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Author's Foreword
In areas of educational, social and moral development, the power of ‘story-telling’ remains unsurpassed. It is an important avenue of effective communication and learning between parent and child, teacher and pupil.
‘Story-telling’ stimulates the imaginative and creative processes of the mind and body and makes more things possible than would otherwise be achieved without it.
The ten stories in ‘Everyone and Everything’ were written for the 5-9-year-old reader in 1990.The aim was threefold:
First, I wanted to raise money for the 1990 Children in Need Appeal in a way that would be educational, enjoyable and cement family unions closer. We eventually raised close to £10,000 for ‘Children in Need’.
Second, I wanted to address specific issues that affected the lives of children every day of the year within a multicultural society and to make the children feel ‘special’ during the process.
Third, I wanted all of the stories I wrote to embrace and include the basic principles of Relaxation Training methods and Anger Management aspects of behaviour. As the original founder of ‘Anger Management’ courses in Great Britain during the early 70s and a leading exponent and instructor of Relaxation Training since the age of 22 years, I was suitably equipped to write about those aspects of behaviour.
I chose to promote this through a community project involving the services and time of thousands of people, both adults and children within their homes and their schools. I also used the voluntary services of local and national celebrities as ‘Story tellers’ to assemblies of school children twice daily, Monday to Friday throughout the entire month of November 1990. The entire project was carried out and time-limited within November, 1990.
‘Everyone and Everything’ was my very first published children’s book and proved so popular with children, class-room teachers and school heads that approximately 4,000 copies were sold within the Kirklees Community during November, 1990. This project was made possible through the valuable resources donated by my then employers, ‘The West Yorkshire Probation Service’ and the printing materials, time and processes donated by Martin Wise of ‘MG Enthusiast Publishers’, Mirfield, West Yorkshire. All illustrations for the book were freely provided by Sarah Cooper and the original typesetting was provided by Anthony Barnard.
‘Everyone and Everything’ went on to prove so popular with heads of schools in subsequent years, not only because of the issues the stories raised, but because of their length and language used. They were easy to read and be read to, and for busy head teachers, the stories could be used ideally within a ten-minute morning-assembly slot.
I offer this book freely as an e-book and would advise the school teachers and head teachers of our Primary School Children to consider the merits of reintroducing some of the stories therein to their future school assemblies. I would also ask any downloader of this book who enjoys its content, to promote its readership base and to make a small donation to the Children in Need Appeal next November.
William Forde 22nd May, 2012
The ‘Happy Garden’
(A story about feeling Special and Relaxed)
It is a warm day and you are playing in a ‘Happy Garden’.
You decide to have a little rest, so you sit down under the tree and close your eyes. Close your eyes now!
The tree you are under is a magic tree and whoever sits beneath its branches becomes ‘Very Happy’ and feels ‘Very Relaxed’.
Up above the sun and wind are having a nice walk around the sky. They are laughing and talking together about special things.
Every time the sun laughs, his laugh floats down to the ‘Happy Garden’ and makes everything in the garden warm, including you.
Every time the wind smiles, she makes a nice breeze in the ‘Happy Garden’ and you begin to breathe very calmly.
Both the sun and wind look down as they see you sitting beneath the magic tree. Because you have your eyes closed, they think you are asleep. They don't know you are not asleep and that you are simply having a little rest.
The sun is feeling ‘Very Happy’ today and very friendly, so he decides to shake hands with you. This makes your hand feel nice and warm. He then decides to kiss you on the face. All at once your face begins to glow and it becomes a ‘smiley face’.
The wind decides to whisper a special secret in your ear. She thinks you will not hear it because you are asleep, but you are not asleep and you do hear it.
Listen very carefully to the wind’s secret message. The wind says:
"You are a very special person."
"Your mummy and daddy are special people."
"Your friends and family are special people."
"Your neighbours are special people."
"Your classmates and teachers are special people."
"The world is a special place."
"We should all love each other and look after our special world."
The sun and wind decide to leave you and to continue their walk around the sky.
You liked being ‘special.’ It's a nice feeling. So you decide that the next time you want to feel ‘special’ you will put on smiley face and think about what the wind whispered in your ear when you were sitting with your eyes closed under the magic tree in the ‘Happy Garden’.
Now count up to 10 out loud and when you get to 10, open your eyes, put on a smiley face and feel happy.