Newsletter 2024

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The year began with Rachel, Sean and boys moving in while their kitchen was rebuilt and other work done. It was all great fun – here we are in early morning mode

But the job took a lot longer than expected and it was awkward getting the boys to school and Meithrin.

They are both growing, and all boy – interested in anything mechanical.

Seth also likes making bread (mainly so he can make currant buns and eat currants while I am not looking).

Ethan’s Meithrin folded in the summer (they couldn’t find find suitably experienced, Welsh speaking staff to cover a half day nursery) so we are back to looking after him 2 days a week. He loves Castell Coch – mainly so he can play with the big 3-D jigsaw.

Here he is feeding his breakfast to the animals from his toy ark.

I spent quite a bit of the summer in St Davids – having lectured 6 times on the tomb of Edmund Tudor (father of Henry VII) to different groups I think I might have got it right by now! Here it is in all its glory

But Edmund had quite a complicated journey to get here.

Then in November Rachel and I got to Bruges. It was magnificent – every where you look is lovely.

We climbed the belfry – 360+ steps but worth it

The other big news is that Sean has learned to drive. He took to it very quickly, passed first time, and it’s a great help.

Steve still isn’t quite back to where he was before the pandemic, but he’s making progress – he even talks about getting back to doing field work. We shall see. My lovely young French cousin is coming to stay again for Christmas so we can do some church trips.

Love from us all – Nadolig Llawen, a Blwyddyn Newydd Dda

Grandparenting 2023

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Seth and Ethan are both growing – which means they are more able to play together. Here they are at St Fagan’s last summer

And here sharing the joy of puddles

and jigsaw puzzles (at which they are both pretty good)

Seth is now in the reception class at the local Welsh primary school.

He is apparently very good at Numbers but needs to work on Reading.

He also likes making bread.

We took them on the boat around Cardiff Bay for his birthday.

High point was watching the road go up so boats could go through the Barrage and into the marina.

We look after Ethan two days a week (his other grannie now has him for a day) but he starts Meithrin (a Welsh nursery) on 12 December. He already enjoys the parent and toddler group there.

He enjoys being helpful


feeding the birds

helping Steve with the Sudoku

and here are the lads together, planning their next exploit

 

Seth and Ethan

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When Seth first saw Ethan, a morning just before last Christmas, he put his hands on his hips and said ‘Well, I never!’

Ethan adores Seth, perhaps too much – whatever Seth is playing with Ethan wants to play too, and Seth does get very frustrated.

Seth is now in school – with the uniform and everything.

 

He goes to the Meithrin (Welsh nursery) a couple of streets away in the morning, then they walk in a crocodile to the meithrin at the local Welsh school for the afternoon session. The school is brilliant – they do really imaginative activities with the children and at first sight it looks as though they are ‘just’ playing but there is clearly a structured learning programme behind it.

 

 

Like most small boys, Seth is fascinated by trains, diggers, anything BIG that makes a Big Noise. He didn’t mind at all that the playground at the end of their lane was closed – he was quite happy watching the diggers rebuilding it.

He has been in heaven this summer as they are building a new bridge over the railway line at the bottom of our village. Dumper trucks, steamrollers … We took him on the train to Cardiff Bay for his birthday.

We thought we would have a nice afternoon in the Bay, but once we had lunch all he wanted to do was to get back on the train and go up to Cardiff Queen Street station to watch the trains coming in and out! So that’s what we did.

Meanwhile, Rachel is back at work and I look after Ethan three days a week. He relishes having uninterrupted access to the Duplo

here he is actually IN the Duplo box

but of course the toys are just there to try to distract him from what he really wants to do – using Mamgu’s desk as a climbing frame

exploring the sock drawer

and the kitchen cupboard

climbing the stairs

and – the real prize –

the washing machine!

Here’s the family earlier in the year

And here are the 2 lads deep in conversation over lunch.

what are they planning?

Rees John of Cefn Llwyd

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Some more of our family history has turned up in the papers of my late cousin David Morris. My mother’s reminiscences (downloadable at https://www.heritagetortoise.co.uk/2017/11/betty-john-cefn-llwyd/ ) described how her family moved from Michaelston-le-Pit to Cefn Llwyd in Michaelston-y-Fedw in 1908, and I noted that I had found her father’s tenancy agreement for the farm in the Kemeys-Tynte estate papers. Well, Rhys John’s copy of the agreement has now surfaced in David’s papers, so here it is.

As a tenant by year, my grandfather had to promise in detail how he would manage the land. One thing that wasn’t specified but that my mother remembered was that he was not allowed to use barbed wire in his fences. After the war, the farm came into the hands of the Morgans of Tredegar Park. They retained the right to humt over my grandfather’s fields and they did not want their horses being injured if they jumped the fences.

The Story of the Fox Inn, Juniper

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(photo (c) Snidge, from https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/75/Juniper_Hill_-_geograph.org.uk_-_344120.jpg)

Here are two inventories of the contents of a little public house on the Oxfordshire-Northamptonshire border. The first, dated 1882, is a probate inventory, a very detailed valuation of the contents of the pub and dwelling, made after the death of Thomas Harris, who first established the pub. (This is a scan from a photocopy so not perfect.)

The pub was then taken on by a Mr. K. Wood, and this is a less detailed inventory of the contents which he sold in 1907 to E. Hewlett.

These documents are interesting in themselves as an insight into life in a small farming village. Most of the trade would have been beer for farm workers. However, the 1882 inventory includes, in the tap room, champagne glasses, a tea service and plates for meals. Mr. Harris was also running a shop, but the shop stock seems to have been run down, possibly during his last illness or after his death. There was no shop by 1907; instead, the pub now boasted a parlour as well as the tap room. The list of utensils included nip glasses and port glasses, presumably for the parlour customers, as well as ginger beer glasses – were these for children, or for ladies on a hot day?

But the other interesting thing about these documents is that the Fox Inn has a place in one of the best-loved accounts of village life in late Victorian and Edwardian England. Juniper Hill is the real-life original of Lark Rise, of the ‘Lark Rise to Candleford’ series of autobiographical novels by Flora Thompson. In those novels, the Fox is renamed the Waggon and Horses, and has a whole chapter in the book. ‘There the adult male population gathered every evening, to sip its half-pints, drop by drop, to make them last, and to discuss local events, wrangle over politics or farming methods, or to sing a few songs “to oblige” ‘. Flora Thompson also mentions the shop, selling candles, treacle and cheese.

These documents were among the papers of my oldest cousin David, who died last winter. He was much older than me, really of the same generation as my mother. David’s mother was born in 1900, the oldest of the family. My mother was the youngest, born in 1915, and David was born in 1926. Times were hard then, and David and his mother spent a lot of their time at my grandparents’ farm, where there was at least enough food to eat.

After military service, David took a degree in Agriculture. He thought for a while of moving overseas, and his papers included a letter offering him a post as a tea planting assistant with the Darjeeling Company.

David Morris Tea

In spite of the tempting offer they made him – a bungalow with three servants and the possibility of promoton to the dizzy heights of Assistant Manager with six servants – he was eventually persuaded to stay in England. He became a Rural Science teacher. He married Jean, grand-daughter of the Mr. Hewlett who took over the Fox in 1907. It had been run by her family ever since, and she and David ran it together while he taught and they brought up their five children. Eventually, though, they had to retire. No-one was prepared to take the pub over as a going concern and it is now a private house.

 

Grandparenting 2021

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Seth has had a busy year in spite of lockdowns and restrictions. He likes being out in all weathers – snow

rain …

exploring the stream – in all weathers

watching the trains with his best friend Nell the spaniel

with Arwen on the slide

and doing a jigsaw with Grandad

We couldn’t have a birthday party but we went to the Museum at St Fagans and the custodian very sweetly let Seth sit on the prince’s throne at Llys Rhosyr. The young prince ponders the burdens of state …

Here are Rachel and Sean with Seth –

and here is little Ethan Wolfendale, who weighed in at 7lb 14 oz on 9 December

mind you, he did pull a dreadful face when he found he had to share a birthday with Boris Johnson’s latest

this is what is known in ouir family as an Aunty Olwen face, after a rather formidable great-aunt of mine.

But we consoled him by reminding him that he also shares a birthday with John Milton, Judi Dench, Jean-Claude Juncker and Rachel’s great hero Rear-Admiral Grace Hopper the computer pioneer.

So all’s well.

Seth

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Grandparenting in a time of Covid

Seth’s first full year has been a very strange one. From restaurant meals

and church play group

to lockdown – videochats

working from home

and a WhatsApp birthday.

But there was still fun – paddling pool in the garden

socially distanced visit in our garden

the wonderful world of books

and when we got back together as a household bubble, I introduced him to the joys of graveyards

what was he listening to?

plus the joys of leaves

and puddles.

And here he is in his Christmas jumper.

Betty John Cefn Llwyd

I had a lovely afternoon exploring my mother’s reminiscences with our village Mothers’ Union last week. They all remembered her as the elegant elderly lady who came to Evensong and were intrigued by the story of her childhood on a farm between Newport and Cardiff and her struggle to get an education. I have promised to go back again and talk about her time at university and the war years in Chepstow.

I rescued her reminiscences and put them on this site but on a page which talked about her last illness and death. Here they are again without that rather sad introduction.

Reminiscences of farming life in the 1920s

Education for the people

War Years in Chepstow

Larkfield Grammar School in World War II

An Honourable Estate

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Some more wedding photos – and another speech. Photos are all from the online album – lots more at  http://www.wedpics.com/album/GI4TGNZWGIZQ .

Here we are in the porch

porchdress

the amazing bus that Sean’s dad arranged to get us into Cardiff

bus

Rachel and bridesmaids playing around in the park

park

of course there was a Pokémon in the park

pokemon

going into the reception

receptionentrance

the cake

cake

the statutory Top Table Selfie

toptableselfie

The two Best Men’s speech was great fun and very moving

bmSpeech

(Limericks to follow when we get them scanned)

Rachel and Sean’s first dance

dance1

then it got a bit more freeform

dance3

 

dance4

and the Happy Couple are now at an Unknown Location with blue sky, blue sea, Quiet Pool and a nice man who comes round every hour with watermelon and ices. Gosh, it’s tough.