My Name is Norrms, and i have dementia, but before i had dementia, do you know who i was or what i have done ?? if not, why not ??
When i left school my first job was as a painter and decorator but i was scared of heights so that didnt last long!!
I applied for the RAF but was turned down because of childhood heart problems
I worked in Cordon Bleu, Asda, and the Cotton mill as a Mule Piecer (this is when i was made to grow up, though some still say i haven’t yet Ha ha)
I drove a Four and a half ton Lansing Bagnall Fork lift truck for year`s in the good inwards dept of Automotive products.
I once woke up in a bedsit after being made redundant as was so fed up of being out of work and skint i packed a knapsack, a tent and a few things on a Tuesday morning and hitchhiked it to Dover, there i caught a ferry to France,72 hours later i was in Bordeaux, on my own, and lived there for a year !! i picked cherries, grapes and worked in the kitchen of various restaurants.
I came back and there was still no work so i went to live in Dublin and Country Clare for a year to work on farms and in pubs
Back on English soil, after meeting my angel Elaine, i did various temping jobs, as this always paid but a few bills and put bread on the table as they say, this including the wonderful jobs of packing frozen burger buns, packing pens in pencil cases, sorting out soiled sheets from the operating theaters in our local hospital and even spending seven days, sat on a box in a warehouse cutting down the whiskers of Lion king Toys because EU rules stated they were too long !! I KID YOU NOT !! Ha Ha
Ive worked in a paint factory, a paper mill, came down to Devon and filled shelves, collected hotel laundry before finally working at Focus Do it all and becoming a manager, something i am very proud of even today as i come from very humble beginnings and poor education.
My point is my friends, Dementia has only played a very small part in my life , as it does in anybody’s life, but the lives they have led before are wondrous!!! exciting !! Sometimes dangerous!! and sometimes downright SILLY !! But yet they have been lived !! these are not just stories that need to be told, but also need to be listened to and remembered!!
Please all, the next time you speak and sit with somebody who has this awful disease, ASK them what it was like growing up, and i can assure you, no matter how well you think you know them, they will always be able to tell you that little something you didnt know before !!!
Much love, Norrms Mc Namara
Diagnosed with dementia aged 50, now aged 58
When i left school my first job was as a painter and decorator but i was scared of heights so that didnt last long!!
I applied for the RAF but was turned down because of childhood heart problems
I worked in Cordon Bleu, Asda, and the Cotton mill as a Mule Piecer (this is when i was made to grow up, though some still say i haven’t yet Ha ha)
I drove a Four and a half ton Lansing Bagnall Fork lift truck for year`s in the good inwards dept of Automotive products.
I once woke up in a bedsit after being made redundant as was so fed up of being out of work and skint i packed a knapsack, a tent and a few things on a Tuesday morning and hitchhiked it to Dover, there i caught a ferry to France,72 hours later i was in Bordeaux, on my own, and lived there for a year !! i picked cherries, grapes and worked in the kitchen of various restaurants.
I came back and there was still no work so i went to live in Dublin and Country Clare for a year to work on farms and in pubs
Back on English soil, after meeting my angel Elaine, i did various temping jobs, as this always paid but a few bills and put bread on the table as they say, this including the wonderful jobs of packing frozen burger buns, packing pens in pencil cases, sorting out soiled sheets from the operating theaters in our local hospital and even spending seven days, sat on a box in a warehouse cutting down the whiskers of Lion king Toys because EU rules stated they were too long !! I KID YOU NOT !! Ha Ha
Ive worked in a paint factory, a paper mill, came down to Devon and filled shelves, collected hotel laundry before finally working at Focus Do it all and becoming a manager, something i am very proud of even today as i come from very humble beginnings and poor education.
My point is my friends, Dementia has only played a very small part in my life , as it does in anybody’s life, but the lives they have led before are wondrous!!! exciting !! Sometimes dangerous!! and sometimes downright SILLY !! But yet they have been lived !! these are not just stories that need to be told, but also need to be listened to and remembered!!
Please all, the next time you speak and sit with somebody who has this awful disease, ASK them what it was like growing up, and i can assure you, no matter how well you think you know them, they will always be able to tell you that little something you didnt know before !!!
Much love, Norrms Mc Namara
Diagnosed with dementia aged 50, now aged 58