have personalities, and you know it’s not this professional image that you get all the time. I think things are changing and people’s attitudes are changing too. The medical profession you know it’s not that stuffed shirt kind of attitude like it used to be, where you went into the doctors and it was like you were going to see your bank manager or something.”

By interviewees

“I found it really satisfying… it's like having a bit of a clear out, you know like clearing out your cupboards. And I'm really glad that I’ve got all that down, that I have said all that and I’ve got it recorded and it's there now, it’s there forever.”

“Just the fact that somebody is listening to you for an hour, about you, how unusual is that? How many people get that chance to talk about yourself, it doesn’t happen does it?”

“I thoroughly enjoyed it… I was emotional at times, but I do get emotional. It wouldn’t put me off doing it again. No not at all…. I’ve got it for posterity and for my grandchildren.”

By family

“Having his voice on CD is the most precious thing I could have… It’s so next to the person being there, you know it's so moving... it's very, very precious. They say what you would grab if you had to run out of the house it would probably be that.”

“I don’t think many people actually record their own voices do they, no… I really enjoyed listening to it and I thought it was really interesting. I thought ‘I’m sure my children would like to listen to this as well.”

“It's really touching, it gives the person a sense of power, empowerment, and self-worth. They can be heard, not forgotten you know, as human beings.”

By health care professionals

“A lot of patients like to be able to share their life stories and get a lot of value out of thinking about what's happened during their life, recalling some of the things they’ve done and not done, and experiences they’ve had. I think particularly it's valuable because they don’t just have half an hour… they have as much time as they need… it's really nice for them to just have time and space to talk at length.”

“As somebody’s health is deteriorating it's a time for reflection… what their experiences meant, what they’ve achieved... and that’s quite a therapeutic thing. If that’s been a part of their life, I think that’s quite healthy””

“One patient I met… her children were really excited that her grandchildren are going to hear her voice and have individualised messages for when they grow up.”