Design concept, not the live site

Capture & KeepLife stories, written by Amanda

Life stories, from conversations

Every family has a box like this. There is a life story inside it.

Amanda Yaffe-Parker records relaxed conversations with somebody about their life, and writes them into a life story the family keeps, in their own voice. She also works from what is already in the box: recordings, photographs, letters, half-finished journals.

Amanda Yaffe-Parker does every conversation and writes every story herself. Samaritans-trained listener, Colchester.

Lives within living memory, told by the people who lived them. This is not family-tree research.

Start a conversationHow it works

From £250. Nothing happens until you are sure.

Open on the tableSix things, drawn for this page

Lift something out. It turns over to show the question it opens.Every object is drawn for this page, not anybody's belongings.
All six as a list

  1. CK/01Drawn

    A wage packet

    Question 28 of the hundred

    What was your first job, and what did it pay?

    “I started on the factory floor at sixteen, sweeping metal shavings for four pounds a week,”

  2. CK/02Drawn

    A carriage clock

    Question 39 of the hundred

    When did you stop, and how did that feel?

    “and thirty-eight years later they gave me a clock and a cup of tea in the same building.”

  3. CK/03Drawn

    A wallet of prints

    Question 94 of the hundred

    Where did that photograph on the wall get taken, and who is in it?

    “In between there was a wife, three children,”

  4. CK/04Drawn

    A journal, started and stopped

    Question 83 of the hundred

    Have you ever changed your mind about something big?

    “a strike I still have opinions about,”

  5. CK/05Drawn

    A bundle of letters

    Question 87 of the hundred

    Who has been the best friend of your life?

    “and more good men than bad ones.”

  6. CK/06Drawn

    A cassette

    Question 100 of the hundred

    Is there anything you would like to say, while this is recording?

    “Nobody had ever asked me to say any of that out loud before, let alone write it down.”

“Nearly every person I speak to begins by telling me that there is nothing to tell. Not one of them has been right yet.”

Amanda

The story inside

Six things in a tin. One passage.

Each thing you lift out of the tin brings a line of the writing into focus. The writing is the part nobody can show you in a photograph, so here is a piece of it.

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.

From a sample passage, written to show the style. Not a real client. Read all three passages

How it works

Three things come out of the box.

There is no interview to prepare for. Amanda handles the whole process, gently, from the first phone call to the moment it's yours to keep.

  1. First out01

    We talk

    Amanda spends time with you over 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.

    Recorded by Amanda herself

  2. Then02

    Amanda writes

    She shapes those conversations into a properly written life story, keeping the person's own voice throughout.

    You see a full draft first

  3. Last out03

    Your book is made

    The finished story becomes exactly what you want to keep: a professionally produced hardback, the original recordings, or a digital copy.

    The shape is agreed on the first call

See how it works, in full

Where to start

Which of these is you?

Most people come to this for one of three reasons. Capture & Keep is a UK life-story service and a practical resource, so there is a drawer for doing it yourself too.

A gift

For an occasion already circled

  • His 80th is in a few weeks
  • Their ruby or golden anniversary
  • Retiring after a working life
  • A new grandchild, and a story for them to grow into
See gift options
Still time

Because something has changed

  • A parent or grandparent, ageing now
  • A diagnosis has changed things
  • Memory beginning to change
  • They are moving into care
See what is possible
After

Piecing it together from what is left

  • Letters, photos and fragments, woven into one book
  • What family and friends remember, gathered properly
  • A book to mark the anniversary of a loss
  • The questions you wish you had asked
See how this can still work
Free

The rest of the site is the same work, given away. The questions and guides are free, and they are the same ones Amanda uses. Start with the questions

The Life StoryFrom £250The exact price depends on how many conversations, agreed on a call.

What you end up with

A real book, made properly.

Not a printout in a ring binder. Something that sits on a shelf for fifty years and gets handed down.

What you end up with is worked out with you: a hardback, a digital copy, the edited recordings so you keep the voice as well as the words, extra copies for the family. Amanda agrees the shape on the first call and the price follows from it.

Nothing happens until you are sure. You see a full draft before anything is printed. About the Life Story

  • BespokePriced on a callFor a project that needs something beyond the usual shape.

  • Gift voucherArranged with AmandaNo fixed price. Tell Amanda what you have in mind.

  • The Memory Kit Coming soon£30Questions to go through together in your own time. Not on sale yet.

  • Extra copiesFrom £95 eachWhenever the family wants them.

Amanda Yaffe-Parker
Amanda Yaffe-Parker, Colchester
Her notebook Her recorder

The person you deal with

Somebody who knows how to listen, and how to write it down.

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 where it does, towards conversations with older relatives and memories that do not arrive neatly or in order.

  • StudiedPsychology
  • TrainedSamaritans listener
  • VolunteeredBefriender to older men and women
  • TrainingLevel 4 Accredited Counselling training
  • 15 yearsManaging projects in advertising and marketing agencies
Meet Amanda

The lid goes back on. The story stays inside.

Start a conversation

Let's keep their story, together.

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.

Start a conversationTalk to Amanda