Tales from Portlaw Volume 7: 'The Life of Liam Lafferty'

By William Forde

I grew up on my mother’s stories. Although an Irish woman of small stature and imaginative mind, stories didn’t come any ‘taller’ than those tales told by my mother. They would stretch the bounds of one’s credulity beyond the realms of possibility, and yet, she always made me ‘want to believe them’. I have taken the germ of her fact and added a bit of my fiction with a dash of author licence.

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that part of my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there, part on my parent’s grave Patrick and Mary Forde and the remainder be placed at a spot on the Haworth Moor.

Apart from writing two musical plays between 2005 and 2009, I’d stopped writing for a number of years. It was only after I had met my wife Sheila that she encouraged me to write some more. So, I decided to write about the place of my birth and to release all future stories of mine in E-book format in a number of Omnibus publications entitled, ‘Tales from Portlaw.’

Portlaw is famous for perhaps having been a ‘model village’ long before similar village concepts like Saltaire in West Yorkshire or Rowntrees in York were established. Although its fortune as a village of importance has waned over the years and, particularly since the closure of its last major business, the Tannery, it nevertheless remains a potent force in the minds of all of us who were born there.

Although I was brought to England from Portlaw at the age of 5 years and have lived in England ever since, my heart has always remained in Portlaw; the village of my birth. As the eldest of seven children who was born to an Irish woman with the most imaginative of minds, I was brought up on my mother’s stories. Although a woman of small stature in her earlier days of marriage, stories didn’t come any taller or in more incredible form than those tales told by my mother. Often, they would stretch the bounds of one’s credulity beyond the realms of possibility, and yet, she always made me believe them, or perhaps it is more appropriate to say, ‘want to believe them’.

So after having been persuaded to return to writing, I decided to recount some of the stories told to me by my mother long ago. Being a person with my own imagination, I have taken the germ of her tale and elaborated it with the aid of 70 years of wisdom and a splash of literary licence to come up with the final result.

I have researched all of the background that provides the setting for these ‘Tales from Portlaw’, thereby enabling me to blend fact with fiction in the most acceptable of ways. I include long-established Portlaw family names in my stories, but with the sole exception of the landlady, Molly Rocket from the ‘Corn Mill Pub’ in Portlaw, any resemblance to anyone who ever lived or came from Portlaw in either name, likeness or character description is purely co-incidental. I hope that you enjoy.

This seventh volume of ‘Tales from Portlaw’ tells about the life and times of Liam Lafferty. It is a story involving being reared without the benefit of parents, a life of hard work and a marriage with one’s first love. The story also touches upon bereavement and its effects within the life of various family members. The tale is a story of hope for the future in the life of any good person.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Forde
• Release date: Sep 6, 2014
• ISBN: 9781310475092

William Forde

William Forde was born in Ireland and currently lives in Haworth, West Yorkshire with his wife Sheila. He is the father of five children and the author of over 60 published books and two musical plays. Approximately 20 of his books are suitable for the 7-11 year old readers while the remainder are suitable for young persons and adults. Since 2010, all of his new stories have been written for adults under his 'Tales from Portlaw' series of short stories. His website is www.fordefables.co.uk on which all his miscellaneous writings may be freely read. There are also a number of children's audio stories which can be freely heard.He is unique in the field of contemporary children's authors through the challenging emotional issues and story themes he addresses, preferring to focus upon those emotions that children and adults find most difficult to appropriately express.One of West Yorkshire's most popular children's authors, Between 1990 and 2002 his books were publicly read in over 2,000 Yorkshire school assemblies by over 800 famous names and celebrities from the realms of Royalty, Film, Stage, Screen, Politics, Church, Sport, etc. The late Princess Diana used to read his earlier books to her then young children, William and Harry and Nelson Mandela once telephoned him to praise an African story book he had written. Others who have supported his works have included three Princesses, three Prime Ministers, two Presidents and numerous Bishops of the realm. A former Chief Inspector of Schools for OFSTED described his writing to the press as 'High quality literature.' He has also written books which are suitable for adults along with a number of crossover books that are suitable for teenagers and adults.Forever at the forefront of change, at the age of 18 years, William became the youngest Youth Leader and Trade Union Shop Steward in Great Britain. In 1971, He founded Anger Management in Great Britain and freely gave his courses to the world. Within the next two years, Anger Management courses had mushroomed across the English-speaking world. During the mid-70's, he introduced Relaxation Training into H.M. Prisons and between 1970 and 1995, he worked in West Yorkshire as a Probation Officer specialising in Relaxation Training, Anger Management, Stress Management and Assertive Training Group Work.He retired early on the grounds of ill health in 1995 to further his writing career, which witnessed him working with the Minister of Youth and Culture in Jamaica to establish a trans-Atlantic pen-pal project between 32 primary schools in Falmouth, Jamaica and 32 primary schools in Yorkshire.William was awarded the MBE in the New Year's Honours List of 1995 for his services to West Yorkshire. He has never sought to materially profit from the publication of his books and writings and has allowed all profit from their sales (approx £200,000) to be given to charity. Since 2013, he was diagnosed with CLL; a terminal condition for which he is currently receiving treatment.In 2014, William had his very first 'strictly for adult' reader's novel puiblished called‘Rebecca’s Revenge'. This book was first written over twenty years ago and spans the period between the 1950s and the New Millennium. He initially refrained from having it published because of his ‘children’s author credentials and charity work’. He felt that it would have conflicted too adversely with the image which had taken a decade or more to establish with his audience and young person readership. Now, however as he approaches the final years of his life and cares less about his public image, besides no longer writing for children (only short stories for adults since 2010), he feels the time to be appropriate to publish this ‘strictly for adults only’ novel alongside the remainder of his work.In December 2016 he was diagnosed with skin cancer on his face and two weeks later he was diagnosed with High-grade Lymphoma (Richter’s Transformation from CLL). He was successfully treated during the first half of 2017 and is presently enjoying good health albeit with no effective immune system.

Book preview

Tales From Portlaw

Volume Seven

‘The Life of Liam Lafferty’

Copyright © 2014 William Forde

Published by William Forde at Smashwords

Revised: July 2016

Smashwords Edition License Notes

This eBook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This eBook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your enjoyment only, then please return to Smashwords.com or your favourite retailer and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

Table of Contents

Author’s Introduction

Author’s Foreword

Chapter One: ‘Liam Lafferty is born’

Chapter Two: 'The Baptism of Liam Lafferty'

Chapter Three: 'The early years of Liam Lafferty'

Chapter Four: 'Early Manhood'

Chapter Five: 'Ned's Secret Past'

Chapter Six: 'Courtship and Marriage'

Chapter Seven: 'Liam and Trish marry'

Chapter Eight: 'Farley meets Ned'

Chapter Nine: 'Ned and Farley'

Chapter Ten: 'Tragedy hits the family'

Chapter Eleven: 'The future is brighter'

Author’s Background

Other Books by this Author

Connect with William Forde

Author's Foreword

I grew up on my mother’s stories. Although an Irish woman of small stature and imaginative mind, stories didn’t come any ‘taller’ than those tales told by my mother. They would stretch the bounds of one’s credulity beyond the realms of possibility, and yet, she always made me ‘want to believe them’.

I was born in Portlaw and when my time comes to lie at the other side of the green sod, it is my wish that one third my ashes shall be placed upon my grandparents' grave, William and Mary Fanning, along with my uncles, Willie Fanning and Johnnie Fanning who are also buried there. One third will be placed on my parent's grave, Paddy and Maureen Forde and the remainder of my ashes placed at a spot on the Haworth Moor, which holds significance for me and my wife Sheila.

Although small in size and population, Portlaw is famous for having been a ‘model village’ long before similar village concepts like Saltaire in West Yorkshire or Rowntrees in York were established. Although its fortune as a village of importance has waned over the years, and particularly since the closure of its last major business, the Tannery, it nevertheless remains a potent force in the minds of all of us who were born there.

I'd had dozens of books published between 1990 and 2005, at which time I had initially decided to hang up my pen. My wife Sheila however persuaded me to resume my writing of stories. I had always wanted to write short stories, so after having been persuaded to return to writing, I decided to recount some of the stories told to me by my mother long ago. Being a person with my own imagination, I have taken the germ of her tale and elaborated it with the aid of 70 years of wisdom and a splash of literary licence to come up with the final result.

'The Life of Liam Lafferty' will be my seventh story in the 'Tales from Portlaw' series of publications. It is a story about the overcoming of adversity allied to the reality of receiving the news that one has a terminal illness, information that I received in 2013.

I have researched all the background that provides the setting for these 'Tales from Portlaw', thereby enabling me to blend fact with fiction in the most acceptable of ways. I include long-established Portlaw family names in my stories, but with the sole exception of the landlady, Molly Rocket from the Cotton Mill Pub in Portlaw, any resemblance to anyone who ever lived or came from Portlaw in either name, likeness or character description is purely co-incidental. I hope that you’ll enjoythe story.

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Chapter One: ‘Liam Lafferty is born’

The birth of Liam Lafferty in Portlaw, County Waterford in the year of 1942 got the tongues of the townsfolk wagging and it kept them wagging for many years thereafter. What was unusual wasn’t that Liam had been born with two heads or suffered some rare and peculiar disorder which the medics were unable to name, but the mere fact that he had been born at all! He had entered this world after having been born outdoors on the coldest of November nights and had somehow survived the treacherous climate.

The newly-born child was found near the Presbytery steps of 'St Patrick’s Catholic Church' at the top of the hill. The temperature was minus five degrees that night of his birth; it was bitter cold and had started to snow heavily. Indeed, the child was so cold that its skin was rapidly turning blue. It appeared deadly silent as it lay there motionless, having been stuffed inside an old pipe that the mother's rigid hand still grasped. All that the infant had for protection was the outer plastic coating of the pipe around its tiny body. Inside its miniature hand had been placed a small religious patch.

No more than a foot away, lay the corpse of the infant's mother, 14-year-old Lucy Lafferty. Lucy had originally been born less than six miles away, but had become a stranger to these parts. She hadn't been seen in Portlaw or Kilbunny for the past seven years.

Lucy had arrived in Portlaw extremely tired from her long day's walk. Initially she had planned to walk on to her aunt's house in Kilbunny, but being on the verge of giving birth, she decided to walk down William Street, Portlaw, across the bridge and up the steep hill towards the Catholic Church and the Presbytery. There was nobody in Portlaw to whom she felt she could turn for help and assistance and her only relative lived miles away. So being Catholic, albeit lapsed, Lucy decided to make her way to the one person she knew wouldn't turn her away; the parish priest. She would clearly have preferred to throw herself upon her Aunt Hetti's compassion before appealing to the charity of the Catholic Church had circumstances allowed, but realised that she had little time left in which to find some shelter. Her birth pains were increasing in frequency now and the time to give birth fast approached.

Lucy didn't think that she'd have the strength to manage it, especially as the fallen snow became thicker, but eventually Lucy staggered her way to the Presbytery door at the back of the church building and pulled on the cord that rang the door bell. As she stood waiting for the priest to open the door and grant her entry, she propped herself up against the wall for support. Then, her birth pains became more frequent and she collapsed to the ground in sheer exhaustion.

Five minutes later, the infant had been born. Lucy's last breaths of life had been used to push down and deliver the infant onto the sheet of snow.

The Presbytery door had remained unopened throughout. Lucy Lafferty lay dead! Before the infant's mother had died however, she'd managed to grab hold of a piece of old plastic pipe nearby and insert the infant inside the tube for some protection from the cold elements. As she lay there dying with one outstretched hand towards her child, the soft white snow beneath her fragile corpse was being soaked in crimson with a massive loss of blood seeping its way into its white, earthly sponge. Lucy used her dying moments in one final act; to scratch a few letters in the snow before she breathed her last. Although written with the irregular hand of a dying person, the letters spelled out, 'Liam'; the name of a grandfather she had never met, but whom her Aunt Hetti had often spoken of with deep affection.

Seconds later, a prowling fox in search of food approached the infant bundle in the snow. The fox could smell the human blood nearby and started to nudge the plastic bundle with its nose as it anticipated fresh meat to eat. Suddenly the fox's movement of the circular pipe that held the child, miraculously roused it and the infant let out its first cry. Before the fox could regain its senses, seize the plastic pipe in its mouth and make off with its human supper, a light illuminated the area immediately outside