Ivor’s life story interview

ALEX: Where were you born… Ivor?

IVOR: It was a long time, isn’t it?

MANAGER: It was a long time ago, Ivor was born in Ashford.

IVOR: Yeah.

ALEX: So, what was Ashford like?

IVOR: You’ve been there, haven’t you?

MANAGER: I’ve been there, yeah. I’ve been there.

IVOR: Quiet, isn’t it?

MANAGER: It is quite quiet.

IVOR: It is quite quiet.

ALEX: What about your family? Do you know much about your family?

MANAGER: You’ve got one…

IVOR: I’ve got one boy now.

MANAGER: You’ve got one sister.

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: What’s her name?

IVOR: Rosalyn.

MANAGER: Rosalyn.

IVOR: Yeah, Rosalyn.

MANAGER: And she’s got three children?

IVOR: Yeah, three children now.

MANAGER: Yeah.

ALEX: Wow.

IVOR: I sometimes go and visit them.

MANAGER: Yeah, you go and visit your sister, don’t you? You’ve got Paul.

IVOR: Paul, yeah.

MANAGER: He’s your favourite nephew, isn’t he?

ALEX: Right. What was your home like? What’s your home like when you were growing up in?

MANAGER: Do you remember your house with your mum?

IVOR: Yeah. [Before] East Street.

MANAGER: That was before East Street Hospital, wasn’t it?  Did your mum used to come and see you there?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Because you were 10…

IVOR: 10 Yeah.

MANAGER: … when you went into your first big hospital?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah?

IVOR: No more now, is it?

MANAGER: No more now, I’ve. No, that’s right, they’re gone now. The big hospitals, they’re gone. Did Mum come and visit you at East Street?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Did she have a car or anything? Did she have a car?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER:  Did your dad drive?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah?

ALEX: Oh, right. Did you like your time there?

IVOR: Yeah. I didn’t mind it..

MANAGRER: Were you all right at East Street?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah?

ALEX: Cool. What was your bedroom like?

MANAGER: Can you remember your bedroom with your mum?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: In your mum’s house.

IVOR: Oh, a long time, it was.

MANAGER: It was a long time ago.

ALEX: Did you have any trains and tractors back then?

IVOR: No, I went to market, didn’t we?

MANAGER: We did, yeah.

IVOR: Yeah.

ALEX: So, did you like trains, like train spotting? Did you ever collect the numbers of the trains or anything like that?

IVOR: Yeah, I got a paper in there.

MANAGER: Yeah, paper. You like to write them down.

IVOR: Yeah, I write it all down

MANAGER: But when you were really little, did you like trains?

IVOR: Still.

MANAGER: Still?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Such a long time.

IVOR: Yeah, a long time.

MANAGER: Long time.

ALEX: Cool. What did your – what did your parents do for work?

MANAGER: Do you remember? Did your mum go out to work?

IVOR: Pardon.

MANAGER: Did your mum go out to work?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: What did she used to do? Can you remember?

IVOR: Shopping a lot.

MANAGER: Shopping?

ALEX: Like mystery shopper?

MANAGER: Or it might mean just going to the shop. Did she actually work in a shop, Ive?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: No, she just went to the shop. Do you think she didn’t have a job?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: Probably the father, probably.

ALEX: Do you have any photos of them?

MANAGER: You’ve got lots of photos, haven’t you?

IVOR: Yeah.

ALEX: Oh, right.

MANAGER: What’s that?

IVOR: (Inaudible)

ALEX: OK, start talking about your childhood photos.

MANAGER: OK. So, who’s this one, Ive?

IVOR: Ive and Kev.

MANAGER: That’s Ive and Kev, that’s right.

IVOR: He was all right, weren’t he?

MANAGER: He was all right, weren’t he?

IVOR: You get used to it, I suppose.

MANAGER: You do get used to it, don’t you?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: That’s when you were very young. What do we think? Shall we go with five even? Long time ago.

IVOR: Long time ago.

MANAGER: What about this one, Ivor?

IVOR: Yeah. (GIGGLES)

MANAGER:  Does that make you giggle? Do you remember your hair being that dark?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: You’ve got silver hair now, haven’t you? Yeah? You had very dark hair. Yeah?

IVOR: Shame.

MANAGER: So that one was you living here? Yeah. And that one, was you living with your mum and dad?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah. OK. So, who is..?

IVOR: I had shorter hair.

MANAGER: Who’s that? Who is it?

IVOR: My mum?

MANAGER: That’s your sister.

IVOR: Sister Rosalyn.

MANAGER: Rosalyn.

IVOR: Paul.

MANAGER: And that’s your nephew Paul, that’s right…

IVOR: Paul, yeah.

MANAGER: Well remembered.

IVOR: She is lovely girl.

MASNAGER: She is lovely.

IVOR: Sometimes I see her.

MANAGER: Yeah. So, when you were in East Street in Leybourne, did you used to do that?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Go on the trains?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: What was it like living in East Street Hospital?

IVOR: They’ve been hurting me.

MANAGER: They hurt you?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Didn’t you like it?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: No? Were you glad when you left?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah?

IVOR: Shame, isn’t it?

MANAGER: So, do you know when you used to live at East Street Hospital? Did you used to go out shopping?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: You did? Did you enjoy it?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: What are you doing in this one?

ALEX: What did you get in the shops when you went down?

IVOR: Oh no… a long time ago.

ALEX: Yeah?  It was, isn’t it?

MANAGER: It was a long time ago.  Back at East Street it was, wasn’t it?

IVOR: Hmmm…

MANAGER: Yeah?

IVOR: I’ve got a bit more. And I have to put them up somewhere.

MANAGER: Put them in your flat later.

IVOR: Pardon?

MANAGER: What about the stuff you’re doing here?

ALEX:  Or what? Put them in frames and display them in your flat. That’d be cool.

MANAGER: Because you like to do that, don’t you?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Because look at all these memories, Ivor. All the things over the years.  You literally got when you was a little boy.

IVOR:  I like it.

MANAGER: Did you used to do painting before?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: What were you painting there?

IVOR: Tree.

MANAGER: It is a Christmas tree. That’s right.

ALEX: I like Christmas time.

MANAGER: You love it, didn’t you?

IVOR: My neighbour is waving back.

MANAGER: He is waving at you. So that’s Jill’s daughter, isn’t it?

IVOR: That is Jill.

MANAGER: Little Elliot.

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah?

IVOR: I don’t have any boys here. He looks after me. He doesn’t run away.

MANAGER: He doesn’t run away. He’s all right. But you did that when you were younger, didn’t you?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: You’ve done running away. Not now.

IVOR: Not now.

MANAGER: We’d catch you now.

IVOR: (LAUGHS)

MANAGER: And who’s that?

IVOR: That’s Ivor, isn’t it?

MANAGER: It’s Ivor there.  And that’s Steven.

IVOR: Steven.

MANAGER: That’s your friend here, isn’t it?

IVOR: Yeah. I’ve known him for 16 years.

MANAGER: Yeah. You’ve known him 16 years.

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: …Stephen? One of your neighbours, isn’t it?

IVOR: (inaudible)

MANAGER: No, you don’t need to do that, love. You’re waving again?

IVOR: He’s not a little boy now.

MANAGER: He is. What do you think of the really good things that you do now that you’re proud of, Ivor? So, we’ve got…

IVOR: What about that?

MANAGER: When you got your certificate. Remember all the work you used to do in the activity centres for the college?

IVOR: College, yeah.

MANAGER: What sort of things did you do?

IVOR: Painting.

MANAGER: Painting, yeah. What else did you used to do? Do your colours…

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: …and your numbers?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah? And you ended up getting that certificate, didn’t you, from the college?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: And this was the presentation day, wasn’t it? Yeah? And you’re with all your friends. And what other things do you do here? You should be very proud of yourself there.

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah. You’re doing a weekly shop.

IVOR: Weekly shop.

MANAGER: Do you think that’s something to be proud of?

IVOR: Think so.

MANAGER: Yeah?

ALEX: So, did you pick up what he was going to have for dinner? Or…

MANAGER: There he’s going after some carrots, aren’t you, Ive? Yeah. Because you used to find that difficult, didn’t you? Going shopping. What about going to the doctors? That was difficult.

ALEX: No one likes the doctors, we can all agree with that. And dentists.

MANAGER: Yes, but I would say the last maybe two or three years you go to the doctor’s now, no problem, didn’t you?

IVOR: I’m finished now.

MANAGER: You’re finished with that bit? There’s your certificate. Do you remember that one? Who’s that?

IVOR: It’s Jill…

MANAGER:  That’s Jill’s mum, wasn’t it? Do you remember you used to go and visit her?

IVOR: Jill’s mum.

MANAGER: OK. What other ones do you want to look at? Do you want to pick some photos out? Who’s in that one? That was one of our open days.

IVOR: Open days.

ALEX: When was that then?

MANAGER: That was back in, look, 2012.

IVOR: 2012. Thirteen years.

MANAGER: Thirteen years ago, Ivor. We’ll do another one of those this year. Do you think? We’re going to do train theme. Do you think?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: Yeah.

ALEX: Maybe you could make something in his art and craft lesson for it.

MANAGER: Yeah, should we start making things? That’d be something good to do.

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: What have we got pictures of here, Ive?

IVOR: Trains.

MANAGER: Trains. Which are your favourite ones? You show me. Look, there’s loads of them here. You like that one? Because that’s an electric one, isn’t it?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: What’s your favourite one? The steam ones.

IVOR: Steam ones.

ALEX: I think they’re electric trains coming in the ‘70s…

MANAGER: Ah.

ALEX: Up to the steams, the last steam trains was about ‘75.

MANAGER:  Oh wow, because you like a steam train. So how do you sit on the train? How do you do it?

MANAGER: Choo, choo!

ALEX: (LAUGHS)

MANAGER: Choo, choo. Even if we’re on an electric train, we do the steam train, don’t we? Well, so look at all these ones. Look. It’s London. What do you like about a train?

IVOR: I don’t know.

MANAGER: Is it how they look, how they smell?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: Or how – the feeling when you’re on it?

IVOR: Mmm…

MANAGER: Yeah? Because you do like making that movement, didn’t you? Yeah? So, look at all these places you’ve been to. Do you remember when you went on a steam train holiday with Scott?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: And every single day, what did you do?

IVOR: Up and down.

MANAGER Up and down the country.

IVOR: The country.

MANAGER: Train after train after train. Did you eat on the train?

IVOR: Yeah. 

MANAGER: What did you have?

IVOR: Meat pie.

MANAGER: A meat pie?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: You had a train and a meat pie.

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER: That was a bonus day, wasn’t it? OK. What else do you see on the train? Do you sometimes see babies?

IVOR: Babies, yeah.

MANAGER: What do you like about a baby? What do you like about a baby?

IVOR: Baby. Babies that are not too noisy.

MANAGER: As long as they’re not too noisy. I think most people would say that, Ive. You don’t mind babies as long as they’re-

IVOR: Quiet.

MANAGER: Sleep quiet. That’s right.

ALEX: I don’t think babies are going to find spaces. I think that’s what they’re doing. It’s too rocky. I don’t know. It’s quiet.

MANAGER: Yeah, it could be. No, you like rocking, Ive. Could be the same thing for a baby on a train.

IVOR: Baby.

MANAGER: Do you ever fall asleep on a train?

IVOR: No.

MANAGER: No. Do you look out the window?

IVOR: Yeah.

ALEX: See how many cows you find.

MANAGER: Yes. Yeah.

ALEX: Cow spotting.

MANAGER: Yeah. You’ve seen so many. Look at all them. What else do you want to say about trains?

IVOR: They’re all right.

MANAGER: They’re all right. Trains are all right.

MANAGER: Always having to live with somebody to help you. Would you have liked to have been on your own? Would you? Would you like it if staff weren’t about or would you like the staff being there?

IVOR: I don’t know.

MANAGER: You don’t know. I suppose it’s a hard thing to try- I’ll do a new one soon. Yeah.

ALEX: I think I feel like he’s settled here.

MANAGER: Yeah. What do you think about Dovedale?

IVOR: I don’t know.

MANAGER: And you can be honest.

IVOR:  Yeah.

MANAGER: (LAUGHS)

IVOR: (LAUGHS)

MANAGER: I’ll tell you what. What don’t you like about Dovedale?

IVOR: I can’t…

MANAGER: You don’t know? Is it maybe too noisy or…?

IVOR: No, it’s not very noisy now.

MANAGER: It’s not very noisy now. Yes, you’ve got lots of things up there, darling.

ALEX: How did you hear about the project?

IVOR: Hmm, I don’t…

MANAGER: We were contacted by e-mail, weren’t we? And then we had a meeting with Matthew and Rosie.

IVOR: Yeah.

ALEX: What are you looking forward about today?

MANAGER: What are you looking forward to today, Ive?

IVOR: My interview.

MANAGER: What else? Are you going out today?

IVOR: Yeah.

MANAGER:  Where are you going?

IVOR: Go to the cafe.

MANAGER: You go [to the] cafe?

IVOR: Yeah.