Welcome to Listen To Older Voices, a program
produced by Rob Greaves for Uniting Melba and podcast through the
Toorak Times and Tagg.Listen To Older Voices presents the stories, views and opinions of our older citizens. It is predominantly in a life & times format, with interviewees reflecting upon their lives from earliest memories. An underlying principle of the program is to promote the concept of positive ageing, reinforcing the principle that older people have & continue to make a valuable contribution to both their local & wider community.
This is the first part of a 3-part program featuring the Life and Times story of Shirley Howard. Born in 1951, Shirley has a remarkable story to tell and as she shares it with us we cannot help but to be touched by her bravery and to admire her for sharing it with us. Certainly it reminds us of some of the not so good social norms and practices that were still in place in the early 1960’s and, the part of her story that relates to this matter is still topical today as we still, as a society, try to deal with the issue of assaults on women.
Shirley’s story is rich in its breadth and in this, part 1 of her story, we start from her earliest recollections and follow her story through her childhood to her teens. It was during her teens when she was sexually assaulted by a boy she knew and gave birth, only to be forced by social circumstances if the day, to give the baby up. With no support from her family, in particular her mother, they were indeed desperate times for her. Yet, out of the blue she meets Tex, a young career soldier and becomes engaged and suddenly life begins to look up.
Click on the radio to hear Shirley Howard – Part 1
Previous LTOV Programs can be accessed clicking on this icon –
[Listen To Older Voices receives funding from the Commonwealth Government through the Commonwealth Home Support Program Program]
