OUR STORY

Here at What's Your Story we want to help you create your own storybook – the most original book of all, and one that will be treasured forever.   

A Short Story from Valeria Burrows, Owner

 "I'll never forgive myself for losing a letter that one of my grandmothers wrote to me, telling me amazing details about our family history. She had never really opened up until that letter and I was careless with it - I didn't safeguard any of that information.  My other grandmother lived in Croatia so I only visited her once - one day while I was over there she told me all about her younger years and her early married life, and what my father was like as a child. Unfortunately she told me in Croatian, which I could hardly speak, so I never got to really grasp everything she was telling me. I wish I'd had the foresight to record her words for translating later.

As I get older, I watch my parents get older and start to really comprehend the fact that they won't be around forever. I think about how future family members will not know much about these amazing people. One day they just won't there anymore for me to ask any more questions about where they came from, what their life was like growing up, or how they met, or to find out if they have had a happy life, and if they have any advice for the next generations. I've seen it happen with my grandparents - my children don't even know who they really were; they are just a name and they feel no real connection to them. I don't want any of my family members to end up as just a name, I want their humanity to be remembered e.g.  the woman that loved playing the violin to her chickens in the garden, or the man that used to jump tanks off small hills when he was doing National Service, the woman that had four miscarriages but still kept trying until she had my father. I don't want any of those stories to die.

To prevent any more family stories being lost I decided to preserve them in a long-lasting format that looks great on a coffee table or in a bookshelf - I started creating books that were just begging to be read.  These storybooks have been passed around the family quite a few times already. 

I am so happy that I recently created one of these books for my parents-in-law as a celebration gift for their Diamond Wedding Anniversary (70 years) - we didn't know just how special that book would be: my mother-in-law was in early-stage dementia at that time, and passed away only 6 months after the book was completed, so now our family has a wonderful keepsake of some of her last coherent words. My father-in-law, who is a very stoic Englishman with an aversion to discussing feelings, recently confided to me how special that book is to him, and how happy it makes him - in fact, he took it with him when he travelled back to England to scatter her ashes and showed it to all their family over there.

In other words, What's Your Story was created to help other people preserve their memories before they are lost. I am privileged to help honour and safeguard some truly beautiful memories for our clients. 

Knowing that someone's words live on forever serves to remind us of just how important each of our stories are. I believe that one of the greatest legacies we can give to others is that of our own voice."

We Love What We Do

We love working on creative projects that are meaningful.  We enjoy the connection that is created during our interviews, and value the trust that our clients show us every day when they open up about different parts of their lives.

Our Goal

We are committed to our goal of giving your voice the power to reach across generations.  We understand how it feels when memories of a loved one fade over time or fail to be passed to future generations.  By capturing favourite moments, messages, or adventures in a personalised book we ensure that your family always has an everlasting memory to cherish.