It almost passed us by as we’re so busy with other people’s stories, but today is our birthday, so we thought we’d spend a few minutes on our own story. Although our founder Mike Tapia has been working on life stories for many years prior to establishing Recordalife, it was a year ago today, after much development of our service, our book and audio products, that we went live.

In the past year we’ve met some amazing people and captured some wonderful stories. We have had 90th, 80th, 70th, 60th and 50th birthday presents. We have had 25th, 40th, 50th and even 60th anniversary presents! We have recorded the memoirs of people across the globe, from our neighbours who have visited our office in Richmond upon Thames to tell their stories, to clients throughout the UK, Ireland, the USA, the Middle East, Australasia and across Europe. We have heard autobiographical stories from war veterans and those who helped rebuild europe after World War II, from women who witnessed emancipation and the growth in equality, from those who have suffered loss and dificult life challenges and overcome them, from those who have migrated or fled persecution and have settled in a new country, from those who found love, from those who built amazing careers, families and friends.

And what we do know, and what we knew before we started Recordalife, is that there is no such thing as an ordinary life. We all have challenges to overcome, we all have beauty and pain in our lives, we all make history.

Recordalife Life Stories and Love Stories are often given as a birthday or anniversary gift. And the gift we have received today on our birthday is knowing how many great stories we have recorded, captured and delivered through our lovely hardback books and CDs. And how they will be enjoyed by generations to come by the families of our clients.

So it’s happy birthday to us, but really, what we do is celebrate the births and lives of others. We would like to thank our clients who have made this such an increadible year, and look forward to making new friends and clients, and capturing more incredible life stories in the years ahead.