An easy way to begin a timeline

Purchase a small notebook and, starting with the first page, write each year of your life on the top of each page, e.g. 1950 – page 1, 1951 – page 2, 1953 – page 3.

Once you have done this, then sit down and think about each year, the things you can associate with each year e.g. 1932 your sister Janet born on 23^rd April; Feb 6^th 1935 – you started day school at St Dominic’s School.

As you continue with the notebook, you will find that there are some spaces or blanks for some year or other. These years are the ones you need to spend some time researching with other family members e.g. “Why can’t I remember much about Mum during 1932?” Your aunt may tell you that your mother was ill during her pregnancy and following the birth of your sister, and that both sets of grandparents invited you to stay with them for prolonged periods of time.

Once your timeline notebook is almost complete, look at it again, along with the information from the mathematical formula, and insert the extra details in the relevant pages. Using different coloured highlighters, pick out recurring themes e.g. times of Nan’s influence on your life, how your decision to train for nursing resulted in travelling to ???, meeting XX, or moving to YY.

Keep Notes

Try to be as honest as you can when considering the decisions you made – the time you chose the path less travelled and what resulted, the mistakes you made when advised to head in the other direction. Your early mistakes can help younger family members when they are faced with a similar life dilemma.

Keeping the notebook with you will also enable you to jot down other associated details as they percolate up into your conscious mind – if you find yourself humming a long forgotten tune, scribble the name down on the relevant page. Very often, as you ask yourself the Who, Why, Where, How, When questions associated with that tune, the names, faces, locations and other details will filter through to give you a more complete picture.

Annie’s Tip – My notebooks are full of various memory aids – concert tickets, a button or scrap of fabric, book titles, quotations, poems, a feather, a tiny shell or an old newspaper cutting. Once I have the clue to the information I seek, I write it in my essential notebook, and I suggest you do the same.