Byline: David Charters
THE ruggedly handsome face of the son stares, smiling at the father each time he opens the front-door. GrahamDavies loved his boy so much, but there were always business pressures and late meetings and decisions and feeling tired and golfing appointments to be kept at the weekend . . .
And then Grahamand his wife,Jessie,learned that their only son was in a coma following a climbing accident on the west face of the Eiger.
They sat at his bedside at a hospital in Berne, Switzerland, for the final three weeks,hoping and praying, but Philip never regained consciousness and the life-support machine had to be switched off in the August of 1992.
The sorrow that enveloped and squeezed them was beyond the understanding of others.
Graham felt utterly broken. Even his faith in the Bible and the old certainty he found in Anglican hymns brought him no comfort. In this mood, he couldn't work, so he retired from the bank that had been his mainstay for all those years.
From memory, he painted the portrait of his 27-year-old son, which now hangs in the hall opposite the front-door.
Philip's younger sister, Christina, was heartbroken as well, but she had just had her first baby,Sophie. Blessedly, Philip,an electronics engineer, had met her before he set off on that fatal mountaineering trip.
Graham,now 68, began drawing pictures of the baby and writing poems for her in the rhyming couplet style he remembered from his own childhood, when he was an admirer of the Liverpool Echo's Curly Wee strip and the Rupert Bear stories in the Daily Express.
FOUR years after Sophie's birth, Christina, 35, and her husband Don Parr had their son,Jack.
Graham,much encouraged by Jessie,continued writing and his stories, poems and drawings became a poignant, biographical record of his grandchildren making their way in the world. Sophie is now 12 and Jack eight By all normal standards,Graham,a specialist in organisational methods, had been a fine father, rising through the Westminster (National Westminster) Bank until he was the senior manager for a vast area, taking in Bootle, Seaforth, Walton and Litherland.
The evidence of his success can be seen in the family home in an exclusive part of Formby. Of course, if he was to be given his life again, there would be changes of emphasis here and there. But isn't that true of us all? Ambition drives us to lose sight of what really matters,our loved ones and spending time with them. Instead, we pursue personal success.
Maybe, though, in his writing, Graham has found his truer self, telling the stories of these two children who call him ``grandy''.
Now these writings are being collected in a book scheduled for publication next month, called Telling Tales ofSmallCompanions.
Although, his writing is personalised and sometimes quirky, touching a little on the style of Lewis Carroll, Graham has produced a book of appeal to parents, grandparents and children alike.
Suddenly the door opens and into the lounge step Sophie,Jackand their dad Don, the co-publishing manager of the magazine,Euromoney.
Graham is filled with joy and as proud as a grandfather could be. You can tell that Sophie and Jack feel the same way.
``Unless you write things down, you forget over the years,'' says Graham. ``So I thought if I can capture things that essentially have amused me about Sophie and Jack, they in turn will be amused when they are adult, won't they? Then they can pass them onto their children.''
Of course, they are personal memories,but the sentiments are universal. SoGrahamhopes that he has written something for everybody.
His own childhood was a happy one, brought up with his two sisters and abrother,by his parents, Connie and Bill, a man from the Prudential, in the Anfield area of Liverpool, where Grahamdeveloped his abiding passion for Liverpool FC.
``It occurred to me fairly quickly after Sophie's birth that I should start recording her life,'' he says. ``Philip saw Sophiebefore the accident and we have got some photographs of him holding her. He was captivated by her as well and he was aGodparent.'' Two other young men were killed, descending the peak of the Eiger, when they fell from a rope, a fourth was injured. Philip's ashes are on the top of Great Gable in the Lake District, one of his favourite spots. A plaque has been laid at a nearby church.
DURING the three weeks at Philip's bedside, Graham started writing about his son, again in rhyming couplets.
``Nothing will ever be forgotten about that time,'' he says.
``I wrote about the effect it had and coping with it. ``Then I spent hours walking along the shore with thoughts going through my mind, other things. About four or five poems came out of that, long ones. ``In some ways the children were neglected because of one's selfishness in business and in sport. I playedgolf. When I was a bank inspector, and also with organisational methods,I spent a lot of time away from home. I suppose Jessie was left to bring the kids up to large extent and then when I came home at the weekend I would have a game of golf, instead of being rooted in the family. ``Henry Longhurst, the great golfer said, `They tell me that golf is a selfish game. Of course it's selfish, but tell me who has not been motivated by selfish pursuits in this life'.
``But I look back with regret now on my selfishness, to befrank. But I don't think if you spoke to Christina, she would have felt neglected in any way.'' But Sophie, a pupil at Range High School,Formby,and Jack,at Woodlands Primary,are Graham's bless-ing. ``I don't know what I would have done without them,'' he says. ``I was just overwhelmed with the joy of our first grandchild, just seeing the little mite, the beauty of this little creature.'' Even in his days as a banker, Grahambelieved he had a gift for literature. ``I have always like writing,'' he says. ``Some of the colleagues I had would say when I used to submit reports, that they used to love getting them, though they may have been a little too flowery for some people. I havealways liked reading as well.
``I am not sure whether there will be a follow-up. I don't know whether the urge will come on me again.''
The book, with more than 30 illustrations, deals with potty training, teething, the first day at school, having an injections, visits to the swings in the park, tantrums, everything that is part of growing up.
His book will also include a crossword and other puzzles, again in the style of Lewis Carroll.
``We couldn't have a nicer grandy,'' says Sophie. I can't wait to see the book.'' Jacknods in agreement.
8 TELLING Tales of Small Companions,by Graham Davies, is to be published by Countyvise.
BEDTIME READING
GRAHAM'Sbook is ideal bedtime reading. His own sonorous voice catches the special emphasis on key words but the rhyming couplets are easy to follow and would appeal to children of any age.
This is the opening of the poem telling of Jack's visit to the surgery for aninjection. Little Jack Parr, with his mummy, went off to the doctor's for jabs Armed with a handful of tissues as four eyes would surely need dabs A day that was cold and louring as the wind blew chill from the east Found mum biting her lip and quitenervy, little Jack not concerned in the least.
CAPTION(S):
PICTURE THAT: Graham with Jack and Sophie,above, and,top right, a portrait of Philip, whose tragic death completely changed the course of his father's life; and,left to right, a series of Graham's pictures celebrating the lives of his grandchildren
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