A 97-year-old author from Glasgow says writing has helped her combat the loneliness that many elderly people feel.
Nancy Barr was gifted a laptop by her daughter in 2011. The granny was inspired to write after opening a bag full of her mother, Bessie's, old notes.
Although she never really had a passion for writing, finishing Bessie's book gave her the bug which led to her exploring her own life in the city through the decades.
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Nancy told Glasgow Live: "My mother was always keen on writing and she was a great letter writer.
"She wrote lots of wee notes. Anybody that wrote to her she would write on the envelopes, she didn't buy a pad. She would use anything to write notes for her book.
"She died when her book was almost finished. She was at the university and they asked me to finish it because they thought it was going to be good.
"But I wasn't ready to part with the story. It lay in that cupboard in an old bag for years and years until one day I thought it was criminal that I hadn't finished the story.
"I knew the end of her story. I am her daughter so I finished her story, probably not in the way she would but in the way I could.
"As I was writing I realised that I quite enjoyed it. After I finished my mum's story I didn't know what to do, so I wrote about my own life.
"I never thought it would be any good."
Nancy was caring for her husband, George, after he was diagnosed with dementia when she was gifted the laptop.
The transition to typing was an easy one for the 97-year-old after she enjoyed a career at Glasgow Uni.
Her skills on the keyboard allowed Nancy to leave behind a legacy for her family.
She explained: "I worked in the dining rooms at Glasgow University as a cashier, so I was used to typing whilst at work.
"I took to it very quickly. I really just needed something to do.
"I also started the story after I finished my mum's because I wanted it to be there for my own granddaughters. To leave my story for them."
Nancy's teenage years were spent looking out for Nazi aircraft flying above Glasgow searching for targets.
The 97-year-old's Clydebank home was one of the properties that was unfortunately struck during the infamous blitz in 1941. Readers are able to live through the horrific experience through the eyes of Nancy in the book.
The author said: "It was very frightening.
"I was out at the pictures with my chum and arrived home.
"A bomb landed in the back garden right beside the window. There was a cast iron cooker in front of the cupboard where we hid and according to the workmen, the blast had gone around the cooker.
"If it wasn't there I wouldn't be here. I was 15 at that time and my father had fought in the Great War so he was very good at calming me down."
The book details decades of the city's history through a first-person experience from the horrors of the bombings to the UK's transition to the NHS.
Nancy has lived many lives through her 97 years in Glasgow but as she grew older she became lonelier.
Looking back at her life and writing about it gave the author a creative outlet whilst also acting as a form of therapy.
Nancy said: "I have very few friends now, a lot of them have passed away.
"I think the writing helped me greatly with the loneliness.
"I was always a social person so it was really difficult getting older but writing gave me something to do.
"It really gave me a massive lift. Sadly I don't know if I'll be able to do it anymore because of arthritis in my hands."
To learn more about the book, 'The Writings of Bessie and Nancy', click here
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