During the past year, the importance of documenting life’s most precious moments has been reinforced more than ever before. While the nation was forced to isolate from the ones they care about the most without exception, family tales and precious memories became a key force that fuelled momentum and maintained the hope of better days to come.

However, simply reminiscing in one’s own head about our greatest life moments clearly wasn’t sufficient. Over the course of multiple lockdowns in the UK, national biographer StoryTerrace experienced an influx of requests from people looking to document their journey through life. Having now completed over 2,000 unique stories of people from all facets of society, the pandemic highlighted how everyone has a story worth telling, and most importantly, the value of our personal stories during the hardest of times. The biography-writing service have also doubled their number of full-time staff since the beginning of the pandemic, and currently have over 500 active projects ongoing – the most at any one time in the company’s history.

Here is a snapshot of some of the individuals who have decided to document their life story during the pandemic:

Bradley Green

When Britain re-entered into a national lockdown, Bradley decided to write the life story of his Dad. He thought it would be a great way to occupy himself, as the first lockdown was particularly tough. His father was heavily involved in the music industry during the 90’s, working with boy bands and singing/writing 1000’s of songs for pop acts. His Dad was also in the Guinness book of world records for a period for singing the longest note.

Shan Ellison

Shan decided to write a book with StoryTerrace about her life as she wanted to leave a legacy. She is an ex-nurse and has spent years caring for those less fortunate and in poor health. She has also experienced some considerable adversity in her life, and contracted COVID along with her partner in Vietnam in the early stages of the pandemic. Both Shan and her partner were severely affected by the virus and nearly died, but Shan feels that they have come out the other side stronger for it with a renewed zest for life and a fresh perspective.

Rutger Bruining, Founder and CEO of StoryTerrace, comments:

“During lockdown over the past year, we have seen an influx of requests from people looking to document their journey through life with StoryTerrace, and we believe it was no coincidence that this has happened during a period of social distancing. As millions around the globe were stuck at home, many of us started to feel nostalgic, which encouraged us to reminisce on better times in our lives. At StoryTerrace, we believe that sharing our stories can be one of the most therapeutic ways for us to connect, especially during times of adversity.

It was a pleasure to hear some of the amazing stories that were documented in lockdown. Though there have been times of severe difficulty for all, the pandemic has certainly made us realise the importance of our families and friends, and the value of documenting the moments we share with them. This has been testament to the fact that everyone really does have an interesting story worth telling.”