Design concept, not the live site
Life stories, in their own words
Amanda Yaffe-Parker sits down with somebody for a series of relaxed, recorded conversations about their life, and writes them into a life story the family keeps, in that person’s own voice.
Lives within living memory. Not family-tree or ancestry research.
From £250. Nothing happens until you are sure.
The life of
Somebody you love
in their own words
Felixstowe, 1952
Frontispiece. Engraved for this concept.
The life of
Somebody you love
in their own words
Set down from conversations with
Amanda Yaffe-Parker
Felixstowe, 1952, and everything after
The words in this book are their own, set down from recorded conversations and read in full draft by the family before anything was printed.
A design sketch for Capture & Keep. Not a real book, and not a client.
Illustrative chapters, a design demonstration.
Chapter ii
I started on the factory floor at sixteen, sweeping metal shavings for four pounds a week, and thirty-eight years later they gave me a clock and a cup of tea in the same building.
23 · sample passage, not a client
Set in Baskervville and EB Garamond. Engravings cut for this concept. Bound in kept green cloth, with endpapers in the manner of 1950s furnishing fabric, and a ribbon to keep the place.
The cover. Clothbound, blocked in foil.
A sketch of one possible finished book, drawn for this concept. The name, year and place are illustrative, not a client. What you end up with, a hardback, a digital copy, the recordings, is agreed with Amanda on the first call.
Capture & Keep is a UK life-story service and a practical resource, run by Amanda Yaffe-Parker. She is based in Colchester in Essex and works with people and families across the UK.
Amanda can do the whole thing with you: relaxed, recorded conversations about somebody’s life, written up properly into a story the family keeps. She also works from what a family already has, the recordings, photographs, letters and half-finished journals sitting in drawers.
The rest of this site is the same work, given away. Questions to ask, guides to recording and keeping, and practical advice for anybody doing it themselves.
Amanda studied psychology, trained as a Samaritans listener and spent years as a volunteer befriender to older men and women. That is why this leans towards conversations with older relatives, and memories that do not arrive neatly or in order.
Within living memory · Told in conversation · Not family-tree research
Amanda handles the whole process, gently, from the first phone call to the moment it is yours to keep.
Tell Amanda a little about who the story is for. The first conversation is about whether this feels right at all. Nothing gets recorded until they have agreed to it.
A series of relaxed, recorded conversations, at their pace and in their own chair. Nothing has to be ready in advance, and the things that come back a week later go in too.
She shapes those conversations into a properly written life story, keeping the person’s own voice throughout. You see a full draft before anything is printed.
A professionally produced hardback, the original recordings, or a digital copy. The shape is agreed with you on the first call.
i
for an occasion already circled
A landmark birthday, an anniversary, a retirement after forty years, or a grandchild who has just arrived.
ii
because something has changed
A parent growing more frail, a diagnosis that has shortened the timeline, or memory beginning to fade.
iii
piecing it together from what is left
For the story that was not written down in time, built from letters, photographs and the people who remember them.
Want to tell your own story instead, in your own words? This is for you too. Your own story.
Or do it all yourself. The questions and guides are free, and they are the same ones Amanda uses. Start with the questions.
Plenty of families do this themselves, and they should. Here is a page from the index of the hundred questions. Choose an entry to turn to it. The numbers are the real question numbers.
Question no. 4
What did it smell like on a Sunday?
From 100 questions to ask your parents. All hundred are free, and none of them needs Amanda.
Chapter ii
I started on the factory floor at sixteen, sweeping metal shavings for four pounds a week, and thirty-eight years later they gave me a clock and a cup of tea in the same building. In between there was a wife, three children, a strike I still have opinions about, and more good men than bad ones. Nobody had ever asked me to say any of that out loud before, let alone write it down.
Written to show the style. Not a real client. The chapter title is illustrative. Read all three passages.
You see a full draft before anything is printed.
What you end up with is worked out with you. A hardback, a digital copy, the edited recordings, extra copies for the family: Amanda agrees the shape on the first call, and the price follows from it.
Not a printout in a ring binder. Something that sits on a shelf for fifty years and gets handed down.
In this sketch the endpapers change with the year you set in the book above: four patterns drawn for this concept, after the furnishing fabrics of each decade. The real finish is agreed with Amanda.
“Nearly every person I speak to begins by telling me that there is nothing to tell. Not one of them has been right yet.”
I have spent fifteen years in some of the UK’s top advertising and marketing agencies, managing projects for big corporate clients. But the thing I have been most passionate about throughout my career has always been the same: people’s stories, and how to tell them well.
I studied psychology early on, and that fascination with what makes people who they are led me to train as a Samaritans listener. I spent years as a voluntary befriender to elderly men and women, many of whose stories have stayed with me ever since.
As a busy mum myself, I know how precious family time is, and how daunting a project like this can feel. So my promise is simple: a professionally managed process, and a genuinely warm, patient pair of hands for the person who matters most.
Amanda conducts every conversation herself, from the first call to the finished book, in their own voice. The exact price depends on how many conversations the story needs, agreed on a call.
For a project that needs something beyond the usual shape.
No fixed voucher price. Arranged directly with Amanda, for any day already circled.
For the rest of the family, whenever they want them.
Answer a set of questions together, then send the recording to Amanda. Not yet on sale.
Nothing happens until you are sure. Nothing can be bought on this website. Everything starts with a message to Amanda.
Most families share the cost between them, so do say how many of you there are.
Talk to AmandaNothing gets recorded until they have agreed to it. The first conversation is about whether this feels right at all, and if they would rather there were no recorder in the room for it, there will not be. Most people who are reluctant at the start are glad of it later on.
The Memory Kit is built for exactly this, but it is not quite ready yet. If time is genuinely short, please just message Amanda directly.
They stay between Amanda and you, and nothing is shared beyond what goes into the book. Whether the edited recordings come to you as well is something you agree with her at the start.
Start a conversation
Tell Amanda a little about who the story is for. There is no obligation, no pressure, and no salesperson at the end of it. Only her.
If time is short, message Amanda on WhatsApp. She will reply as soon as she can.
Colophon. This concept is set in Baskervville, a revival of John Baskerville’s types, with EB Garamond for reading. The engravings were cut for it, in the manner of the English wood engravers of the 1930s to 1950s.
