A tome of tales penned by a Paisley taxi driver look set to go on sale this week.
The short story collection produced by Pat Kidd details life growing up in Ferguslie Park.
Cardboard in the Sole of my Shoe is the title of Pat’s humorous, heartfelt, coming-of-age book that tells stories of friendships, antics, hardships, family and, most of all, the love for his mum.
The project is the result of a pandemic lockdown era event organised by In Motion Theatre – The Voice Behind Our Town – which saw the company work with residents of Ferguslie Park to create a set of recorded monologues.
Pat wrote a piece for this and, what stood out, was his unique outlook on things. He is dyslexic and says that he’d tried writing stories before but people would try and alter his style.
However, in Lisa Nicoll from In Motion Theatre, he found someone who was committed to allowing his voice to be heard the way it is: loud and proud.
“It has been an absolute joy to work with Pat on his stories,” Lisa said. “He is such a talented writer.
“I feel like Pat has welcomed me into the community and his family and looks out for me as a person. This isn’t just about the writing but about a friendship which has been created.”
The project is supported by Future Paisley and OneRen who have funded a new play and tour from In Motion Theatre (Other Side of The River) inspired by Ferguslie Park and its community.
The play, which was funded off of the back of the Paisley 2021 City of Culture bid, was originally meant to tour in 2020 but will now travel Scotland in spring 2023 – opening in Ferguslie Park.
One of the play’s main characters (taxi driver Andy) is now inspired by Pat and the tour will be an opportunity to promote his book across Scotland.
The publishing of the book itself has been funded with the help of the local community.
In August, the community and In Motion Theatre held a fundraising karaoke and bingo night to raise some funds. It was led by Terry McTernan – project leader of Darkwood Crew which is a community-led organisation set up to help Ferguslie flourish.
Terry said: “The community is behind Pat and people have been stopping him in the street for months asking him when his book is coming out!
“It is something he has always wanted to happen and now it is.
“The last couple of years of hard work has paid off and this is also a great link with the play that will be touring next year inspired by our community of Ferguslie Park.”
Pat fired the compliments right back at Lisa and Terry and singled out his wife for special praise, saying: “I would like to say a special thanks to Terry McTernan for the help he has given me along the way while developing the book with Lisa Nicoll.
“And a special big thanks to my wife and best pal Arlene for putting up with me for the past two year in writing this.”
Pat will be launching the sale of Cardboard in the Sole of my Shoe at the Tannahil Centre on Friday, December 9 at 7pm. He will be in The Last Post pub from 11.30am to 1pm on Thursday, December 15 where he will be signing copies.
Pat’s book can be bought from Amazon: https://bit.ly/3UyJYMY
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