Letters From The Islands
To preserve family history, I was asked by a client to digitise typed letters sent during the years she and her husband lived in the Outer Hebrides. My client had lived there for over 20 years so as you can imagine there was a lot of information. She and her husband had worked really hard during their time on the Isle of Harris, had become thoroughly involved in the community and had many adventures.
We Find Co-incidences In Our Past
It was such a joy to meet up with this lovely lady and compare notes from my own one-time visit to the Isle of Harris. It transpired we may have both been on the island at a similar time.
Many memoirs require photographs adding to the record and this was the same in this instance. There were also a few handwritten years that needed typing up in order to complete the history.
A Precious Family History
At our meeting, the client explained to me exactly what she wanted and handed over her very precious collection. She explained that the photographs were to be in a particular order with captions adjacent to them so that they made sense to the readers. Conveniently she had written a number on the back of each photo. To save time I recorded her explaining the caption for each picture which I was able to transcribe later. The photographs were scanned and these are now a “Photo Album” at the back of the book.
Despite a few Covid- related lockdowns in two different countries, (the lady was in Shropshire and I in North East Wales), a couple of weeks later we were able to meet again to provide the client with the first draft of her book and return her original copies and photographs.
Review Of The Story Family History And Proofreading
It didn’t take long before the writer had proofread her book and we met again to go through some final amendments. Very kindly my client sat with me for over 2 hours as we went through every single change. Unsure of some name spellings I rendered them consistently throughout. This means I can quickly edit that at the end. This proved very useful.
My client was patient once more as I took everything back to my office and finished tidying up the document. Here I was able to add page numbers and a contents page and amend headings.
A Very Happy Client
The completed book was transformed into a pdf document and sent to a local printer with the final copies, for family and close friends only, to be distributed as presents. This is the wonderful thank you letter from my client. It is printed with her permission.
Dear Liz,
I am indebted to you for undertaking all my work. To sort out my bits of paper and present the content in a coherent fashion was quite remarkable. I am particularly pleased to have the illustrations included.
I too, really enjoyed our meetings. I was conscious of the time constraints and would have liked to have got to know you a little better. However thanks to GW discovering your typing services, I have benefitted enormously. That was the catalyst to get me off the starting block.
It was certainly a huge pleasure to work together – a bigger undertaking than I realised – and you were so helpful in every way.
May I express my very real appreciation for all that you did.
GSF Oswestry, Shropshire
Not only did the client benefit, I enjoyed enormously her company and experience. I count it a privilege to have read the history she has saved for her family.
Can I Help You?
Do you have a family or personal history to preserve? Before more time passes, call or text to 07974 701526 to email me at liz@lizthewhiz.co.uk
LizTheWhiz.co.uk is established in providing well-presented documents in Microsoft Word and pdf files. See what other typing services I provide.