We know the big family events, but not what an ordinary day felt like when Grandma was young.
Care & connection · PRACTICAL LEARNING
Our Family Stories: Memories That Shape Us
A six-week family programme to exchange memories, discover everyday stories and keep a small collection in your own way. Preparation, four weekly challenges and a wrap-up week. £36 for 2–15 named learners, including at least one adult, together or across countries.
Who is this for?
For relatives, chosen family and trusted friends who want to share welcome stories: two siblings, cousins, several generations or a larger family group. You may already be close or just getting to know each other. Younger people can join suitable activities through an adult; nobody must disclose sensitive history.
£36.00 · fixed total for 2–15 named learners, including at least one adult · one-time payment
You know the family names. Do you know the stories behind them?
An ordinary memory can reveal something new about someone you love. Share welcome stories, ask about everyday life and keep a small collection in your own way, whether nearby or across countries.
Useful things you can try
- Ask a question that invites a story rather than a date.
- Share a tradition or turning point people want to remember.
- Choose what to keep and get permission before sharing it.
Tools to take away: One ordinary-day story · People and places memory card · Our keepsake and permission checklist.
Does this sound familiar?
Our children know names in photographs but little about the people, places and traditions behind them.
We have messages and memories scattered across phones, and want to keep a few with permission.
These are a few starting points. Your relationships, goals and resources may look different. Choose the conversations and shared actions that people would welcome.
See how this programme can work for you ↓
Care & connectionThe stories you know. The stories you have never asked.What you can put into practice
- Agree what stories people welcome and how recordings or photographs may be shared.
- Ask open questions and listen without correcting, interrogating or forcing painful memories.
- Capture a few everyday stories in words, audio, pictures or another accessible form.
- Respect different recollections and distinguish remembered details from checked facts.
- Create a small family keepsake with permissions, clear labels and a practical backup.
How the course helps
Perhaps you have heard how a grandparent travelled to school, but never asked what they enjoyed along the way. Perhaps you want to know a sibling’s current life, not their whole childhood. This programme can hold both. Choose a modest aim: a handful of welcome memories, a recipe with its story or one ordinary experience from each person. A small collection is a real result. Use conversations, short voice notes, photographs, drawings or ordinary paper. Languages, family structures, memories and resources differ. No paid recording app, simultaneous call, ancestral research or finished family book is required.
Make it work in your setting
Use conversations, short voice notes, photographs, drawings or ordinary paper. Languages, family structures, memories and resources differ. No paid recording app, simultaneous call, ancestral research or finished family book is required. How to use our examples →
A situation you may recognise
- We know the big family events, but not what an ordinary day felt like when Grandma was young.
- Our children know names in photographs but little about the people, places and traditions behind them.
- We have messages and memories scattered across phones, and want to keep a few with permission.
Why this can be useful to give
One buyer pays £36 for a final list of 2–15 named learners, including at least one adult. Ages 13–17 need their own email and confirmed parent/guardian authority. Include yourself in the list if you want to learn. Agree participation before entering details; everyone gets their own instructions and shares the selected 42-day timetable. A six-week family programme to exchange memories, discover everyday stories and keep a small collection in your own way. Preparation, four weekly challenges and a wrap-up week. £36 for 2–15 named learners, including at least one adult, together or across countries.
What you’ll explore
01 · Week 1 · Preparation: choose the stories people want to share
A family story begins with an invitation, not a demand to explain everything. Agree your small aim, contact method and permission rules. Invite one light story that people can answer or pass.
02 · Week 2 · Challenge 1: ask about an ordinary day
The details people think are too ordinary often help us picture their life. Ask one everyday question. Keep one detail, with permission, and thank the person for sharing it.
03 · Week 3 · Challenge 2: people, places and turning points
A story can tell us what a place or person meant, without settling every fact about the family. Choose one person, place or turning point. Record the speaker’s own perspective and any sharing limits.
04 · Week 4 · Challenge 3: the things we learned and keep doing
A recipe, saying or skill can carry a story as well as a set of instructions. Choose one welcome tradition, object or skill and keep the story behind it. Invite an optional small activity people can adapt.
05 · Week 5 · Challenge 4: our lives now, and what we pass on
Family stories are still being made. The person you knew years ago has a life today. Share one present-day story and, if welcome, a short message for someone in the future.
06 · Week 6 · Wrap-up: gather, protect and keep sharing
Keep something small enough to use, and private enough for the people who trusted you. Gather a few permitted contributions, check their labels and agree where to keep them. Choose one optional way to continue sharing.
Tools you can use afterwards
Our storytelling agreement; One ordinary-day story; People and places memory card; A tradition and its story; Our lives now and a message to keep; Our keepsake and permission checklist. Download the sheets to keep, copy the headings onto paper, or simply reflect. Shared conversations use your own chosen methods; no personal worksheet upload is required.
A voluntary storytelling programme, not therapy, genealogy verification or a way to settle disputed family history. Ask before recording or sharing; people can skip, change their minds or keep a story private.