Playing My Many Parts: Volume One

The title of my memoirs is taken from Shakespeare’s “As You Like It”. Jaques muses, “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances and one man in his time plays many parts. His acts being seven ages.” I have rewritten the rest of this speech to reflect my own life, and the memoirs relate the details of the many parts I have played and the other characters on my stage. It was my son, Graham, who urged me to write my memoirs. He got interested in family history when he read his Great Aunt Mary’s memoirs, which I typed for her. He remembered her saying that she regretted not asking why the Yorkshire Ryders chose Wednesbury, Staffordshire, to relocate to. When he found out that I had gone to Rhodesia, not to marry his father - but another man – he knew he had to ask “why?” Volume One covers the years 1930 - 1977, and is printed in black and white. I have included many photographs to illustrate and add interest to the text.