IELTS Speaking Test Sample #14

Sample Answer 2:

Hmm, an interesting question. When I was growing up various friends of the family came and went, local shop-keepers were friendly but perhaps not truly ‘friends’ in the real sense of the word; neighbours were good fun but then moved away. The person I can think was around throughout my childhood, albeit intermittently. I’m going to try and explain to you who this person was as well as how it was we came to know them. The question about how often they visited our house is a bit tricky but doesn’t make them less of a friend, and finally, I’ll explain why it is this person made such a strong impression on me I remember them still.

When I was growing up, I lived in a fairly suburban area. Once a year, for two weeks of the summer holidays, we’d all pile into the family car and drive for what seemed to me like an eternity to the English countryside of the far north – Northumberland. We always stayed in the same holiday cottage which was self-catering. It was on a mixed sheep/ cattle and arable farm, and our cottage was attached to the shepherd’s permanent home. He lived there with his wife and kept chickens at the end of his garden. The person who I want to tell you about is the shepherd. His name was Ronnie Shipley and to me, as a child, he was a magical figure.

Because we holidayed there every year throughout my childhood, he got to know me and my whole family really well. His own children had long ago grown up and left home, and I think he liked having enthusiastic youngsters around who idolised him and were interested in his work. He would take us with him to feed the hens, show us where we could find the secretive diamond-backed adders in his garden. These are beautiful snakes, and the only venomous ones in the UK, but they are incredibly timid and difficult to spot. He would let us ‘help’ with the sheep, (I don’t think we were very helpful at all) but we swung on gates and cheerfully ran around herding them. He had a sheepdog that actually did all the work, but when I was very little I was none the wiser. When we were older he plonked us on to the back of the old farm pony and let us ride around the farm. On one memorable occasion, he even sat me on the back of a wonderfully tame but enormous Hereford bull. They are actually incredibly docile cattle, but I was still very impressed that I was able to do this.

Because he lived in Northumberland, and we lived down in the south of England just outside London hundreds of miles away, in fact, he never did visit our house. That seems a shame now I look back, but he loved his home in the north, and couldn’t see the point in visiting anywhere else. Also, I now realise that he was actually pretty old even then, way past usual retirement years, but carrying on doing the job he loved for as long as he could. I think a long journey by train would have been quite difficult for him.

As to why I remember this person, well he was such a wonderful magical figure from my childhood. It was as if he inhabited a parallel universe. He taught me to appreciate the countryside and the great outdoors. He was patient and kind with his time. I remember him pointing out stars in the night sky – things that I could never see at home because of the light pollution from the urban area I lived in. He also looked very distinctive. He had a weather-beaten wrinkled face from working outdoors year-round for decades. He wore a flat cap and an old weathered tweed jacket, and always carried a shepherd’s stick with him (which he’d made himself) and was accompanied by a collie dog to help him in his work. He must have taken a bit of a shine to our family, as he always welcomed us with warmth and genuine affection. We’d pop round for endless tea and coffee and shriek delightedly at the discoveries he revealed. In return, sometimes he’d come with us when we went off on a family outing to the seaside or some special place, trips out both he and his wife Annie much enjoyed.

Now I’m long grown up and those holidays are a distant memory. Ronnie himself died years ago. However, I still have two sticks which he made just for me. One is a thumbstick – a very distinctive walking stick that you cut to the right length according to your own height and then walk with your thumb resting in the crook of a V formed where the stick has naturally divided. Mine was specially picked out by him for me. The other is a more traditional British shepherd’s crook. It is a hazel stick, with a sheep’s horn on the end. On the horn, he has carved my initials ‘L.M.’ together with the date 1978, so I know that I was 13 years old when he gave it to me. What a special treasure that is.

It’s funny, I was incredibly fond of Mr Shipley as I was growing up, but I took his attention and generosity a bit for granted, I think that’s easy to do when you are small. Now I’m older and wiser (hopefully) I think he is even more remarkable. We were just one of many families he must have met over the years and yet he always made us feel special. He was a remarkable man and a great friend to all our family. I feel really blessed to have met him, and his legacy endures in very real ways. There is even a gooseberry bush in the garden of my parent’s house that is from a cutting he gave to them decades ago. I wonder if he had any idea how special he was, and how much his friendship meant to us all. I think above all else he gave us his time, and shared his stories, for me that was the best gift ever, as, with it, he stimulated my imagination and gave me happy memories, those can endure almost forever!

[ Written by – Lucy Marris (2016): Careers Adviser (UK), TEFL teacher (Vietnam) ]