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    Maw
    Maw
    Maw
    Ebook148 pages1 hour

    Maw

    By William Forde

    ()

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    About this ebook

    When good people fail to stand up for what they believe to be right, bad behaviour is provided with a golden opportunity to triumph! Into such environments, bullying is born and permitted to flourish.

    The silent observer who declines to challenge the bully's behaviour – the reluctant witness who refuses to testify – anyone who fails to stand alongside the victim, becomes the bully's accomplice! Bullies are cowardly people and they need silent accomplices to observe their dominance over their victim. They never walk alone.

    Bullies feed upon the fear of their victims. They feel big when you let them make you feel small. Their aim is to elevate their own stature in the eyes of others by putting you down. They hate resistance and they rarely try to victimise anyone who they believe will fight back. Being prepared to stand up to a bully is often enough to prevent the bully putting you down!

    There are three types of people involved in the process of 'bullying'. There is the bully, the person being bullied and the people observing the bullying. Wherever bullying continues to exist, all three types remain victims of their role.

    Many fail to understand that almost all bullies have, at sometime, in their own lives been the victim of bullying and they are attempting to replicate the immense feeling of 'power' that dominating the victim brings to the bully.

    Power carries with it the responsibility to ensure that no individual experiences the indignity of being rendered powerless. It was this concept and the inspiration of my son, William, which led me to write Maw. The name 'Maw' was also a name of endearment that all of the Forde family gave to my dear mother when she lived, it being an abbreviation of her name Maureen.

    This story was first published in 1994. It was due to be read to the pupils of 'R. M. Grylls Middle School', Hightown, Liversedge, West Yorkshire by the late Roy Castle. Due to his illness before he died, the legendary, international footballer, John Charles read in Roy's stead, and the television magician, Paul Daniels kindly recorded an abridged version of the book.

    The story of 'Maw' is suitable for any reader over 8 years. It is written in the style of the 1950s when the sport of boxing and football tended to dominate the world of growing boys and some girls. Because its story theme focuses on the sport of boxing and football, some girls may not feel it to be suitable for them.

    Maw is born exceptionally small and enters secondary school life to face the school bully. He confronts the bully and challenges him to a boxing match. On the very start of his fourteenth year of life, Maw makes a wish upon a shooting star and from that moment, his life changes. He awakes with super human powers, but quickly learns that with all power comes a responsibility to discharge such power humanely. Later, the school loses its striker from the football team at the semi- final stage of the School League Football Cup and Maw is asked to stand in as the striker. A super story told in the adventure style of writing that was more common in the 40s and 50s.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherWilliam Forde
    Release dateMar 18, 2012
    ISBN9781476133751
    Maw
    Author

    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.

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      Book preview

      Maw - William Forde

      ‘MAW’

      By

      William Forde

      Published by William Forde

      Revised January 2017

      Illustrations by Joel Stephen Breeze

      Copyright March 2012 by William Forde

      Smashwords Edition

      Smashwords Edition, License Notes

      Thank you for downloading this ebook. This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This book 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 are reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

      Table of Contents

      Author’s Foreword

      Chapter One - ‘Little Maw’

      Chapter Two - ‘Basher Braithwaite’

      Chapter Three - ‘The Challenge’

      Chapter Four - ‘The Shooting Star’

      Chapter Five - ‘Mighty Maw’

      Chapter Six - ‘The Four O’clock Massacre’

      Chapter Seven - ‘The Contest’

      Chapter Eight - ‘The Garforth Giants’

      Chapter Nine - ‘Coach Wilson’

      Chapter Ten - ‘The Semi-Final’

      Chapter Eleven - ‘Dilemma and Decision’

      Chapter Twelve - ‘The Cup Final’

      Chapter Thirteen - ‘Coach Wilson Retires’

      Chapter Fourteen - ‘The Shooting Star Returns’

      Author’s Background

      Other Books by this Author

      For the General Audience

      Romantic Drama Strictly for Adults

      Connect with William Forde

      Author’s Foreword

      When good people fail to stand up for what they believe to be right, bad behaviour is provided with a golden opportunity to triumph! Into such environments, bullying is born and permitted to flourish.

      The silent observer who declines to challenge the bully’s behaviour – the reluctant witness who refuses to testify – anyone who fails to stand alongside the victim, becomes the bully’s accomplice! Bullies are cowardly people and they need silent accomplices to observe their dominance over their victim. They never walk alone.

      Bullies feed upon the fear of their victims. They feel big when you let them make you feel small. Their aim is to elevate their own stature in the eyes of others by putting you down. They hate resistance and they rarely try to victimise anyone who they believe will fight back. Being prepared to stand up to a bully is often enough in itself to prevent the bully putting you down!

      There are three types of people involved in the process of ‘bullying’. There is the bully, the person being bullied and the people observing the bullying. Wherever bullying continues to exist, all three types remain victims of their role.

      Many fail to understand that almost all bullies have been the victim of bullying themselves and they are attempting to replicate the immense feeling of ‘power’ that dominating the victim brings to the bully.

      Power carries with it the responsibility to ensure that no individual experiences the indignity of being rendered powerless. It was this concept and the inspiration of my son, William, which led me to write Maw. The name ‘Maw’ was also a name of endearment that all of the Forde family gave to my dear mother when she lived; it being an abbreviation of her name Maureen.

      This story was first published in 1994. It was due to be read to the pupils of ‘R. M. Grylls Middle School’, Hightown, Liversedge, West Yorkshire by the late Roy Castle. Due to his illness, the late legendary, international footballer, John Charles read in Roy’s stead and the late television magician, Paul Daniels kindly recorded an abridged version of the book for the benefit of pupils of the school. The story of ‘Maw’ is suitable for any reader over 8 years and will appeal most to any reader who likes boxing and football.

      The book cover and inner illustrations are by Joel Stephen Breeze of Dewsbury, West Yorkshire.

      William Forde: January, 2017.

      Chapter One - ‘Little Maw’

      For the first 13 years of Maurice Silver’s life, he had to cope with all the disadvantages of being extremely small in size. Although he was now only a matter of weeks away from his 14th birthday, he stood no taller and weighed no more than the average 7-year-old boy. Because of his smallness in size, Maurice was affectionately called ‘Little Maw’ by his parents and close friends.

      At the precise moment, which marked the 14th anniversary of his birth, something mysterious happened to Little Maw and his life was never the same again.

      At birth, Little Maw was no different to any other newly born infant. He was covered in loosely fitted skin, which seemed to be one size larger than the bones it protected. The sounds from his mouth were mostly bubble wrapped and ranged from a smiling coo to an earth-shattering scream.

      Being an ‘only child’, his parents were naturally proud of him, and like all new parents, their greatest pleasure was to show him off to any passer-by who cared to look adoringly at the small infant.

      As the months and years went by, his parents became increasingly concerned by their son’s lack of growth. By the age of three, Little Maw had the face of a three-year-old, but he was no bigger than a child of one!

      His anxious parents spent thousands of pounds and travelled hundreds of miles having their son examined by numerous child specialists. Apart from his smallness in size (for which no explanation could be found), not one of the child experts could find anything wrong with him.

      Little Maw was assessed as being happy, healthy, and in many ways, more intelligent than the usual three-year-old child. His speech and vocabulary were well advanced for his age and already he could read! Most of the child experts tried to reassure his parents, that given time, there was no earthly reason why their son shouldn’t grow up like other children of his age.

      This reassurance provided the spark of hope for his parents, and over the next three years, Little Maw did grow- two inches taller. By the time that Little Maw was six years old his parents had grown resigned to the fact that their son would always be a very small person.

      Although they were disappointed with his dwarf-like size, his parents decided to get on with their lives and teach their son to make the most of his and what he had. They believed that being happy didn’t necessarily mean that everything was perfect. We sometimes have to be prepared to look beyond the imperfections of form, shape and substance to see the real person!

      You may only be half the size of other boys your age, Little Maw, his parents would often tell him, but we love you twice as much!

      Knowing that he was loved, helped Little Maw to cope with the occasional hurtful remark, which his lack of height attracted from children who didn’t know him. He didn’t mind being referred to as ‘Titch’, but he strongly objected to being called ‘Midget’. He didn’t like the sound of the word ‘Midget’. To him a ‘Midget’ sounded like a fly, waiting to be swatted!

      At home, his parents began to make all the necessary changes to accommodate their son’s comfort and safety. Some household furniture needed to be in two sizes, normal and miniature; whilst many fixtures such as hand rails, doorknobs, coat hooks and light switches needed to be duplicated at higher and lower levels. Special made-to-measure clothes and footwear also needed to be obtained, to prevent Little Maw from looking babyish.

      Little Maw was almost 6 years old before he started First School. It took his parents almost one year to persuade the education authority that he was old enough to start school. Despite this educational ‘hiccup’ however, Little Maw progressed through First and Middle School without too much difficulty. Being a boy of pleasing and kind disposition, he quickly became well liked and accepted by his classmates and teachers.

      Being a small boy, nobody ever felt threatened by his presence, and being a small boy with a big heart, made Little Maw one of the most popular boys in the school. He didn’t allow his lack of size to prevent him from taking part in all the games and activities which most boys and girls participate in and enjoy.

      Little Maw enjoyed his time at First and Middle School, but he was now 13 years old and a big change was due. Next week, he was due to start at his new school, ‘Marfield High’.

      ‘Marfield High School’ was one of two secondary schools in the area; the other being ‘Garforth Hall’. Both were good schools, and being close to each other, they thrived on competition with each other.

      Both ‘Marfield High’ and ‘Garforth Hall’ had well-established traditions for combining good examination results with a wide coverage of sports and athletics on their curriculum. Being a lover of most sports, Little Maw was looking forward to this change in his school life. However, there was simply no way he could have anticipated the very unsettled start he was about to experience!

      Chapter Two - ‘Basher Braithwaite’

      Little Maw got through the

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