The Catholic Church in Aberystwyth during WWII ~ part one

The Daughters of The Holy Spirit and the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul 

The Catholic Church in Aberystwyth and Wales more generally has been perceived as a religion which was foreign, and this certainly was still the case when war broke out in 1939. So, what were the experiences, reality, and role of this foreign perceived religion during the course of the war at home in Aberystwyth? Did the war and Catholic evacuees change this drastically or did life for the Catholic Church in Aberystwyth continue on as normal? These questions will be considered in a series of blog posts, the first will focus on two female Catholic religious orders who were present in Aberystwyth during the war, those being the Daughters of the Holy Spirit (D.H.S) and the Sisters of Charity of St   Vincent de Paul.

The D.H.S, a religious order of teaching nuns who had originally arrived in Aberystwyth from Brittany in 1903 and who were based on Llanbadarn Road in Aberystwyth from 1922 onwards, were impacted by many events which unfolded during the war because of the transnational nature of their community. From the outset of the war their religious community was closely affected, such as in the case of an American nun, Sister Adéle Emilienne who was meant to be a passenger on the SS Athenia, only escaping the torpedoing of the passenger ship on the 3rd of September 1939 due to travel delays. As well as the Polish sisters in their community, such as Sister Agnés Marcelle who replaced Sr. Emilienne in Aberystwyth, being worried and concerned for the harm that their fellow countrymen and women were facing at home in Poland. 

This religious community was also cut off from their motherhouse in Brittany when France fell and the armistice of Compiégne was signed by the French in June 1940. This led to many letters written from the community in Aberystwyth to the motherhouse being returned to them, which in turn caused great distress and worry amongst the nuns in Aberystwyth as they were unsure of the fate of their fellow sisters in France. Other than a few messages in 1943 that the sisters received via the Red Cross from their motherhouse in Brittany, they did not hear directly from them for four years until Brittany was liberated in 1944 and Sister St. Melaine, their Mother Superior at the time was able to send them a letter to inform them of this great news.

During the war, whilst many sisters in the community were cut off from their own countries and from their motherhouse, they offered support to those too which were far from home because of the impacts of the war. Either through being able to offer a place to stay for the duration of the war to some of the Ursuline Sisters, a Catholic female religious order from Brentwood or through knitting warm gloves and other items of clothing for the young children evacuated from Liverpool to Aberystwyth in 1940.

Other evacuations to Aberystwyth temporarily changed the landscape of the Catholic Church there. This was the case with the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul and the girls under their charge between the ages of 15 and 17 at their approved school, St John’s in Gravelly Hill, in Birmingham who were evacuated to Aberystwyth in 1940. The building they were evacuated to was Plynlymon on Victoria Terrace which was equipped for forty girls and seven staff according to an inspection by the Children’s Branch of the Home Office in 1939. This building which faced out onto the Irish Sea was a safe place for the sisters and the girls under their care to see out the war away from Birmingham, which was severely bombed during the war. They remained in this building on the seafront until the 28th of August 1945 when the sisters and their girls left Aberystwyth on the 10 o’clock train to Birmingham. During this time the sisters negotiated an erection of an air raid shelter for them and the girls under their care near Plynlymon, these negotiations however took from the 5th of January 1942 until the 23rd of June 1943 before they could begin erecting the shelter.

Plynlymon Boarding Residence, c. 1900. Used with permission of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives.

 

The girls under the care of the sisters also performed two operatic sketches, one Operetta which was performed for two evenings at Plynlymon House in July 1941 and the other being a performance of Columbus in a Merry Key, a comedic opera which was composed originally by Charles West and premiered in London in 1895. This comedic opera was performed for 3 nights between the 22nd and 24th of February 1943 at the Kings Hall, which was the local entertainments hall in the area from 1934, when it was built. These three nights at the Kings Hall raised £117 for both war charities and general church funds. The entrance fee was only two pence, so it suggests that the opera must have been a great success to be able to raise such an amount. A comedy opera was no doubt an escape for a couple of hours for local people from the wartime conditions and worries about their loved ones which were away fighting on the front lines.

 

Programme Cover for the comedic opera, Columbus in a Merry Key, performed by the Plynlymon Girls, photo taken with permission of the Archifdy Ceredigion Archives.

It’s clear therefore that during the war that the presence of Catholicism grew in Aberystwyth, be that because of the evacuation of Catholic religious nuns, such as the Ursuline Sisters and the Sisters of Charity of St Vincent de Paul or because of the operas put on for the public by the Plynlymon Girls. The war caused many Catholics in Aberystwyth to be disconnected and unable to go home, be that by the physical movement that evacuations there required for their safety, or the lack of correspondence and knowledge that many sisters in the D.H.S had concerning the fate of their motherhouse or friends and family in their respective countries of origin. These religious sisters and the Plynlymon girls provided relief to evacuees and locals be that through laughter or by their warm hand knitted clothing.

Blog by Conor Brockbank

 

Sources:

ABY/X/39/3 Columbus in a Merry Key Programme, Archifdy Ceredigion Archives.

ADX/412/9 Promotional Brochure for the Plynlymon Boarding Residence, Victoria (Marine) Terrace, Aberystwyth. Showing rates and including photographs of several public rooms. N.d. (c. 1900), Archifdy Ceredigion Archives.

Blatt, J. ‘The French Defeat of 1940: Reassessments: Introduction,’ Historical Reflections/ Réflexions Historiques, 22 (Winter 1996): 1-10.

Davies, A.M. D.H.S, Led by the Spirit. Daughters of the Holy Spirit in England and Wales 1902-1952. Bedford, 2004.

Egan, J. A Century of Service in Wales. The Story of the Daughters of the Holy Spirit 1902-2002. Abergavenny, 2005.

Heck, T. ‘The Operatic Christopher Columbus: Three Hundred Years of Musical Mythology,’ Annali d’Italianistica, 10 (1992): 236-278.

Hughes, T.O. ‘“No Longer Will We Call Ourselves Catholics in Wales but Welsh Catholics”: Roman Catholicism, The Welsh Language and Welsh National Identity in the Twentieth Century,’ The Welsh History Review, 20 (2000): 336-365.

Kiely, M.B. Annals of the Parish of our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride. Aberystwyth, 1973.

Kiely, M.B. Our Lady of the Angels and St Winefride, Aberystwyth: Centenary 1874-1974. Aberystwyth, 1974.

Miller, N. War at Sea: A Naval History of World War II. Oxford, 1996.

Ray, J. The Night Blitz: 1940-1941. London, 1996.

Various letters between 1939 and 1945 were consulted that are held in the Daughters of Charity British Province Archives.

https://coflein.gov.uk/en/site/23283/

http://www.childrenshomes.org.uk/ErdingtonAS/

 

Ceredigion Branches of the Women’s Institute and their War Work in WWII

 A Practical, Conscientious, Modest and Caring Network

To research the role of the WI in Aberystwyth, and its hinterland, proved to be a challenge but the records held at Ceredigion Archives show that the team work that took place was immense. Well-connected, the branches of the Women’s Institute across Ceredigion were part of a British network of exceptionally well-organised and hardworking women. Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother was a member of the Women’s Institute. The Ceredigion Archives hold a copy of her letter of appreciation:

WI membership steadily increased during WWII, each local branch averaged around fifty-five willing workers.  The WI rallied around and jumped to it where a need was identified. The varied WI activities are best summarised as focused on practical steps to boost morale, support and feed the community, in its broadest sense, and educate their members. Mrs Jones of Llanfarian’s membership card, below, underlines the ideals to which hundreds of women across Ceredigion gave their time, their money and their energy.

Most of the local branches of the Women’s Institute in Ceredigion were inaugurated in 1925. During their Remembrance event of that year, WI wartime service was identified as team work, the least they could have done. Women, glad to enjoy some comradeship as rural mothers, waited in fear, and relative isolation, for the arrival of the postman each day. To receive a telegram, telling of the death of one of their sons felt inevitable. As they found out more about the circumstances of that death, and the interment of the body overseas, to learn details of that stark tragedy was important. Bronwen, from the Ceredigion Federation of Women’s Institutes, recalls her Mamgu telling her that, when the padre conducted the internment service in Welsh, knowledge of the soldier’s mother tongue was a comfort. The sense that someone had known the soldier and acknowledged their identity made it feel as if their life had counted.

Throughout WWII the Women’s Institute held half yearly meetings and each local group sent a representative to the annual meeting in London. Business meetings were generally held in the evenings, after the day’s work. In Llanarth, in 1940, a meeting could not take place as there was no proper blackout in the schoolroom. The Education Committee was required to rectify the situation as a matter of urgency. Restrictions were biting by 1943 in Llanarth. Visitors and delegates were supposed to bring their own sandwiches to a meeting and small cakes were available for them to buy. 

The annual Horticultural Show was still being held but, with men away at the front, a rota of supervisors for stalls was agreed. In May 1944, a Ministry of Food official visited to give a talk, and members supervised the local jam preservation scheme. With food shortages across Britain, bottling and jam making was crucial to provide nutrition. The network of WIs provided coordination. Food committees were set up and classes on war time cookery. Here’s a flavour of what they were making and the issues of supply that were troubling them:

And of course, any effort required hand written correspondence, and to await a response. The emporium in Tregaron raised issues of concern about the fair distribution of sugar for jam making. The WI made sure that rural areas were not overlooked. And the markets continued, ever more dependent on local produce.

The records reveal an amusing tale, discretely told. The Llanarth Chair had promised that the group would entertain and provide refreshments for the RAF band, in 1945, which was to lead the Wings of Victory Procession. Too late she realised there were fifty people due to attend. Despite rationing, which was clearly foremost in the groups minds when panic set in, a wry comment was recorded. A promise had been made so they’d best get on with it. The RAF band members were not asked to bring their own sandwiches!

Penparcau WI records provide a list of the kinds of classes and practical activities that were carried out across Ceredigion: cookery, fruit bottling, rhubarb canning, horticulture, lectures on First Aid, dressmaking, candle-wicking, knitting. If you are not familiar with candle-wicking, it is a way of making inexpensive fabrics warmer, by pulling soft bunches of threads through a backing fabric. Most commonly used for bedspreads, it was adapted for some war-time fashions.

Llangeithio added wartime alterations to the standard list of classes.  Borth group reported, with regret, that they failed to meet for three months in the summer of 1941. The note to HQ includes a reminder that Borth is a holiday resort where members were busy boosting morale through holiday businesses, looking after evacuees, being active in the Women’s Voluntary Service, and making jam. Attendance at meetings may have waned seasonally; the work did not. Beetle drives and whist drives combined fun and fund raising. And the WI’s heart strings were pulled in the direction of many worth causes. They maintained sub-committees for tea and entertainments, kept their keep fit classes going, and organised Poppy Day collections each year.

Perhaps the most striking, the records reveal how outward-looking the WI work was. At a time of enormous hardship, no cause was dismissed. Miss Thomas, Aberaeron branch, was thanked for sending clothing to support the people of Holland during their liberation. Collections were made, in January 1945, for the Land Army Benevolent Fund and Dr Barnardos. Pulling at the heart strings, mothers across Ceredigion were urged to give generously. And the British Empire Cancer Campaign received a range of generous donations.

Other highlights from the various branches around Aberystwyth include the examples below:

Aberaeron branch maintained their regular round of competitions in 1940, and on May 1st they were urged to form a national savings group. Skeptical about the notion of national savings, they formed a local savings group. A speaker, Miss RM Evans NDD delivered ‘a very timely talk entitled ‘The Wartime Diet’. On May 30th the topic was household economy, and the members were told that the local hospital needed special articles. The meeting agreed to collect the required articles. Details are not recorded; a donation of two guineas from WI funds supplemented the articles.

For the second meeting in July members were urged to bring their own fruit for preservation, to be carried out at a local centre. On October 30th there was obvious pride in managing to meet, ‘despite boisterous weather conditions’. With keeping warm a priority, on November 27th they learnt about felt glove making. Entertainments remained high on the priorities, a morale boosting drama competition ran alongside the competition for the best jelly. Membership of the Aberaeron branch stood at fifty-nine in 1940 and burgeoned to seventy-seven by 1942. In 1944 there was a talk by a French refugee about her experiences. And morale boosting included links with overseas pen friends.

Rhydypennau ran sub-committees on: catering, drama, whist drives, fruit preservation, canteen work, national savings and salvage. Make-do and mend, and dressmaking were their most popular classes. Prayer meetings were held every night. And, astonishingly their records show that they collected 300 eggs for the hospital for one of their meetings.

Llanarth branch report states that ‘During the war all business was carried out in the general class, when two or three committee members were always present. It was too difficult to do otherwise.’ Their food committee was very active and held classes on war time cookery. Diet seems to have been their chief concern. In 1941 a scheme was launched for the ‘distribution of Cod Liver Oil to children under 2 years of age’. Yuck, yuck! Can you picture all those screwed up faces? It was good for them for sure. The Llanarth committee were particularly financially minded. They decided, for their weekly classes, starting on 18th November 1941, to raise additional funds for their good works, they would fine anyone who arrived late the sum of 2d. Whilst across all of the branches there was never a complaint about hardship or hard work, it is clear that the pinch was being felt by May 1943.

Eglwysfach branch ordered sugar for preservation in bulk from the retailers. And just one example of emotional support offered, a tragically regular feature of the WI work, was recorded in some detail in the ‘sincere notes of condolence [which] were passed to Mr and Mrs Rowlands and Mr and Mrs Morris in their very sad and sudden bereavements’.

On March 20th 1941, Eglwysfach benefitted from the talk Mr Jenkins MSc of Aberystwyth gave on ‘Garden Pests and Diseases and How to Deal with Them’. Maximising production of fruit and veg was crucial for the war effort.

Penllwyn offered an apology to the confederation: ‘we have not held any institute meeting at all since the holiday last June. Then owing to the blackout and evacuees, members would not and could not come’. Their activities continues nonetheless and a representative attended the annual meeting in London. Later their records reveal that ‘special’ work for Women’s Voluntary Service took the time they would have spent in meetings. Part of the reason for the lack of committee meetings was the requisitioning of meeting rooms, church halls and vestries, by the forces. Thrift needlework talks were held in a member’s home.

On 8 May 1945, Germany surrendered. ‘The President read a letter from the Clerk of the Urban District Council in which he said Miss Thomas, as WI President, had been appointed to serve on a committee to make arrangements for victory celebrations, and the WI Secretary, as another member, was appointed with her.’  And on 19th June a picnic was held on Aberaeron beach. 

Blog by Alison Elliott

Images courtesy of Archifdy Ceredigion Archives

Families doing their bit in WWII ~ Jonah Griffiths

My mother’s father, Jonah Griffiths, known to friends and family as Mick (or Birdy Grandad to his grandchildren as he kept an aviary), was born in Wednesbury, West Midlands. Like Dai Davies, he did not talk about the war much, and when he did, he tended to focus on some of the funnier tales and these were what he told to his grandchildren, including myself. There were occasions however, when he did mention the more serious side of his military career, and both will be mentioned here. 

 

Jonah Griffiths ('Mick') on joining the RAF

His father had a horrific time in the muddy trenches of WWI, so Mick, wishing to avoid this enlisted in the RAF. However, WWII was a different beast, and his experiences could be considered equally horrendous if not worse. His duties are best described in the words of my Uncle Mike, (his eldest son) who as a child in the early 1950’s enjoyed making model aircraft:

“One day, I had made an Airfix model of a Wellington bomber, I saw my father holding it with tears running down his face. Upon asking him what was wrong, he said it was the fumes from the glue making his eyes water. Then he said I'm going to tell you something, only because I know you are too young to remember what I tell you. He told me how he had to rescue and remove injured crew members from burning Wellington bombers and how horrendous it was”.  

He was stationed in India and Burma, which were overrun by the Japanese. and got left behind when the RAF departed. He was then seconded into the Army, becoming a corporal in the Forgotten 14th and taking part in the battles of Imphal and Kohima, where he was almost killed. Again, the words of my uncle describe this well: 

“He had a scar on the inside of his thigh that I could see when he used to take me swimming; he always flippantly said when asked about it ‘I got that on a tennis court.’ What he didn’t tell me, was that one of the bloodiest hand to hand battles of World War Two took place at the tennis court at Kohima, resulting in the retreat of the Japanese army, by the remaining handful of British and Indian soldiers. He was knocked to the ground and was bayoneted in the thigh by a Japanese soldier and as he was about to be finished off, the Japanese soldier was “dealt with” by a comrade and friend of my father.” 

The fellow soldier who saved my grandfather’s life was a Welshman called Taffy Slocombe. When my mother met my father Tom and they planned to get married, Mick was very happy that his eldest daughter had chosen a man from Wales as a husband.

 

Mick and his comrades in the Far East

My grandfather’s exploits do not end there though. One of his duties was as a dispatch rider, and while riding along the Burma Road, a Japanese plane shot him off his motorcycle. He was rescued by Naga tribesmen and was unconscious for three days, waking up in one of their huts. He had many injuries including concussion and a broken collar bone, but the tribesmen ensured he returned to his station in one piece. Another time he had to pay a visit to the medical facilities was when he woke up one morning with his face all swollen and sore. Other than that, he felt fine, but he was still hoping to have an easier day, but no such luck. The doctor took one look at him and said ‘a spider’s peed on you Griffiths. Put some of this cream on and back to it.’ There was no mollycoddling in the jungle! My uncle also told me about the time Mick became an official truck driver due to a mistimed joke! 

“He told me about when he was in a truck convoy that was approaching a bridge across a very deep ravine. They were attacked by enemy aircraft that bombed the bridge and convoy, destroying a lot of trucks and very badly damaging the bridge. After they cleared the wrecks from the road the commanding officer shouted can anyone drive that truck, and Granddad jokingly said to the soldier next to him ‘I can drive anything,’ but the officer heard this and said, ‘right Griffiths drive that truck over the bridge to see if it’s safe’( Granddad had only ever driven motor bikes and not even a car!). So, with a lot of gear crunching, he slowly crossed the swaying bridge in this huge truck and the others followed, and they actually officially made him a truck driver and dispatch rider!”

 

 

One of the funnier stories he told me personally, was when they were driving a convoy through the jungle but had to stop as they were hit by a tropical cyclone. They took advantage to have a quick snooze and when my grandfather woke up, his partner in the truck told him not to get out of the vehicle, as the winds had blown them on top of another truck! He never did tell me how they got down! There was also the tale of a colleague who fell into the latrines. In the jungle they dug huge pits to use as toilets with a plank of wood to balance on, to do what was necessary. Unfortunately for one poor man, it was in the dark when he needed the facility, and he became unbalanced, falling in. Luckily it was not very full, or he could have drowned, but nobody would go near the man for days, as he couldn’t wash properly and was rather smelly! 

 

 

As it can well be imagined, my grandfather’s experiences left their mark for the rest of his life, quite literally with the scars from his wounds. My grandmother told my Uncle Mike that  “she took my father to the cinema when he was on leave, he fell asleep and awoke as the Pathe News began. Upon seeing a tank coming towards him firing he shouted and jumped several rows of seats to escape! No one uttered a word, as they all seemed to understand what had just happened.” For some years after the war my grandfather suffered terribly from nightmares. My mother remembers as a little girl, hearing him in the night and my grandmother trying to reassure him, that he was home and safe. There can be no doubt that he, like many others, suffered from undiagnosed PTSD, and had no help to cope with it. 

Understandably he had a dislike of anything Japanese, although he had great admiration for the Naga tribesmen that saved him, and also for the Gurkhas who he fought with. I remember him telling me that he was so glad they were on the allies’ side, as he would not have wanted to have fought against them. They were brilliant warriors. After his experiences in India, he always had a penchant for a good curry, although he would never eat naan bread, after he had seen how they were prepared, (by someone who went to the lavatory and didn’t wash their hands afterwards, before going back to making the bread). Even though he knew modern naans are factory made, he refused point blank to eat them!

My mother, Kath, (Katharine May Griffiths) is Mick’s eldest child, having been born on the 15th July 1942. Similarly to my father Tom’s reaction to Dai, she also was scared of her father when he first returned from Burma, who incidentally, also brought home a giant teddy bear for her too. But again, relationships soon formed and in the later years of his life, Mick, after he had been widowed for some time, came to live with my parents in Glannant, Capel Bangor, initially, before they moved a few doors away. This was the home I grew up in as my grandparents still lived there when I was a child. He lived with my parents for the last 8 years of his life. In the picture on the left he is pictured wearing his war medals and his Burma Star Beret outside our house.

 

 

Both of my grandfathers have long since passed, Dai when I was only 9 years old, while Mick lived to meet my children (two of his many great-grandchildren). In their own differing ways, they certainly did ‘their bit,’ but at a cost, with their experiences marking them for life, and there were many like them. Today’s society is too ready to blame older and previous generations for modern problems, which has caused the generational gaps to grow, with terms like ‘boomer,’ and ‘traditionalists’ often being used as derogatory terms. It is too easy to blame others and we are too quick to ignore our own failings. Without that generation of people, whose brave actions and self-sacrifice have given us the freedoms we enjoy today, the world would be a far worse place now. I for one, will always be proud of my grandparents’ contribution to the cause of freedom, and I will always be very grateful to that whole generation, for our ability to live our lives as we see fit. We will remember them.

Blog by Theresa Ryley

Photographs (c.) Theresa Ryley

Families 'doing their bit' in WWII - David William Davies

World War Two has always played a large part in the history of my family, with both of my grandfathers having enlisted in the forces to do ‘their bit’. While they had different military experiences, there can be no doubt their involvement affected them for the rest of their lives. Like most of that generation, they spoke little of the grim side of things, but sometimes tales were told, which has formed the essence of my blog. So, this is their story in two parts. I hope you enjoy reading it.

My grandparents, David William Davies and Gertrude James, known to friends and family as Dai and Gertie, met at Bryngwyn Mawr Farm, Llandre. They are shown on the 1939 census as living and working there, as an agricultural labourer and domestic servant respectively. Because of an accident when he was younger, where a horse stood on his hand, Dai could not bend his trigger finger as it had healed straight, and therefore he could not be sent to the frontline. Despite working in agriculture, which was a reserved occupation, he still wanted to participate in the forces and so joined the Royal Artillery on the 16th October 1941. He became a gunner and was stationed in London on the “ack ack” guns. Dai’s soldier’s service and pay book, lists the leave he took throughout his military career, and he was granted ‘privilege leave’ of 9 days on the 26th January 1942 to come home and marry Gertie. The picture below is of the wedding at Aberystwyth Registry Office on the 30th January 1942. Next to Dai was his best man, Uncle Dickie, Tynpwll, who had joined the Home Guard; next to Gertie was her best friend, Margaret Roberts and her father, Thomas James. After the wedding they lived with Gertie’s parents on a farm in Ystumtuen, although Dai resumed his military career and returned to Stratford in London when his leave had finished. 

 

 

Winston Churchill visited where he was stationed with one of his trademark cigars. Dai and his fellow gunners were envious of this as their cigarettes were rationed to around 5-10 Woodbines a day. Churchill was politely told that he could not smoke where they were and so he just dropped the cigar on the floor. The gunners were hoping to pick it up when the prime minister had moved on, but unfortunately, he did a very good job of stubbing it out with his foot, so it was not smokeable afterwards. They were not impressed and very disappointed. I cannot repeat here what they said!! He was also very lucky not to have been killed when he forgot to jump away when the guns rebounded upon firing, he ended up with only broken ribs. No doubt it was easily done in the heat of battle, when the German bombers hooked onto the lights and came diving down at you, using the lights as guides, which he said happened frequently.

 

Top Left: Llew Francis, Top Right: Ben Gudge, Bottom Left: Archie Phillips, Bottom Right: Dai Davies

After hostilities ceased, he spent some time in the port of Wilhelmshaven as part of the army of occupation. When he was on guard duty, a senior officer tried to get past him without appropriate papers, but my grandfather stood his ground and refused the officer access, until he showed him the correct identification. He was commended for this by superiors later. Regarding the town itself, he was shocked to see how devastated it was, and had a lot of sympathy for the civilians there. It was virtually flattened, and people were living in their cellars. They were starving and used to exchange whatever they had for food and cigarettes, which is no doubt how he obtained a small ring of a destroyer (below)  which we still have in the family. 

 

 

He also used to comment on how generous the American soldiers were to both the British and the Germans. They would quite often ask “you ok for cigarettes Taffy?” Then they would throw a box of 200 at him for which he was very grateful and impressed. They were just as generous with their food rations too. The Canadian soldiers on the other hand, unfortunately, were a bad experience for him. There were a group of them in a bar that were being rather loud and noisy. Dai was part of a group of British soldiers trying to keep to themselves, but the Canadians were having none of it and started calling them “yellow” and accusing them of cowardice. One of the group, a man from South Wales, could take no more and called out the loudest of the Canadian soldiers. They went outside and a fight ensued. It was not pleasant so details will not be provided here, but the British man had to be restrained before he went too far. It is clear that not all was well between the so-called allies and my grandfather never trusted Canadians again, warning my father against them when he was older.

My father Tom (Thomas William Davies) was born on the 11th October 1944 and naturally does not remember much about his father during wartime. Dai was away for large periods but because he was a farm labourer, he was granted substantial amounts of unpaid agricultural leave at crucial times in the farming calendar, to return home to do what amounts to a second job. The first time Dai would have seen his son would have been during some ‘privilege leave’ granted for the end of December 1944 till January 1945, when they moved to their own home in 5 Melindwr Terrace, Capel Bangor. My father was told he used to push letters through the parlour door as if posting them to his dad. However, his first memory of his father was when Dai came home to stay in January 1946. He would only have been about 15 months old, and he saw this giant standing in the doorway, darkening the porch, with a teddy bear that was bigger than Tom was. He was so scared he ran away from his dad, which naturally hurt Dai. 

 

A close relationship was established quite quickly afterwards though as the picture above shows. Indeed, so much so that when I was a toddler, my parents were all ready to emigrate to Canada for a better life; all my father had to do was sign the papers. My grandfather persuaded him not to go, saying it would kill his mother to see her only child and family disappear to the other side of the world. I cannot help but feel that his experience in the war also contributed to this, and he did not want to see his only son and family going to a country he mis-trusted. As it is, we stayed in Ceredigion and my parents are now living in Aberystwyth, keeping the family home. Dai, being an orphan and pushed from pillar to post, would have been very proud of this, I’m sure.

Blog by Theresa Ryley

Photographs (c.) Theresa Ryley