Gareth St John Thomas

My Grandfather was Gilbert Thomas the British poet, my father David St John Thomas the publisher, non -fiction writer and railway author my sister is Alyss Thomas the journalling author expert and my son is Nathan Thomas the travel writer and publisher. So, words are the family currency and I am fortunate to have such a heritage.

So many great stories are never recorded or captured indeed thinking about and then not producing a family member’s history is a very common thing. Which is why I wrote FINDING TRUE CONNECTIONS it’s a proven straight forward framework which when followed will allow anyone to really capture the essence of a family member’s stories beliefs and experiences. Everyone has a story and one of the things this process does is to reach back as far as possible- so if you are recording a grandparent’s story their memory of their grandparents can bring to life how your family’s world was over a hundred years ago.

One of the things that people enjoy about following this process is that it gives a voice to people who are often not heard enough and by putting someone’s life into a coherent story they found it a validating and affirming process. They can look back upon their life with some pride and pleasure. Giving them the gift of your time to make this happen can be life changing.

My children’s book GRANDPA’S NOISES is easy fun- granddads can be strange creatures to little children but they always mean well and here the child explains just what all, or most, of those noises he makes means. Devon based Colin Rowe’s illustrations are captivating for all ages. If you have a grandchild in your family, I challenge you to get them to read it to a granddad. It creates good natured warm family hilarity and helps cement that great relationship that kids can have with grandparents.