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CHILDHOOD MEHORIES

For those o f you here who do not know i t ,I fancy ny chances o f beconing a poet .Tho ' PAM AYRES ' taLent I sad l -y Lac?,T h e r e ' s j u s t n o w a y y o u ' J l h o L d m e b a c k !

what chiLdhood menories have r f or Thursr lay cLub,W i t h o u t r a t t i n q o n p e o p l e t h a t , s t h e r u b !Soneone has th rea tened me i f I k j ss and teLL ,Wi thou t a doub t she 'LL d rop me in i t as we l_ l_ !

So f ' LL keep to nyse l f t he ch i l dhoodAnd l -eave someone e -Zse to f i l l i n t heMy memories wi l - l be pure and good,No tal-es of hanky panky in the Round

pranksb lanks,

Wood l,

Do you remember your Fr iday' s penny?Miss Dodd 's shop s tocked swee ts , so many ,Gob stoppers , paraf f in, lucky baqs too ,Sherbet and hunbugs to name but a few.

Our pLayqround rn those days; wereUnder the lanp-post we a lL used toPLayed marb les , hopscotch, top andMade p lans to go pr imrose p ick ingTo be chased by Fat D ick I

f i e l -ds and the s t ree t ,m e e t .whip and t ick ,

Wt th cans we went down Barra t tsTo fe tch the n iJk , warned do notA sneaky s ip , a sw ing ove r head ,Ge t home, sho r t measure , you , re

H i L L ,s p i J L ,

s t ra iqh t up to bed .

F a v o u r i t e p f a c e s I l _ o v e t o r e c a L LA r e t h e I i t t l e s t r e a m , t h e b a t t e r s a n d t h e h a u n t e d h a L L ,The wa te r fa l J , t he g raveL ho le , Ba r ra t t s BLuebe l , l , wood ,PaddLing in the AJyn whenever we couLd.

Dear f r iends we have memories so happy, so free,We had a g rea t ch i l dhood , I ,m su re you ,JJ ag ree .And how do we know that o l r r youth r .s a l r . spent?WelL, our get up and go, has got up and went !

Now, we ' ve reached second ch iLdhood j t ' s been q rea t t o reca l l ,our memor ies together a t our cJub in the HaJr . ,Thougth our bot toms are cr inkLey, we haven ' t done badry ,|n so g lad r grew up in a v i lJaqe caLLed BRADLEY.

I rene Prat t , nee Wynne .February 1996

I am 84years old. I came to rive with my parents in old Bradley when I was 6 months old,at that time I had 2 brothers and 2 sisters. we lived in one of 2 cottages on top of what is nowcalled the Rocky Hilr. I don't think it is used now. we only stayed i'here fori y"u.,, movingto Gwersyllt' of course Lhaye n9 memory of tiving there, but my mother used to teil me ofthe hardships, the water had to be fetched from thi well on poni y capel hill. She used towalk to Gresford to do her.shopping at Meredith's stores. My mother had large tubs outsidethe cottage to catch the rain water.Eventually I married a man 66 years ago who was bom in Bradley, he passed away lastyear aged 91. He never sropped tarking about Bradley, often durirrg hiJ lud;*. he wourdstart talking and laughing about some of his childhood days, whicf, t knew oruy rreart, I,dheard them so many times. He used to say every field in Braotey *"rt uy

" Jirr"rent name.The one across fromAlyn House was calied the Maldwyn. The one where I live was calledthe Penlan Field: he knew the name of every field in Ttp Bradley.

. He used to often laugh about his childhood, they hadio make iheir own fun and games,such as a one game cailed Jack Show Light. They oiten got into mischief, iike some of thelads today, but were allowed to be given icuff onihe ear for it. His mother used to keep pigsat the back of their house, they were chasing one another in ttr" oart, one uoy had a new suiton, it was a Sunday, he was chased andjumlped over the *"tt into ttr" pig ".'.rpoor,

you.unimagine the laughter it brought every timeie talked about it.He loved Bradley, I think if he had been a miilionaire he would never have moved,everyone was friendly. He use to talk about a family in Top Bradrey namedrhomas, theywent by the name of Nedand Charlie 'Patch'. They iived in a .ottug" ut trr" .id of th" lun"leading ro Pantmawr field, They also had a sister lnd her husbandfi"id;il rhem. They

I"l" Ytty big hefty people. He used to visit them when he went to see his brother who livedin the lane' he said he went there one dinner time and they had a rabbit each on ttrei, ptater.They kept a donkey and cart with barrels on to bring water from the well at pont y Capel.People used to borrow it.

. If.you_gver said anything about Hoilybush rerrace he had to think about it, becauseit was then Harding Griffith houses.These are some of the memories my husband talked about so often.

Please don't read it out of you th_ink I have poached on someone erse,s memories. I onrywish he was here to tell you himself.

MARY JONES

I remember Granny Dodd pulling the net curtain back for me to see the funeral procession moving off.My 5 year old sister, Mary had died. That is my earliest memory. I was 3 and a halt years old.

I was born in 1, Moss Cottages, Bradley in 1915. The year that the Luisitania was sunk by a GermanU Boat and Frank Sinatra was bom. I was christened Marjorie Cicely Vincent Simmons at Holy TrinityChurch, Gwersyllt. Anne and Susan ioke that I was 'launched', not christened. Bradley was a small villageof about 37 houses, sutrounded by fields. Many ot the villagers had nicknames like 'Ned the Donkey" wholived next door to Mrs. Watkins and Mrs. Jones the'Butter Woman'who sold her bufter in Wrexham market.(How she made it , I don't know!) 'Albert the Mill' was the ploughman at Barrat's farm. Sam and HarryBarnes did the milking ancl Joe Spot lived in the mttages at the Wre Mill, (originally the site of a Wire Mill).'W.W.W was on all the gates - Sir Watkins Williams Wynn.

My tather worked at Rhoscldu pit like most of the men in the village. He wastheioiner and undertakerof the village. I wonder what his nickname was! He made the coffins down the garden where he had awolkshop. I remember me and Frank putting KaUe in one of the coffins and starting to sdew the lid dournbetore mother stopped us.

I have lovely memories of my young days. Me, Katie, Elsie and Mary Watkins, Myfanwy Gritfiths,Bessie Evans, Gladys and Alice Davies, Doris Allen and lots of lads including Russell Davies enjoyedplaying marbles, skipping and hopscotch in the Spring.

In the Summer we would go to the 'Falls' down the hill at the River Alyn ( and very often fall in) orgo down to Dickie Edwards's tarm called the Wilderness lor a picnic with our mothers - jam sandwiches,cake and a bottle of water! We also used to go otf for the day to Caergwrle Castle. Elsie's brother Johnnieand 'our Frank ' used to buy hot cross buns and lemonade powder and walk to Llangollen tor the day!Sometimes we went to Llay ac{oss Pant Mawr past Ned Patctr's house and Alan Jones . We loved goingdown Jack Barrat's hill past the tarm and into Bluebell Wood to pick the flowers. We picked primroses inTop Bradley in Alderman's Meadow and Fat Dick's Farm. Elsie's sister, Mary always picked more co\^/slipsthan the rest of us. We used to take our cans to Jack Banats Farm tor our milk and once a year we usedto see the men in their red coats hunting otters in the River Alyn. In the Winter we used to play a gamecalled 'Throwing the Tin'. One of us would throw the tin while the other hid their eyes and then we had togo and look for it. We liked going to Hannah Phoenix's shop at the top of Jack Barrat's hill for our srweets.She was very deal and so didn't hear the bell as we walked in so we used grab a free sweet before shesaw us. Me and Elsie used to pick on Barbara Woolridge when she came to the shop. We used to pokeour finger through the bag of sugar she bought and then run away down the hilt. We used to pray "Godforgive us just this once" but we always did it again. Mrs. Dodd (Elsie' s granny) also had a shop wherewe could buy paraffin and cigarettes - Woodbines! We used to tie a rope around the door handle of theshop and Mr. Jones' door handle next door and knock loudly. We laughed and laughed asthey both triedto ooen their doors!

My father built a wooden shop at the top of the 'Back road' whidr sold groceries. Stran Davies ownedit . We also had a fish and chip shop in the fielcl in the back road, run by the Jenkins . Eventually we hada new wooden chip shop at Glan Llyn which was run by Joe Spot. lt was always going on tire. The chipswere a penny a bag. Margaret ( Gwen's cousin) told Joe she wasn't to eat too many bec€ruse they hadspots and hairs on them! | remember that we also had a bitliard hall in the tield in the back road.

My mother and Aunt Lizzie would go shopping to Wrexham in Mrs. Dodd'S pony and trap which shekept in the yard in the back road. Bondy from Caergwrle used to visit Bradley to collect the dead horses.The villagers would also pay 3d to go to Wrexham in 'Dirty Shirt's t€txi. Sometimes we would catch a doubledecker tram in Wrexham at Brook Street and go for a ride down Vicarage Hill and Ruthin Road to Rhosand back.

I remember having candles and oil lamps in the house , and toilets down the garden. lt was verycold going for a wee in the Wnter. Thats why I always had wet knickers and needed the hot tin bath onthe hearth.

We had fields at the back and front of the house. The villagers were able to sow 2 or 3 rows ofootatoes in the front field. In the Autumn we had bonfires there, and we would bake potatoes in the

bonfires. At the far end ot the lield was the wall sunounding Gwersyllt Hall where the lrvin tamily lived. Weused to believe ihat the ghosts of dogs ran around the Park wall, but we never saw them. We had pigstiesat the bottom ot our garden, and me and Elsie, Katie ancl Gladys Davies used to play in them. Elsie wasalways Katie's husband, and Gladys was always mine, she used to spit all the time. I remember the timethe gate swung into Katie's mouth and she bit hertongue so badly that she needed 7 stitches at the hospitalin Wrexham. Our doctor's surgery was in Rhosddu. Dr. Wallace always visited Bradley on his bike onMondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, although he would visit any time if there was a need.

Every Sunday we used to go to Gwersyllt Church as a family for the 1 1 o' dock service. We alwaysstopped to talk to Dick'Deaf and Dumb' at the top of the Church Hill. He was the gravedigger who livedin Summerhill. Then me, Katie and Frank would walk to Sunday School in the Church School for 2 o' clock.Aunty Beattie was a Sunday Sciool teadrer as well as being the village post lady. She always had a pocketfull ot sweets. I remember the dogs used to follow her around as she delivered the letters.On Whit Sunday all the children would dress in white and walk round the churchyard, but I like theChristmas c€lebrations best ol all. Mother would take us on the train to Liverpool to see the Grotto. Iremember once going to London when I was 14 years old with Aunty Lena and Mother. lwas sodisappointed because I expected to see the pavements really paved with gold!

The vica/s wite ran the Brownies. lt was tun going tor long walks in Gwersyllt and Summerhill.I went to sctrool in Gwersyllt iust like all the other children in the village. Most of us weni to Gwersylh

Council School. Mother moved 'Our Frank'and Mary from the Church School to the Council Schoolbecause it was new and well heated. lt was a long walk round the fields and up the wood to school. Westarted walking at 8.30 a.m. to startschoolat 9.00. Then it was home for lunch of boiled onions or thickenedmushrooms and then back for 1 .30 p.m. School would finish at 4.00. On ouf way home trom school ona Friday we would call at the shop next to Dr. Ghandi's Surgery in Gwersyllt ( a tin shed) We had a treatol 2 oz. ol sweets for 1 penny. Sometimes we would call at Bill Suger's Post Office too.

I used to call for Elsie on my way to s{fiool. She had a beautiful garden. We used to collect treasuresof buttons, beads or shiny stones and wrap them up in paper or hide them in a hole in the bank. We puta dod of earth over them. We would check them on our way home from school to see it anyone had takenthem.

I didn\ like scftool very much. We started when we were 5 years old and left at 15 years old. I onlyliked mokery with Nanny Clark. We were all afraid of Mr. Jones the Headmaster. He used to poke us inthe back and pull the boys out by their ears and give them three strokes ot the cane.

Once a month the Green Nurse, Nurse Cornwall would visit us in school. We called herthe'BuggyNurse'The teachers were O.K. I had Nellie Collie in Standard 1 and Ada 'Bob Nose' in Standard 3and 4 . 'Our Frank had a naughty habit ot stepping on Nellie Collies toes and flicking ink at her from theink well. I was a'talker'and used to have the cane a lot. lt didn't seem to stop me!

We didn't celebrate Christmas much in school like they do today, but I remember wearing a leek ordaffodil on St. Davicl's Day and having a day off in May tor Oak Ball Day. We used to sing:

'Oak Bail DayThe 24th Mayff you clonT give us a hdidayWe'll all run awaYt'

I remember walking to the Cenotaph in Gwersyllt one day with school to see the Prince ot Wales(the Duke of Wndsoo. He was passing through on his way to Caernarvon . I also remember the 1926 CoalStrike when most of the village children had school dinners free.

The school cErretaker was Mrs. 'Goody' or Nain Jones as the children called her, She lived in thehouse next to the school and she had a little ladder up one side of her garden wall and down the otherside onto the school yard. The boys were always moving it ! She was really naggy. Little did I know thatone day I would marry her grandson Owen.

MADGE ROBERTS NCE SIMMONS

I was born on a Saturday night l6th February, 1929, to Seymour and Florence Jones, at 22 Glanllyn Street

(Margarine Street) Bradley, near Wrexham. I was the youngest child, my eldest sister Eleanor was five

years older and Pauline four years older. Our mother, Florence died at the age of 32 when I was three years

old. My father married my mother's sister and we moved to 200 Glanllyn , and this is when my memories

begin.

I often think how lucky we were being children of that era, therc was a world to explore and we could

do it with no fear for our safety. Explore it we did.

On the top of Barran's Hill, to the left was the wood leading to Gwenyllt Park, where we would play

and sometimes proceed to the gate in the wall that used separate the wood from Gwersyllt Park. We would

climb the wall, the gate would be locked to keep us out of the Park. Once in the Park we would hurry across

just in case Jack Banatt would catch us. We would continue through the Park, past the ruins of Gwersyllt

Hall and carry on to Llay Hall Colliery, or Brickyard, where we would pick blackberries. I was afraid I

would see a snake, because one of tle gang told me they had found a snakeskin. So I was not too keen on

blackberry picking.

On the top of Barrau's Hill on the right was the gravel hole where we used to play. At the side of the

gravel hole there was the path leading to the Wire Mill which was fenced off from the sewerage bed where

Mr. Davies from 21 Glanllyn worked. There was a stile or fence we climbed over to get into the field which

took us down to the River Alyn, and before the main Llay New Road was built in 1937/8 we could walk

to the Wire Mill houses. One of the houses was occupied by Mr. Joe Williams who kept the fish and chip

shop (Joe Spot's) in Bradley We used to ask Mr. Williams for some scratchings (pieces of batter from the

fish) when we did not have a penny for chips, he nearly always obliged or would tell us to come back later.

When walking up the path to the Wire Mill we passed the gravel hole, further up on the same side

was Bem Chester's field where we would pick mushrooms, and catch bees in jam jars, illegally, of course.

Also in that field there used to be a big black shed where Mr. Chester was supposed to have slept because

he worked nights at Gresford Colliery. I remember peeping into the shed, it was wall-papered , but never

saw Mr. Chesters there. He was killed in the Gresford Colliery Disaster. Bern Chestet's field is now the

Old Mill Estate.

On the Back Road Mr. WalterTilston lived, he saved cigarette cards for me. Next door the Howells

family lived, further up Back Road was Benny Jones' Billiard hall, next was Jenkin's fish and chip shop,

then Ashton House, then Tommy Griffiths', known as Tommy Badrock, he used to slaughter pigs for my

Taid in Rhosrobin. In the next house lived Mr. Emlyn and Gwen Miles, I used look after their baby son

Colin. At the end of Back Road was Stan's Shop , it was a long green building if I remember conectly.

Back Road was also the back entrance to other houses. I was friendly with Hazel Penin, her father

worked for Mr. Simmons building caravans, we would sit for hours watching caravans being built. We

played in our gardens, garden sheds, in the woods, Park Gravel Hole, Wire Mill, also on the street when

it was top and whip time, marbles, hopscotch, we would be told off for drawing beds for hopscotch on the

road. We played skipping in the rope, but none of us ever wanted to tum the rope, but if you wanted to play

vou had to take your tum.

We used to go down Barratt's Hill to get water from the well opposite to the gate into the grounds

of Mrs. Pritchard's where we would buy a pennyworth of apples.

As we walked towards Barratt's Farm we came to the bridge over the river Alyn, this was another placewe played. We would climb over the bridge, climb or slide down the bank to the river and under the bridgethere was a rock ledge and this is where we would play. I remember about 6 o 'clock at night the water wouldrush down the river and we would say the flood gates have opened. Also I remember men walking downthe river with otter hounds, I was told they were hunting otters, I did not see them catch any. Also alongthe river bank Mrs. Pritchard's side of the river therc was a wood which was very manhy, and we used towalk, sinking in all the mud whilst collecting kingcups which grew in the marsh, them we would be rinsingour shoes in the river to get the mud off before going home.

I attended Rhosrobin Church School, therefore we had a lot of religious education. I was walking pastBanatt's farm, with other children, I peeped into the farmyard, and I was just in time to see Jack Barrattslaughtering a sheep, I thought Jack was making a sacrifice to God, as Abraham did in the scriptures.

We would walk on to Top Bradley and would have three choices of directions to take. The one to theright would take us along the path at the side of the corn fields (before Llay New Road was built) over toPont - y -Capel, passing the big yew tree in the middle of Miss Blackler's field ( now Bryn Alyn Boys' Home.We would have a roly poly down the bank at Pont -y Capel and then continue to Tom Tit's cottage on theriver Alyn bank. Depending on how tired we were, we would carry on walking past the Clayhole or pastWildemess Farm, across the fields to Dickie Edward's farm and from there back to Bradley. At Top Bradleywe could take left tum which was past Fat Dick's farm to Cefn -y- Bedd, or we could go straight on to PantMawr fields, feed the donkey and over the fields to Uay. We did this sometimes and were brave enoughto go to the 'Rec', if we managed to get in before we were recognised as not belonging to Llay, we wouldbe O.K., but most time we were spotted and the Llay children would not let us in. If we managed to get inwe had a good time on the slides and swings. Miss Penlington, the post lady, she used to call at the shopon top of Barratt's Hill to buy a halfpenny Gipsy biscuit to feed the donkey when she delivered the lettersto Top Bradley. I would walk with her sometimes.

Church and Chapel played a big part in our social lives. I attended Bradley and Olivet Chapels. InBradley we used to have the 'Band of Hope', I think the ladies who used to take us were Mrs. tatham andMrs. Blythen, and Mrs. williams from No. l, Glanllyn used to play the organ, she was very strict, I wasafraid of her. She was the mother of Megan , Irene and Tommy. At Band of Hope we used to recite an oaththat we would not partake of intoxicating liquors, I did not know what intoxicating liquors were, but Irecited with all the other children. I attended Olivet Chapel mostly, as I can remember being in theanniversaries and always went on the Olivet Trip, which always seemed to be Rhyl. When we congrcgatedoutside Olivet on the day, we would all be comparing how much each other had to spend, mostly it was3/6d, but a few lucky ones would have 5/-d (25p) a fortune in those days, We all wanted to be on FrankHarvey's bus, he lived at Rhosrobin. We would all be positioned at the open windows , waving our hankiesas we drove along. As we drove along towards Ruthin, we would have great pleasure in counting all thebends in the road on the Nant- y-Garth Pass. We would anive in Rhyl at the Marine l-ake, one of my treatswould be to have a doughnut made while you waited, this stall was at the entrance to the Marine Lake. Ourmothers would then take us to the Paddling Pool, put on our bathing costumes (probably bought fromWoolworths for 3d or 6d) We would then be dithering with the cold, and then venture into the water. Nomatter how cold it was, we paddled and our mothers sat and watched us. We would also go to have a ridpon the bikes. At teatime we would proceed to pre-arranged Chapel schoolroom where we would be treated

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to sandwiches, cake andjellies, provided by the ladies of that Chapel. I suppose our Chapel paid for it.Also, I think, probably an offshoot from Chapel would be to sing in Moses Edwards' Choir. Most of

the girls from Olivet were in the Choir. I went a couple of times, but not having a singer's vorce , was notencouraged to stay.

On Sundays we would be sent to Mr. Grady's for a bottle of pop to have with Sunday dinner. Do youremember Sunday night fry-ups? That was the remains of Sunday dinner fried up for supper.. The meatfrom Sunday was scouse on Mondays, Wash Day. I used to go to school about 8.15 a.m. Mother would besorting the washing. I would race home from school for dinneq and the scouse would be boiling on the fire.It would be scooped onto a plate with a slice of bread, lovely. The washing was still boiling in the boiler.Back to school, home at four, if it had been raining the washing would be folded into wet piles ready fordrying in front of the fire at night. If it had not rained the clean washing would be folded or rolled readyfor ironing. Mother would still be washing after tea. How I hated Washdays. Thanks for washing machines.

I remember taking the oven shelf wrapped in a piece of cloth to warm the bed. Dad always cleanedthe flues of the fire grate on a Friday mornings when he came from work. How the grates used to shine.Everyone was very proud of their firegrates when they were polished.

The Co-op bread man used to come twice or three times week , our bread was kept in a big brown and yellowBuckley mug, with cloth over it, in the pantry. The Co-op order used to be delivered, and I remember onweek the three ofus had a pair of wellingtons delivered. Divi Day was always good, because we would haveoranges and other treats. Do you remember adding up the gum sheets?

The family who lived across the road from us were Jones the Mill, they were called that because Mr.George Jones' family had lived and worked Gwersyllt Mill since 1851, possibly before then. Gwersyllt Millwas below Gwersyllt Hall Farm, (Dickie's) nearer tlre river.

In the 1930's, the Depression years, people were relatively poor. When we were in the schoolyardat playtime at Rhosrobin school, we would see the men walking to Wrexham on Mondays, and Wednesdayto sign on the dole, and on Fridays they would walk to collect the dole.

Mr. and Mrs. Steve l,ewis lived next door to us in No. 199, they had daughter Bessie and Mary. In.our front garden we had a privet hedge separating our gardens and we children made a run through so thatwe could get to each other quickly. We used to exchange comics.

Mary had some curling tongs which were heated on the fire and then tested on a piece of newspaperto see if they were safe to put on your hair without singeing it. Mary was quite expert in the job and I was

only too happy to be the model, this was on Saturday nights when Mr. and Mrs. kwis would go out, andwe would go to their house or they would come to ours for company and the hair styling. I was a bridesmaidwhen I was seven, and Mary performed on my hair for the great occasion, I was very proud of my wavy

hair. Mr. Steve lrwis was killed , along with other people at Gresford during the war in 194O. Bombs were

dropped on Gresford the previous night, and the next morning a time bomb exploded killing these people.

They had gone to see the bomb craters.

Our house was number 200, butthe house the other side ofus was 167, and Mr. and Mrs. Price Hughes

lived there with family winne, olive, Bobby, Lilian and Gwen who was my age and another friend and

playmate. They later moved to 189 Glanllyn, I think. Then Mr. and Mrs. Bellis came to live next to us with

trvo little boys David and Gwilym.

Across the road from our house at the top of Barrat's Hill was the shop which was kept by Mr. and Mrs.

Edwards, with daughten Myra and Connie and son Binny. At the back of the shop there was a big gardenand buildings, we played there, Binny had a huge rocking horse, Binny let us all have a ride. He also hada very big teddy bear, he let me play with it and even let me carry it when we went for a walk.

Mr. Ned Greenaway, a black African used to clean the windows in the village. He lived in a caravanat Poolmouth, Moss. He brought his ladders on a trailer which was attached to his bike. On Sundays he usedto come all dressed up in his Sunday best and preach his sermons at the end of streets, we used to go outto give him pennies. He was also known for giving his recipes for curing illnesses. My taid was dying fromcancer, and Ned gave my dad a recipe and I can remember my dad making it in the mornings when he camehome from working nights in uay Main Colliery. He used to put yellow chicken feed com onto a cleanshovel, put the shovel onto the coal fire and eventually the com would produce popcom (which we childrenwould eat) and a brown liquid which dad would put in a bottle for taid to drink. Taid did not get curcd, butthe popcorn was nice.

I remember the 'Aunt Sally Man', he had a motorbike with a kind of sidecar which was the containerfor the 'Aunt Sally' (a cleaning solution) The container had a tap on it and we would take a bottle to be filled.

Another character was 'Charlie the Ragman', he frequently came around with his horse and cart,shouting "Rags and bones", I don't remember taking bones, but I do remember taking old clothes, and hereluctantly gave us a penny or a goldfish.

I remember tle'Hurdy Gurdy Man'with his barrel organ, and the performing monkey which dancedon the barrel organ, the monkey used to be dressed in clothes. The man used to wind the organ with ahandle, and the monkey danced to the rnusic. I used to love that, and we would give the man pennies.

Two other characters were Jim and Fred (Pop) Prydderch, I don't know why they were called 'Pop'

does anyone recall? It was said that Mrs. Prydderch was from a wealthy family and she married one of herfamily's staff, such as gardener or coachman. I can remember as a very old lady sicing by the back door,with a shawl around her shoulders and wearing a ha! they lived in the Stone Cottages which faced up tothe Round Wood , with gardens stretching up to where Miss lrwis ( I think she was a schoolteacher) livedopposite Mr. Ted Simmons, Glanllyn Farm. If I remember correctly, there was small stream runningalongside the Stone cottages. Mrs. Blackwell and Mrs. Shaw also lived in the stone cottages.

Pastor Pomeroy came to the area about 1935/6. He was supposed to have the power to heal people,and a lot of people thought he could. My mother contacted him to see whether he could cure my dad's asthmaand my asthma. She was told to send something that could be pinned onto our vests against our chests. Mymother sent two handkerchiefs, and they were retumed duly 'blessed' and Dad and I had the handkerchiefspinned onto our vests. I never had asthma again, but poor my Dad and died from asthma aged 70.Through the visitation of Pastor Pomeroy to the area a lot of people became religious, some were said tohave'Religious Mania.'

We used to walk down to Dickie's for milk, I ' /" d a pint (cheaper than delivered to the door) Wewould watch the cows being milked. The cows would be standing up to their ankles in cow manure, theflies would be everywhere, outside the shippon there was a huge square of manure. Dickie's daughterswould help milk the cows and then carry the milk in to the cooler which was about four feet high and themilk would run down the cooler which looked like an old fashioned washing board, running into a chumunderneath, then she would scoop out the milk with a half pint ladle. Then we would go home, twirling thecan to see if we could wirl without spilling the milk, I never did, but I would have a drink on the way , so

t 0

I don't think there was any saving in going for the milk.

As we went to school we would call for those who went to Rhosrobin School, and would have loadsof fun as we walked from Bradley past Diggory's farm down l-ea's Road. I assume it was called Leas' Farmbecause Mr. Job Lea was living and farming Gwersyllt Farm l87l to 1891. Richard and Henry Birchfarmed there from 1851 - 1861. I have looked at old maps but the roads are not named. [ra's Road was fromDiggory's Farm , it continued undemeath where Lindop's Garage is now and the New Road, now the privateroad to Gwersyllt Hall Farm. Behind the high stone wall there used to be a very big orchard, then you cometo the stream. [.ea's road continued past a well which used to overflow and run back into the stream, thenthere was the sand hole where birds used to nest in the bank and we used to peep in to see the the youngchicks.

Very often we would have the cane for being late for school, all because we had played too long onthe way. Coming home from school could be great fun. There was always something going on at Dickie'sfarm We would sit on the wall and watch the sheep being dipped, or the little piglets being castrated, ohhow they squealed.

I remember the story of the Tithe Tax' trying to be collected from Dickie Edwards. Tithe was a tenthpart of the produce and stock allocated to the clergy. Dickie refused to pay it and I can remember being toldput readings from the Bible over the door of the shippons and his property, the police were there. Dickieand his family went to the Welsh Chapel on Rhosddu New Road. I think it was called 'Moriah'That mighthave been a reason he did not want to pay Tithe to the Church of England. I do not know the full story, butit was often mentioned when I was young. I do not know whether he eventually paid up or where the Tithetax was scrapped.

On lra's Road the road used to have a fork which we called the 'Y', left was for Pandy and right wasup a steep hill, when you reached the summit you went down a small hill and into Rhosrobin, the road wasonly the width of the grass verge on front of the bungalows on IJay New Road, by Star Cleanen (Rhosrobin

School). From the 'Y' up the hill towards Pandy, where Speed Six garage is , there was a Whippet Stadium.I have been told that the Stadium building was from a Football Club, either Abermorddu or Caergwrle. Mycousin Peter Davies who lived at7 Glanllyn who was killed in the Gresford Disaster used to race a whippetthere, its name was Black and White Muzzle. His brother Johnny Davies who died Christmas 1995 saidthe only time it won was at a Christmas time and they had a turkey and a bag of potatoes. Mr. Matt Knightwas the Bookie there, he later kept a shop in Bradley.

M y taid died in 1938 and my Nain came to live with us. Nain was bedridden so Mother and dadneeded a house with a parlour to use for Nain's bedroom. So on the loth January 1939, we moved to Pandywhen I was l0 years old and another era began, but I never last touch with Bradley.

11

SIBYL JONES

I wos born in an old hDo up htso dousn house in Blo'ck Lane, Moss. The house hod no hot

r,rrter, so 'lDrrter hoLd to be botledJor bathlng and- usashtng up. The house had' a cellar

uhere mg Mum dtd.the uashtng in an oldbrickbulltbollerJlredbg coal' Mg Mum and Dad

usent ou{one dag and mg sis te's usere leJtto do the uashing up' I fo;n tnto the kitctlenJust

as mg sirster llfted the so'ucepo;n o;f botllng uater Jrom the stoue- Most oJ ttl€ luD(rtef u)a's

spilt6uer mg irm os I crashed' tnto het- I lulos uearTng a uallenJumper-ullc-h mg slsters

immedratety putled ofi takirg my skin lll/xh it I uas teJt utth a scar ushlch I hoJe to thls

dag.we motsed to Bradleg ushen I usas about three g ears old Mg irst memory oJ the tause

tn Bradleg LDas a bo;ck gardenJull o;f poppies-It ysis cotled. a'parlour house'. There uas no electr'rclty, ue hod gas llghts totth oery

Jragite mantles tn them- we had a black leaded grate utth an ouen and an openite, and

sulng lron platesJor kettles and saucepans.bur ,partour; utas empta. we couldn t $ford-Jurnibtre orJToor cooerlftg, lt .em..tf'"d

thb usag Jot some ttme'Foi pocket monel mg brother used. to collecthorse mo:nure tn a uheelbartouJor mg

Tatd,s g6rden. One iqni mg Mum ard. Dad and me rehrned home Jrom a Dlslt to mg

Auntie's. As use usalked through the door mg Mum satd'\Mhat's that au;ful smell?"

She u.ras soon tofindout. Mg brother hadput hts uheelbanrous oJ manure into tlle Int'louf '

MgMumuentma.d.'WeIl' sald mg brother, "lt l.;.llas ro:intng and tt rttould spoll lf lt got ueL"

TheJamttg usho lfrsed nert door uere catled Rogets, I usedto plag wtth the goungest

daughtei. She roas catled Steilo.. Sodtg Shlela dted at a Dery earlg age'

The other slde oJus liued' aJamllg called Dtckens. Theg had one son called Franlde'

Wten the RogersJamilg moued out" aJamilgJrom G{fiiths Rou.r tn Guersgllt mooed tnJor

a couple oJ ieetcs . One oJ the wo .i tn tie Jamltg uas called 'MaSgY Bach' . Theg hod"

o noing goat tn the baik garden. We got up one mor'.lng and theg had disappeared,

uhere to I dan't lcnou.I started schoot at Gu:ersgltt church School uj hen I u:as oboutfwe years old. Mg uery

bestJrtend. usas MarlonWtlllants. We userefierdsJor mang gears. Our other'rlends uere

Bettg Cheetham, NancA Platt, Gladgs Williams, Connte Jones, to name Just aJew'

We crll had greatJin pla1lng tn the Park and the ur,oods' We plaged m.o:rrA go,mes tn

the streets, s,."h as hopscotch, skipplng, marbles, wttches Kitchen and stahrcs.

Tlme meant nothtrlg to us tur|en u)e u)ere engrossed ln plag ' Mg Mum used to slaut me

Jrom the top oJ the road, to come homeJor meals. one dag I thoughtl heard' her caIIIrg, so

oJ I trotted,uDid gou caII me?" I said . "No " sald' Mum' 'Oh I satd"' It musthot;e beenthe

GresJord hooter I heard.u I uon't tell gou ushat Mum sald to that'

Marlon had a lovetg doll's pram. It |tr/oLs coach butlt, black, ttstth ltttle rosebuds on

black materTal ltntrg instde the hood. she uras the enDa oJ us all, and use used to argue

uhose tum tt lu.os to Push ttwe used to take newspapers to Joe Spot',s Flsh shop. I thtnk te usas called Joe spot

beca use he hcrd alot oJ uais onhtsJace. Hb u:ould- glue us 'scmtchings'( little blls oJ batter

ofrthejsh)Jorthe rerospapers' One dag tnthe Summerholidags, Manonandl tork some

chalk ortd drelD ptctures oJ spotted,Jlsh oll ouer trte uoodenJTsh shop, and urote tn blg

letters "BW JOE SPOT'S SpOffeO ffSll' Somebodg s n ttched on us and txe uefe banned

Jor useeks $terusards.' we had. etsacueesJrom Ltuefpool in the uillage during the uaf .IJ you hadroom in gour

house gouhad.to takein euacueis or lodgers. We h..d tf,ee menlodgtng atour house who

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uorked at the o,mmunttTons Jactory. one |UJ,as aMr. ousers Jrom Angleseg. He used. to gohome at weekends, and when he retrrned on a sundag ntght he brought back louelg patsoJ butter Jor us. sometime s there :u,o,s a picture oJ a mtlkmaid tutth the goke on hershoulders d,nd. sometTme a ptc']./re oJ a cotts.

Mlss Dodd. usho liued ocross the road and had a smnll shop, had hto euacueesJromLtuerpool. one uas called Joe and the other Jtm. Jim usas onlg about fuso and- a haf gearsold- and uas aluags snottg nosed and crytng. Theg soon settled tnand.had,ahappg llferrith Mfss Dodd. Jlm and. Joe toere Romtn cotholtcs, and Miss Doddusas in tToubte :ulaththe priests one time ushen she olloused Jtm and Joe to go on the sundag school rrTp utththe chlldrenJrom the 'Llttle chnpel'dounthe road. Jim neDer u)ent back to Liverpool. Hemanled a local glrl and" nous liues in Guersgttt.

we used to walk past the Park usall to school eoery dag. During the usar use ho,d thecompang oJ the Yanks marchtrtg to the Mess tn Guersgltt ClubJor thetr breat{asts. Thereuere qulte a lot oJ Yonks bllleted tn the Druage . Mg Jrlend had. one staytng at her house;hls nc:fiLe was Joe La Plante.

Mg Dad u)a.s a mlner, but he had to gtue tt up as he had. gangrene in hls;fingersthrough the coal dust gettrrg into cuts. He had the top oJ hlsJlngers afiwutated- throughgangfene.

Mg Jrrend. Marlon'sJather u;os a coo,l miner too, and" he also had to;irnish through tllheolth.

Bradleg uas and still E a louelg uillage. I utll aluags remember mg chj/d'hood and-chlldhood Jriends u-rlth uarmth and happiness.

GWYNETH HOWELLS nee POVEY

As most of you will know, I was an evacuee from Liverpool in the year 1940. I remember the bombsand machine gunning as we used to run to the shelters from school. We also spent many nightsin the Anderson shelter at the bottom of the garden, that is when I learnt crochet and other crafts.

We came to live in Gwersyllt and I have many happy memories of the Council School and'Curly the teacher.We went to live with a lady we all knew as 'Aunt Sally' in Ewood Grove. I can remember going

to collect the milk trom the'boy'with the horse and trap, this boy was Hilmer, who I eventuallymarried. I think this is quite a coincidence really as I learnt later on that Aunt Sally was presentat the birth of Hilmer, and Fate directed me to live with her and then meet Hilmer.Do you remember the'speedwells'and the'Girls'Guildry'? we used to meet regularly, ancl onsome Sunday mornings we would march around the villages of Gwersyllt, Rhosrobin andBradley. Who was leading them? Me, as I was the tailest.

Sundays were busy days attending Chapel three times. Anniversary Sundays were greatevents, having practised for many weeks - my Mum used to teach us the songs and poems etc.The Chapel used to be tull to capacity, the songs being enjoyed by all.

l 3

URSUT-A PARRY nee BLOOM

Having heard Mrs. Jones and Madge Simmons recal l theirm e m o r i e s a l s o J o e C h a l L o n e r , f f i y o r r n c h i l d h o o d t h o u g h t sb e g a n t o f o c u s o n o n e o r t w o t h i n g s I r e c a l l w h i l e l i v i n gi n B r a d l e y . L i k e t , h e t i m e W a r w a s d e c l a r e d i n S e p t e m b e r| 3 9 , A t t h a t t i m e I I n r a s l i v i n g i n 4 S t o n e C o t t a g e s a n dn e x t d o o r t , o t h e E l l i s F a m i l y a n d I r e c a l I t a l k i n g t oF r e d a E I l i s w h e n t h e a n n o u n c e m e n t c a n : e o v e r t h e r a d i o , a tt h a t a g e w e k n e w i t w a s s e r i o u s b u t n o t h o w i t w o u l d a f f e c tu s . T h e n c a m e t h e i s s u e o f g a s m a s k s , i d e n t , i t y c a r d , t h eb l a c k o u t a n d A n d e r s o n s h e l t e r s r t h e s e c a m e i n t o t h e h o u s ea n d w e r e o f a l a r g e s t e e L t a b l e - I i k e c o n s t r u c t i o n w i t h w i r em e s h i n t o w h i c h w e c r a w l e d w h e n t h e r e w a s a n a i r r a i d .O t h e r s r d u r i n g a i r r a i d s w o u l d s p e n d t h e n i g h t u n d e r t h eb r i d g e o n t h e L l a y r o a d . T h e r e w e r e a l s o a i r r a i d s h e l t e r sc o n s t r u c t e ' d i n t h e v i l l a g e , o n e w a s a t t h e t g p o f B a r r a t sh i l l w h e r e t h e b u n g a r o w n e x t t o t h e p a r k s s h o p i s n o ws i t u a t e d r d l s o t w o o r t h r e e m o r e w h i c h w e r e r n o w n a s t h ep o o l .

O n e p a r t i c u l a r e v e n t I r e c a i . l r e g a r d i n g a i r r a i d s h e l t e r sw a s t h e t i m e m y b r o t h e r l v o r a n d G e o f f T h o m a s r w h o s e f a t h e rw a s i n t h e f i r e b r i g a d e , w € r € p l a y i n g a t c o w b o y s a n dI n d i a n s w h e n G e o f f w h o h a d h i s f a t h e r s f i r e a x e / t o m a n a w ks t u c k i t i n t h e t o p o f I v o r ' s h e a d r n e e d l e s s t o s a y t h eb l o o d s p u r t e d e v e r y w h e r e , i t w a s o n l y s a v e d b y J o y c eR o b e r t s r m o t h e r w h o p u t h e r h a n d o n t o p o f l v o r ' s h e a d t os t o p t h e f l o w o f b l o c d a n d s e n L f o r t h e d i s t r i c t o u t r s € r w h or e w a r d e d h i m l a t e r w i t h a b a r o f c h o c o l a t e f o r b e i n q s u c h ab r a v e b o y .

W e u s e d t o g o d o w n t o t h e s e $ r a g e w o r k s a t B r a d f e y f o rw o r m s f o r f i s h i n g a n d t o m a t o p l a n t s r d o d c n o n e p a r t i c u l a rd a y R y l a n d D a w s o n f e I l i n . N e e d l e s s t o s a y h e w a s n , t v e r ys w e e t w h e n h e c a m e o u t o f i t , h e n c e t h e l i t t l e r h y m e

" C o w s s t i n k i n t h e s h i p p o np i g s s t i n k i n t h e s t y

b u t n o b o d y s t , a n k l i k e R y l a n dW h e n h e f e I l i n t h e s e w a g e p i e "

A n o t h e r t i m e w h i c h c o m e s t o m i n d i s w h e n t h e y a n k s c a m e t oB r a d l e y . T h e y w e r e s t a t i o n e d u p a t G w e r s y l l t C I u b a n dT u d o r ' s B i l L i a r d H a L l i n G w e r s y l l t . N e a r l y e v e r y h o u s ei n B r a d l e y h a d a Y a n k o r t w o , b u t n o t i n o u r c a s e b e c a u s ew e h a d n ' t $ o t t h e r o o m . F o u r p a r t i c u l a r o n e s t . h a t , Ir e m e m b e r w e r e S t e w a r t , B r a o f o r d , G o n z a l e s a n d O ' N e i l - , w h ow e r e s t a t i o n e d w i t h G e o f f J o n e s ' p a r e n t s a t t h a t t i m e , a n dn e e d l e s s t , o s a y w i t h t . h e m a r o u n d w e w e r e n e v e r s h o r t o fc h o c o l a t e o r c h e w i n g g u m a n d t h e a d u l t s w e r e n ' t s h o r t o fA m e r i c a n C i g a r e t . t e s .

O n e o f m y f a v o u r i t e p a s t i m e s o n a S a t u r d a y a t t h a t a g e w a st o g o t o t h e c i n e r r a i n W r e x h a m r I n t h o s e d a y s t h e r e w a s T h eG l y n , T h e E m p i r e , T h e H i p p o d r o m e , T h e o d e o n a n d T h el ' l a j e s t i c . I " l o r e o f t e n t , h a n n o t w e w o u l d h a v e t o w a l k t h e r e

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a n d b a c k a s o u r p o c k e t m o n e y d i d n ' t s t r e t c h t o g e t t i n g t h eb u s a n d g o i n g t o t h e c i n " * . a s w e r l . T h e r e w a s u s u a l r ys e v e r a l o f u s w h o w a l k e d t h e r e a n d b a c k t o B r a d f e y a n d s oi t w a s q u i t e a n d e n j o y a b l e w a l k p r o v i d i n g t h a t t h e w e a t h e rw a s f a v o u r a b l e .

L o t s o f o u r s p a r e t i m e t h e n w a s s p e n t d o w n b y t h e R i v e rA l y n I w i t h a b o t t l e o f w a t e r a n d a c o u p l e o f s a n d w i c h e sw e r d b e d o w n t h e r e r e s p e c i a l l y i n t h e s u m m e r d u r i n g o u rs c h o o l h o r i d a y s - A t \ ^ / e e k e n d s w e w e r e a l w a y s o u t s o m e w h e r ep l a y i n g a n d i t w a s a j o b t o g e t u s h o m e a t n i g h t , n o t l i k et h e y o u t h o f t o d a y w h o g e t t e i r i b l y b o r e d a n d [ n " r , s a y t h e yh a v e n o t h i n g t o d o .

r n t h o s e d a y s , I i k e e v e r y o n - c r e m e m b e r s r m o n e y w a s t i g h t a n ds o t h e n e c e s s i t i e s a n d n o t t h e l u x u r i e s " L r "

t h e t h i n g st h a t w e r e b o u g h t - r a l w a y s r e m e m b e r m y f i r s t s u i t w i t hlong t rousers - when you had a su i t i t was a rways use ,ca s r s u n d a y B e s t ' a n d a i t h a t t i m e m o s L o f u s w e n t d o w n t ot h e I i t t r e c h a p e 1 i n B r a d l e y . H o w € v € f , r r r e m e m b e r c o m i n gf r o m c h a p e l o n t h i s p a r t i c u l a r s u n d a y a n d t h e r e w a s a g a m eo f F o o t b a l - l g o i n g o n o n t h e L r a y R o a d . r j o i n e d i n t h i sg a m e a s F . I K e e p e r , o n l y t o g o i r v i n g a c r o s s t h e r o a d a n dt a k e t h e k n e e s o u t o f u o t r r t r o u s e r l e g s , r w a s s o u p s e t a td o i n g t h i s . , k n o w i n g h o w m y p a r e n t s h a d s a v e d t o g e t m e t h i ss u i t ' w h i c h w a s a B r o w n G a r b e r d e n e , t h a t r r d o u l d n ' t g o h o m eu n t i I m y f a t h e r h a d g o n e t o w o r k a t g o r c l o c k , H o w e v e r r d sr w a s l a t e r t o f i n d o u t r t h i s w a s o f n o c o n s e q u € n c € rbecause when my fa ther found ou t wha t had happened r was upa n d o u t p l a y i n g o n t h e r o a d a t 6 . 3 0 t h e n e x t m o r n i n g ,b e c a u s e r h a d n ' t g o n e h o m e b e f o r e h e w e n t t o w o r k r d s t h e nw e h a d t o b e h o m e b y 9 o , c l o c k o r w e w e r e i n t r o u b l - e .

E v e r y o n e s e e m e d t o h a v e a r i t t l e j o b t o t r y a n d g e t ac o u p l e o f b o b , l - i k e h e r p i n g a t D i ; g o r y s F a r m a n d D i c k yE d w a r d s ' F a r m ' r r e m e m b e r o n o n e o c c a s i o n , w h e n n u m e r o u st y p e s o f b u s e s r a n d o w n t o t h e R . o . F a t l " l a r c h w i e l r r w a sc r o s s i n g t h e f i e l d t o c o l r - e c t D o u g i e , t h e o l d h o r s et h a t u s e d t o t a k e t h e m i l k f l o a t o u t i l d g o t t h e h a l t e rover h i s head and as r was coming up the road r when theb u s t h a t w a s p a s s i n g b a c k f i r e d i n d i n " h o r s e s t a r t e d t o1 .c 1 1 m D t n e t r e e . r h u n g o n f o r g r i m d e a t h a n d w e t o o k o f ft o w h e r e n o w i s t h e L i n d o p B r o s T o y o t a G a r a g e a n d t , h e p o o rh o r s e g o t t ' r a p p e d o n t o p o f t h e w e L l . I t w a s n , t l o n g a f t e rt h a t t h e y h a d t o h a v e h i m p u t d o w n w h i c h \ ^ / a s v e r y s a d , b u tt h e h o r s e w a s g e t t i n g o n a b i t . r w e n t w i t h E d d i e D i g g o r yt o t h e a u c t i o - n _ t o g e t a n o t , h e r h o r s e f o r t h e m i l k r o u n d . H ec h o s e o n e c a l l e d N a n c y r a m a r e t h a t w a s f r i s k y a n d v e r yl i v e l y , a n d w h e n t h e a u c L i o n e e r w a s a s k e d i f s h e w a s a g o o dn a t u r e d a n i m a l a s s h e w o u l d b e a r o u n d a 1 o t o f c h i l d r e n o nt h e m i l k r o u n d , h e s a i d s h e k r a s a v € r l r v e r y d o c i l e a n i m a l ,m a r v e l o u s w i t h c h i l d r e n a n d a s r w a l k e d a r o u n d t h e b a c k o ft h e h o r s e , h e w h i s p e r e d t o m e ' w a t c h o u t l a d o r s h e , 1 1 k i c ky o u r h e a d o f f ' - s o o n a f t e r t . h a t w e f o u n o o u t t , h a t a s s o o na s s h e w a s i n t h e s h a f t s , h e r e a r s w e n t b a c k a n d s h e s h o to f f l i - k e a r o c k e t .

l 5

L a t e r o o r a t t h e a g e o f r 5 , r i k e a r o t o f o t h e r p e o p r e rw a s t o l e a v e s c h o o L - t " l y f i r s t j o b w a s w i t h a F i r m c a l r e dR i d g e w a y E n g i n e e r i n g , w h o w e r e b a s e d t h e n o n t h e l , l a r f o r dH i l l ' r w o u r d g e t t o a n d f r o f r o m w o r k b y b i k e a n d m o s tm o r n i n g s r w o u r d r i d e w i t h t " l r B o b J o n e s w h o w o r k e d i nG r e s f o r d , t o g e t t o m y j o b i n M a r f o r d . I v I y w a g e t h e n w a s 1 6s h i l l i n g s f o r a 5 2 H o u r w e e k .

G o i n g b a c k a l i t t l e i n t i m e , t h e p e o p r e w h o l i v e d o p p o s i t em e t h e n w e r e M r s B o o n a n d h e r t w o a a u g n t e r s B e t t y a n d M a r y .s a d l y M r s B o o n a n d M a r y a r e n o l o n g e i w i t h u s . T h e y h a d al e a t h e r s t a l l i n t h e m a r k e t i n w r e x h a m a n d s o l d a L o t o f i tt o t h e p o r i s h i n t h e c a m p a t p e n l e y . r r e m e m b e r t h e y h a d ab i g r e d s t a n d a r d v a n g a r d s a l o o n , a n d a t t h a t t i m e t h e r e l r a sonry them r o l l € o ther and Iv lac Kn ig h t a t the shop who hadc a r s i n t h e v i l l a g e . r t s t i c k s o u t i n n v m i n d a s M a r y a n dB e t t y u s e d t o 9 e t a l l t h e c o m i c s t h a t w e r e g o i n g w i z a r d rD a n d y I B e a n o r H o t s p u r a n d R o v e r r w h i c h w e a l w a y s u s e d t os w d p I t h i s i s o n e o f t h e s m a l l e r t h i n g s t h a t h a p p e n e d i nt h e d a y s g o n e b y .

T h e h o u s e w h e r e r u s e d t o l i v e h a d o n r y o n e c o l d w a t e r t a pi n t h e k i t ' c h e n r o r l € g a s l i g h t d o w n s t a i r s a n d c a n d r e su p s t a i r s ' F o r c o o k i n g i h " r e w a s a b l a c k i r o n o v e n a n d a no p e n f i r e r t h e m e a r s h / e w o u L d h a v e f r o m t h a t s i m p r e k i t c h e nw e r e o u t o f t h i s w o r l d a n d w e l i v e d v e r y w e l l L o n s i d e r i n gt h e t i m e s w e w e r e l i v i n g i n .

T h e s e a r e j u s t a f e w o f t h e m e m o r i e s r h a v e o f l i v i n g i nB r a d l e y u p t o r 9 5 3 / 4 w h e n u / e l e f t , t h e y a r e v e r y g o o dm e m o r i e s ' L i f e w a s v e - r y s i m p l e a n d u n c o m p l i c a t e d a n d y e tw e w e r e l i v i n g i n h a r d - t i m e s .

T h e t y p e o f l i f e w h i c h w ehad th en s tayed w i th us a l l t he wh i 1 e ana i t g i ves us ideaso n w h a t i s v a r u a b r e i n r i f e , a n d f o r m y s e r f s t i l r a p p l yt o d a y ' T h e s i m p l e t h i n g s , i n " f r e e d o m t o w a l k a r o u n d t h ec o u n t r y s i d e , f r i e n d s t h a t y o u ' v e a l w a y s h a d a n d s t a y w i t hy o u , t h e t h i n g s t h a t y ? , , n r i n g w i t h y o u f r o m y o u r c h i t d h o o da n d r h o p e w i 1 r s t a y w i t h m e i o r t h e r e s t o f m y r i f e .

t 6

GORDON WRIGI{|

ITITIlIlIlF

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When I started to think on these things, the first things I realised was how close knit and insular we were.I could only think of a couple of things about Bradley.

Fintly I remembered the real gypsies who came every year to the small croft where the Post Officeand houses are now built, the horse drawn caravans and the women going around the houses selling pegsand flowers made from wood.

Secondly, I can still see Ted Simon's small pony and float from which he measured and sold the milk.The float was all dressed up with ribbons and rosettes with big cardboard placards asking everyone ro vorefor Dickie Edwards in the local election.

Living by the Congregational Chapel, and attending the Church school, I well remember theimpressive sight of a Hearse, all glass, drawn by trvo beautiful horses, followed by the hone drawn cabswhich were in immaculate condition, and also the large number of people walking behind the cortege tothe churchyard.

I recall the first soldier's funeral, with the firing of the guns and the sounding of the [-ast PosLI remember going to school and everyone looking at bones which had been dug up when a grave was

being opened.The whole school went to church on Ash Wednesday and Ascension Day. It struck me how

segregated we were between Church and Chapel, not a lot of difference to the Catholics aud Protestantsin Northern lreland. The first occasion I went to church on one of tlose days, I was in the Infants at the time,I went home at dinnertime and told my Mother that there were 24 vicars in church - these turned out tobe choirboys.

The school, belonging to the church, made the Vicar the boss, and in the early days if the Vicar andhis son walked in, we all had to stand up and say,

"Good Moming, Vicar" and "Good Moming, Master Tom."An early recollection was being taken by my two brothers to Gresford Colliery yard on the Sunday

morning following the explosion. There were hundreds of people there, and many had started collectingfor the Disaster Fund.

I can remember groups of villagers talking, and how the conversation stopped when a childapproached.

As a young lad of about 9 or 10 I went to Ellis's Farm during the holidays, where I witnessed, as amatter of course, the slaughter of about 30 sheep, a couple of pigs and a beast every Monday.

I well remember the formation of the L.D.V. (I-ocal Defence Volunteers), the forerunner of theHome Guard. I remember Tom Harris and Harry Edwards, wearing forage caps and arm bands and armedwith brush stales setting off through the woods. There are many tales that could and should be told aboutthe Home Guard, and it would be nice if someone could compile these tales of our local men, if it is nottoo late.

On Summer Saturday nights when it was still light, my brother and I would be awake when theyturned out of the Horseshoe and Wheatsheaf pubs, and invariably a couple or a group of men would bearguing and eventually fighting on Badrock's corner before they went their different ways. If we laughedout loud or made a noise, Mam or Dad would come upstairs with the strap, and that would be that.

Do you remember woodwork and Mr. Manson? His bike had a long rear spindle which he steppedon to get onto the seat. One of his sayings was "Any lad who has not got a mallet, a chisel or a plane, I'llsmack his arse with them" - then on a Sunday he would come along the Congregational Chapel to preach!

I remember the lovely long camival parades at Wrexham, and visiting the Royalty Theatre at Chester,sitting in 'the gods' to see the Pantomime.

I remember thejazz bands which were around, going out for the day to Caergwrle Castle, Dan l-enothe Magician, baby and ankle shows, sheepdog trials and the Rose Queens, run by the church and theCricket Club.

Can you recall the nicknames from those days? Its great fun to sit down and write a list.

t7

HILMER PARRY

I util1 .'r*,el"u with the trthinrozt Stadiun at. pandu. The Stadiun rcatedaopnoxinatelu one alundned neople and the whiope taould be aaced on SatuzdaualtennconA. Uhen the whinoet taeina e1.a.sed it tcvZ latet u5?d dA d notot-cqcle tnd.ch and the wll Qnou;n tthexham notott cucli,st lta Jaek Llilhinaon naeeatheiL. I believe tln. tdilhinton alao aode in the IaIe 0;.. l.tan T,T. aacet. NnIr)ilhinton had a motot-eqclz Shop 6 Gand.oz in trl\zxhan (on nanu uedit. ThzStadiun ttenained unuzed (on a (ew qzant and finallq wat novzd to behindc'utea,sult t uonbino Mzns Crub, now the ccuncit oepot. Speed six Gaaaae/slto,dr'.oonaafte nou) on the Stadium Sitz.The lintt time I aaw an azttoplane ̂ u.a at Bot.t"oa. Thene wzae (ouz aeaoplane,ton the gnound, each painted in a di((eaent coloun, theq uune ourned bq the JohnCobhan Flqing Cineu,s. 'l( tlou had 5/-d qou eould have a tide in the aenoplane.Nean to Eaad,leq waa 9ichie Edunada, Fanm, llt- Edmtd,s u)aa hnun a.s a hatd wn,anqone lound on hia land wene quite Azvenelq deaLt with. 1ne qean he hadpaoblzn,s with the Chuach, he ne(uaed to paq the Tithe Tax. He athed a (ew o{thz lad's to go to the (anm on tlte datl the police wenz due to go theie tocotlect the Tithe Tax. rlhen un aftlived, thete wene tablet, on which wet.e lotAo( eggA, and lttt Edunnda told uz to thttow the egga at the poIi.ce. tile thoughtit wad aneat to Aze arr the eag qolb- nunnind down the nolice ttni(onn, a( tenunndt,oe had a ted. odntu.Ae had to pdAA th,Louah l"l4 Edtrw.t.dl, dannttd.ad to get to the nivet Alun, and oventhe- Atone hnidqe to -q?t ovei the ven to the RlacLlz4'a Aide ol the aivea.In the pae-uw qedrta, the\e unl venq IittLe noneq, ao .sehoot holidallA wefteapznt havino pienica on thz niven banh. Thea.e would be na.nu childnen withthzitt nothent, we would have loada o( dun, uoinnina in the tiven and plaq inaoaneA on thz iiven banrz lield. l'!ot nanu Oad,,t cane to tit on th.z ttivza banh.Neat the !)ildeane,s,s Fann, u,:ad the Clauhole, it wa.,s about 1'90(t Ceep u:ith aIah-e in the botton. V ouy;o men in thein teent wou!.d dive (zon thz top o( theClatthote, a hain-taiaing aioht. The Cla"uhole unA (illed in a(tea the unn withuv.Ate (non G4ea(ond Collienu .Anothea plaee o( inte^zAt tM.^ ttne. tliinl.mill,, l,ta Jcz UiXlian,t the Fi,sh/Chionan (ivzd. He u,sed to pezl aII hia potatoet at hone, then whzel thzn in taclzto.caoaa hia bilze to hit thop in B4adleq. Thz LIo-u Ne.us Road utvl not built until1937/8, ao he woutd puth hi^ bitze (, ton hit houte bu lhe aiven, thiouoh thznuddu lieldt until hz canz to the noad into Bnadl.eu. He netet lailed to opentLia .shop, in aII Linda ol urp.ath.en. tt)e uaed to tahe a ba.sin lon the chipt,thintzino we had none than il lheq upte out intc a ba-a. 'l rtznenbzd u:ho h-o.d thebioazat ba,sin, but I ut i l l not mention namel. Pona Cant.ol l tA ldthen t?zpt theChip/Shop belone Joe lspotl trJi l l ianA.

r8

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Thenz un rLe (oun ,supplizna o( mi Ih in Bnadf.z;t , Dieh.ie Edwand,s, DigaoiUA,Banaatt 's, Simmona. Theu all had nilh. (Loata exeept Ted Sinmcna, clho madz a'sidzeat on uthich to at and tlrc u,Ln anci thia ltz attacl'ted to hid bihe

T hz 0Id t.lill E'state wa6 a huge ! ield , ulhiel"t I uta.s t old LLpA given to ?xdol-dizu nztudninq {nom the 1914/18 LNan, to atant al lotmenta. In mU doA, i tuJaA nQ-vei uaed (oa anqthing , exeent some eattlz, whieh T ommq l&addnoehlGni({it lza {oohed a(tzn. l. l t t Gni(ditha u;onhzd aL a butchen at Baddnoeha inGwen.sqll-t. Theee (tal a gupAtl ca,ravan on the (izld, it LaaA thene (on LJea4a,but theq nev eft b o thened anot one- .

Stant a Shtop, the Manha 6 Speneen's o( Bnadleq. Aa aoon aa qou put t loutL {oot inhia thop, id qoutt mothen did not t,hop thene, Ulu Lxe,Le not weleome. Neanlqeve,Lqone ahopped at t l te Co-op at Gwundul l t , whu , the tDivi ' o(eou,Lae. l ,4am, .sno. 5631 , ou,L 291t. . I wonb_ed lon thz Co-on whi l t t .st iL l at aehool and hnew u;hoLlene memben'5, t t te counei l Houaea uJene dnom No. l to 200.Elaiz Dodd h.zpt a 'shop on Top Road. I nenemben hen (athen, he utaa a (,at manand had di(( ieul tq in bendina and aett ina thina,s {nom the hiah E lou; ahel t tea.Tl tet t Qeot t t te baead in bio wooden bina and h? could nct qet thz bnead out.A.Lao, he did not t ihe to aeive thz Da^a(( in, beeauae he had to oo out,s idz (on

i t .

t le o(ten l ' teand thz taIe.s o( the poot {,anmzn,s, the-ne L+'eie onlu (out eanl i.nBaadlzq untiL about 1 136 . The ou)ne^a Llene , Geonoe Bannatt , Dichie Edutanda ,T om Ameniea , and l'latt Kniaht. T om Ameniea, wat auppoaed to lnave made hiamoneLt bq bootlzgging in A.meniea duninq pnohibit ion. ()Je h.new him aa the' Mi l l ionaine'

The l inat pzople to own l,tatt Kniqhta Shop uraa a (amilq catled P owzll (,nom

Summeqltill , theq onlq ,staued a ahont while. lihen ll4 . lviatt Kni ght eame to theahors , h? would p ich u4 ur r on ourL wau (nom aehool i ( i t waa, r .a in ing, a wondzn1u!tel{.ow, but the.ne waa method in hia madnett, up tcou[d tpend cu4 moneq on\L}eetA {ttom hi's altop, not that ute lted mueh to tpend in thoae daqa.Gzoqae Robznta uaed to lLun a bua {nom Enadleq to Wdexl,r.am and tne waa ventl eood,,sonetimea he would pieQ ua urJ on the NaU (,nom telrooL.

Evenqone had coaL l, ine's n:hen I waa uoune. l"It Jaeh lt latQind, lmr,t,a dad, uaed to|eII 'stich.a in bund(z.s, leettted hu tttbben band u,sl ' t iclt he eut (,ton oLd ean tqnetube.s.

l . ! ,a. Gaadu u,sed to mahz 'Poo' . 0n Sundaq'a Lce tuould ao thene (o, t a bott te oAoop 2d. and have i t w' i th Sundaq dinnet, no Li l i .ne in t ! ;oaz Catt l .

f . lea Boote heat t ! rc Pcat ct{{ , ice, l , int t tq, in the double { 'ncnted houae on top oll lol lq Buah. Teanaee , and th"zn in t lp new .shoyt next to J oe (*ti l l iam, t Chip Shop ,r .ohieh ia noLu t 'nz 'Chineue' . A's a matte-t o{ intenzat, the Poat Cd{iee inEnadleu ha's rnoved { , ivz t imea.

Diaaonq'd Fattm i ,s now Joeh Fettnani ' t Seeond Hand Sl" iop.

t 9

The Baelz R'oad tnad Bq-nnu Jonz,s"s EiILand HaLl, next doon uJaa a Fiah 6 Chip Shopowned bq htanu l. latthiaa , but it did not Laat .lltt Simmona, dathen o{ l,lange E Katie una the und,entaLz.ea and, the-qe Laa6 a aian inthzin {nont qanden.

T[te Shop at thz top o{ gannatt's HiLt, Luaa lzept bq Mtt 6 Mna Edwand,,s, notrJ an'0{,1\ Lieenez' . Benn che'stena h"ept the { ,anm neatbq.T trtzne uazd to be big aatzd into GweusqlLt Panfz, j uat inaide tlienz waa 1rcLodae , the gate.s wzrLa. alwaqa eloaed and i(, q ou ,aent in the people { nom thzLodge would cone out and a,sh_ Ltoun buaineaa to be tltenz. The people I nemembenI' ivina thenz w8.48-, l. lati l t iaa, Panna, and. DooLeqa. The enictzet (izld, uted. to bemueh (uathen up the PatQ than whene it ia nou). Tltz Chuach alwaqd hetd theinF e.te' a on the eniclzet {ieI d .Anothzn noted eLtanaet.zn o( the vilf.aqz waa Geonqe t'ne miLl, a ni!.itant1 looh1nanan with' a waxed mouataehe. He alcoaqd uJone. a (awn eolounzd. u,w.:rehoude oveaaLl ,uthich tu^e eaLX.ed a 'a.(op' , I nzven aaw him weai. antlthina elae..The onlu Lada coho had bibea in nu dau we4Q. the Enand,.s. Thein daC dttot,e {oathe {)nexham Tnanaycont Co., and u-,hen he tooh tnirtd to Rht1l, he wou[.C, baino baehc(d bih-ed to nepaia u:hieh lrc b ouatnt ( nom thz eqcLinct tnaeb- . I thine t4e aI ILLtent on the euelina tnaek tulten uJe u:ent on thz Sundau Sehool Tnip to Rhtal. ,,t)e

had to maLze oun ou)n bih.ea, {,nom. otd {namza witlt p,Iam whzelaT he 'Poolt aa it ouaa ealled, uaed to havz a amal-l pond , tuhen it (noze u)e would.alzate on it. It waa l i l led in with ne(uae brl a chap eaLled. Tedd.t4 Jenhin,s.(tJhen L'Je wenQ- in aehool , 4omeone thnew thz gatea into the pond. Tlte policz

eane to achool , at L the Iadd tDe^q- ealled into the Head.nadteus St.ud,tl , I d.on, tthinh thzq evelL 6 ound out who did it .The'Rina' ! ' -ad tai f . inad anound i t be(orre the LNarL, theu Lt;zrLe nemoved d.unina t lpwar. {on thz wai e({ont.

Br-ottie P znt inaton the poat ladq , / ive {eet nothi na . She muat lqave u-alhedthoutand's o( mite-t in hzn time. She alwaqa Laoftz laeed, boota up to hen hneea.T he ('untheat d-elivetu *^ould be tlp houaea nQ.aa Pant f, lawn F ielda et TopSnadIeu.

l low to mention, mll eoutin, Sam Chal{onet, thz amanteat clne-aaec! man i.n B,tad/zq.He uJcu t ' . rQai ina Red 6 Gn.een tui ta in the 1930,a u,hen evQ.nuone elae had blaelz o\navLt b(ue, ! ' ,Q al 'so had nleatt in hi t ja.ehet, dl tene ale , : t i l l Aone men tazaft inajaekzt,t tcit[ i ttnote ytlenta in todau.

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A.Lzc, at th ia t ime, aame men in BnadLett Laone 'P(ua Founa' , th.eu thouoht t tneu

ute4q the 'Bzea Kneea ' .

I nzmemben aoinq to Gqe.,s(ot td Col l iztu thz dau o( thz zxnlo 's ion. l . tq (niznd'a

aiaten' 's ludband loat hia t i(e ttnene. L)n the pit banlz thene uxene hundneda c (

peoplz waiting (on nuu)a o( t lein neLatived.

A (zlLow bq tlqz namz F n"ed LatLtarn atantzd a Jazz Band in Enadlett . tNz C,id not

have anq inattumentd , a0 he go t ua aI"l tc qztherL , wz ;ae,Le given a comb witlt

t iaaue papa-,1 ovQ-rL it, and manehed to Gandzn V iLLaae and Acton, F lr-zd told u4

that id whene t t te ' to((a ' l ived and wz would col teet moneq {nom thzm. WQ- did

not q?t mueh, ao that waa thz end o(, the Jazz 1and. Tltz Jazz Eanda anound the

a,rLea wene call-ed t 'Colenao" Bnopbo, "B{.uQ.bindd" - Moaa, 'tr; l l t i te Haftt" Pzntne

Bnouahton.

Ttte aignatunz tune's u)e-fte - "Colznao" Lt'aa BI-ue BeLla L'Je Gathen.,,The Bluebinda,, waa Thz }Ld !,liLI_ Stneam

- ttSunmenhil.I." waa When the moon eomq.A ove-ft the

Mountai n .

JOE CHALLONER

? r

Some recoi . lect ions of ny I i - f e as a boy growlng up in the ,Ors.IrE sure t ineslrere harr l . for nost people, rhere were a Lot of unenlr cyednetl, and. even the rni-ners wh o were working, i.rel:e on sh ort ii.ee .As chi ldren, we wele not oanmerer i wi th lots of toys etc. , so the ganes weplayed were vsry basic. We were very haDDy playing -cal1

ganes, top and.whip, skipping, an. nany streets vere narked out in chatk in val iousshapes for hopscotch. Sone boys also hai l bowlers, vhich was just thebare netal r im. of a bicycle wheel, we ran around vi th this, guid. ing i twi th a st lck s l id ing in the groove. Al though i t was just a piece ofsclaF I valuer l n ine great ly, so that whenever i t was not in use, Ivould park i t against a wa' l wi th the st ick placed careful ly td lest inthe groove. I woul i l not dreaE of let t ing i t fa l1 f lat on the road. oreven in the garden for fear of danage.

f knew of no-one in those d.ays who had a real . chi ldrs bicycle. Wehad to improvise with a scrap frame and two pran vheels. rf we r-ifteaiup the frane the wheels fell off, and rre c oul.d. onLy ricle doyn hill-!Our only chance of a real bike rirle lras on our father.s if he had one./Iecause we were too sna1I to reach the sadcl le, we had to r id.e with ou!r ig l t leg through the frane and often ended up wj. th very oi ly socksl-4.s learner rid.ers this was o.uj.te a tricky task but with great skiJ.1 anddeterrnination we succeed.erl anil .noved. on to a nuch raore d.a:rgerousmanoeuvre. As we trew, we reached. the pedals by stradci l ing the cross_bar and wobbl ing our body frorn sid.e to s ir ie. r shud.der to think of thedanage we nay have d.one to our manhood! i.io_one warne<i us of thepotent ial . danger, , re need.ed rnore than a cycl ing helmet for protect ion

in those d.aysl t r -he n we need.ed a rest f ron pedal l ing or we were free_lrheel ing downhiI l , we sourehow resteci one cheek of our buns on thecrossbar ' st i1 l r r and others have r ived and funct ioned to te11 the tale!

During this per ioi l , I nust ment ion . the terr ib l ,e disaster at

Gresfold Colf iery. Even as a chi ld this was a part icular ly sad t j .ne,

22

s o many pe ople in Eradley and the surround. ingsome way o r ano ther . For oays i t was common

i n t h e s t r e e t .

d i s t r i c t s w e r e a f f e c t e d . i n

t o s e e w o m e n o p e n l y c r y i n e

l':any of the unenployed roen used to consregale at the toD of the road

(aS we cal led j . t ) probably d iscussing the issues of the < iay. .A.s nany as

20 or nore would. be there each d.ay, i t vas the centra] po int o f the v i j -Lage.

I tlontt know where they gathered on wet d.ays. The nurobers varied, a.s I

have a l ready rnent ioned, n j .ners were on shor t t ine. lach col l iery had a

d. is t inct ive hooter and of ten one o! other would b low for t l ro minutes

d.urat i on. The roen would recognise the sound, i t uasto in forn then not to

turn up f or work on the f ol l owing shi. f t ,

As ch i ld .en we knew no th ing o f po r i t i cs ,

wor ld. warr r recal r v iv id ly how the group of

the change was oramat i .c . There was a Dig f or

f ac t or ies opened at l {arehwie l . The c or l iery

of inpend ing a i r - ra id.s , they were a ls o b I own

be l ls t o r ing in the lJew year .

but as f ears grew of a s ec ond

men jus t d . isappeared. overn ight .

Coa l camla ign , and mun i t i on

hoo te rs were b lown to warn

toge ther w i th the church

Miners cane hone f ron the p i ts , the i r faces st i l l b lack wi th coal

dust ' sone wore c logs and as shi f ts s tar tet r you c ou* l hear then c lat te l ing

in the st reet . Soue were t ranspor ted to work in coaL d.e l ivery lor r ies

which r , rere adapted wi th forms to s i . t on and a canopy overhead. for bad

weathe! . Tonny Eel1 is vas one of nany who nrov i .d .ec i th is serv i .ce. i i i .ners

were a lLocated a ton of coal which,when d.e l iverer i , was dronped in a heap

outs id.e the i r house. Of ten you would see women fo lk ass is t ing i f not

sore ly on thei r own having to bucket th is ton of coal f ron the road. in to

thei r c oal -house.

I renember funeraLs - the cof f in was carr ied. j .n a hearse r r rawn by

two horses. A11 the rnourners, i .nc lud. ing the inoer i ia te fan i ly wouJ.d

fo l1ow in a procession walk ing up the park WatI to Gwers; r l l t Church for

in ternent . In the winter months when the roads ,ere s l ippy the horses had.

3 r e a i d l f f i c u l t q e t t i n g u p t h e h i l l t o t h e O h u r c n .

At veekends i t vas connon to see youns men and wonen, the la t ter

being more conspicuous in the i r lons dresses, uark ing d. o l rn lar le t ts Hi l r

and. then across the Fant i ' iawr f ie lds to a d.ance at the l . - iners Uel fare in

L lay . i r rhe ther tney cane the sa :ne t vay back , I d .on r t knowr 3S i t wou Id .

have been we l l :Dasr ny bed . t i i ne .

One of the highlights of the year for us was the annual Sund.ay

School t r ip to the seaside. I shouro inagine on this day Erar l ley was

J- ike a ghost v i l late, because as many as seven coaches woukl leave for

Rhyl, taking the scenic route through the Nant-y-G.arth pass and Euthin

and returning via i4o1d. George Roberts could only spare f our of his

coaches because he ran the bus service fron Bradley to }Jrexhan, the

rest vere other propr ietors. one yea!, soneone decid.er l for a change that

we should. go to Southport , not being able to f ind the sea there, we.

children gave it the thunbs d. own and reverted back to sunny Rhyll

As boys in those clays, we were more or less al lowed to ranble at wi l1.

Alon6 with othere I ualked, to :or1:as Air f i .e1d to see Alan Cobhan's

Flying Circus. I was very inpressed vi th one stunt, a roan got out

of the cockpi t and waLkerl on the wings of the bi-plane whi lst st i I l in

f l ight. 0n thisoccasion Nurse Olrenis ( the distr ict Nurse) husband. was

given a free f l ight for correct ly €uessing the height to which the

snoke rose fron Gresfor i i Col l iery chinney.

Later on we becane more adventurous and rode cn our b ikes to

S e a l a n d A e r o d r o m e w h e n a l l R A J ' S t a t i o n s h e l d a n n i r D i s p l a y t o

c o m m e m o r a t e E m p i r e D a y . A f t e r s e e i n g 3 s h o w s t h e r e , w e r o d e t o T e r n

H i l I , t he o ther s ide o f Wh i tchurch , th i s was a nuch la rger ae rod . rome.

This was in l iay I9)9 when the RAF only had three Spi t f i res and. they f lew

over c er ta in aerod.romes around the c ountry . Inagine our thr i I l a t

s e e i n g t h e m f l - a s h p a s t , v e r y 1 o w , a l o n g t i r e r u n w a y .

One nore nenory that s t icks in ny mind was the d ispute at Dick ie

Edwards farm cver paying h is Tythe to the Church. I t was some forn of SaIe

to ra ise the money and there were cars rarked a l l the vay down the o ld

road from the tulning for Pandy <iown to the farn. fn the yard was a

stage or p lat forn on r . rh ich Dick ie Ed,wards was prepared to seLl h is

youngest d.aughter , naured Alwena. This was as sone forn of gesture of

d.ef iance, I su?pose. No-one obviously made a b i t l , as she becarne ny school

24

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slreetheart and she was ind.eed' a

jus t a co inc ioence iha t i have

b lack -ha i red beau ty . Perhaps 1 t i s no t

a iaughter named Alwena.

TEGWYN LEWIS

Amy Watkins and I were born on this village many years ago, me in 1921, and Amy in

1924. We have seen many changes, sorne for the better and some for the worse'

Bradley had no Council houses then, just old houses and plenty of fields.

When it was time to go to school, we both attended the Council School. We had

to walk around past Diggory' s farm and through the wood. We would have to come

home at dinner time and witx back again tor tlgo p.m. Sometimes the gypsies would

be there in the opening where you co--uld go to the Wauns. We used to be terrified of

them. Joe Spot,s ChiilShop we remembir well. 1d fish and chips in the w9ek, and

2d fish on a Saturday. lt you took newspapers you would have a bag of chips 11""' Not

far away was the Chapel where lvy wiight us6o to preach. Mr. Greenaway, the black

man used to clean our windows and ilso preachbd in the road on a Sunday, My

Grandad Watkins, Amy's Dad used to sell sticks. Me And Amy had to deliver them to

the shops in Rhosrobin and Gwersyllt. lf we met any of our school mates we would

pretend it wasn't our truck. Times were very hard and not much money about'

lf the Gresford hooter blew, that meant no work. My dad used to come home

from work all black, so we used to have a tin bath on two chairs by the fire with the

water from the boiler. We used to fight over the snapping tin to see if he had left any

butties for us.For many years we only had candles and paraffin lamps, earth toilets, and the

Radio Times to wipe your bum on. Evenings were spent playing hopscotch, marbles

and skipping under the lamPs.We used to go for walks around the Wilderness and around the woods. Our

picnic would be a nbttrc of water and jam butties which we would enjoy. we spent

many happy hours paddling in the river with otd shoes on . Dicky Edwards was at the

farm as we went around ine witderness, so we used to pinch his apples from the

orchard. They always said he put the bull in there, but we never saw it'

. )<

EDNA,'AI iLLi AIVIS NCE CHESTERS

My father was born in Gwersyllt, but had lived in Bradley all his life. My Mother was from a largefamily and they lived at Holly Bush Farm, where Jock's second hand shop is now. My Mothers'parents were farmers, and belore coming to Bradley they lived between Rhos and Penycae. MyFather was a blacksmith by trade, and worked at various collieries locally. My parents decidedto leave Bradley to keep a public house in Minera called The Victoria Vaults, and this is wheremy brother Gerald and I were born. Not long after I had started at Minera lnfants school we movedback to Bradley, as it was the Depression and business in the pub had gone down badly . We livedin 4 Willow Cottages, next door was a Miss Alice Lewis, a teacher at the church school who livedwith her elderly mother. My Grandmother and my Uncle lived in Number 1, the end cottage. Nextat Glan Llyr Farm was Mr. and Mrs. Ted Edwards., Across the road from us lived two bachelorbrothers, Ted and Herbert Simmons, I think they were uncles of Madge and Kate. They had ahuge orchard with apple and pear trees. The orchard ran trom their front door to where the housesare now, and as far as where the Post Office is now situated. To the left of our house stood threeold houses, the Blackwell's the Shaws and the Prytherch's, the latter were called 'Pops', I don'tknow the reason tor this. Our house was a two up ,two down, with an old black polish grate, coalfire, an oven and a boiler the other side for our hot water. We had no bathroom, so we had to usea tin bath in front of the fire.

I attended Gwersyllt Council School. The teachers were great. Mr. Jones was theHeadmaster, the teachers I remember being Miss Ffoukes, Miss Taylor, Martha Roberts, JennyMaud Thomas, Dick Hughes and Curly Roberts. I also remember Nurse Bosworth, we used tocall her Nitty Nora, because she would look in our hair, ears and neck. We used to like going towoodwork lessons, as there was always a nice big fire in the grate. Mr. Manson was the woodworkteacher. He lived in Rhosddu and used to bike itto school. He was a nice man and a bit religious.One day one lad smeared glue over his bicycle seat, and another peed in the glue. He used tochase us around with a mallet or chisel!.

Aboutthis time my bestfriends were Glyn Edwards, Donald Platt and Emrys Lewis. Noneol us had bikes in those da)rs, we used to play marbles, ball and top and whip.

We seemed to have hot summers and we would go for walks down past Dicky Edwards'sand play by the river.

As I got older I would help out at my uncle and aunt's farm, Holly Bush farm. On Saturdayand Sunday mornings lwould take lots of cans of milk to deliver by hand, but in the cold weatherthe can used to cut into your fingers. I liked it better when my uncle and I delivered the milk byhorse and trap. Sometimes it was awful as the horse would break wind so much itwould blow yourhat off !

At that time there was a well at the bottom of the field. I do not know if it is still there.I remember my brother Gerald breaking his thigh by jumping over a rope by Mr. Knight's shop.He was in hospital with his leg in traction for quite a long time.

Soon after this time the war started and so did the rationing, but we never went short athome, as my mother was a good cook and kept a good table.

On Sundays our family attended Gwersyllt Church.I also remember gas mask training at school, the Uay New Road being built and Crosville

buses running on gas because of petrol shortages.My parents bought me a piano and I went to Mrs. Edith Pridding for lessons, she still lives in thesame house in Rhosrobin. Later on I continued the piano with Mr. Trevor Evans who taught atthe old church house in Regent Street, Wrexham.

I left school at 14 and undertook a7 year apprenticeship with Mr. Kalton the Dentist inRegent Street. My pay started at 5 shillings a week. At the end of my apprenticeship I did myNational Service with the Royal Army Dental Corps. at Aldershott. I remained more or less in the

-same profession until my retirement some years ago

26ERIC NIGEL ROGERS

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The first memories I have as a child living in Bradley are lying in bed in the early hours of the

morning and listening to the colliers walking past our house' the clogs on their feet making an

echo on the road. They were going to wait for Tommy Bellis's lorry to take them to the pit. At ten

to five in the morning a hooter would sound, and again at five o'clock. Most of the men and boys

worked in the mines then. A common sight was coal dropped by the gates of the colliers and very

often the wives would barrow it into the coal house.

My sister Kitty used to want to go out to play around the gas lamp by Granny Chester's

house, this is where all the young ones seemed to gather. There would be Tecwyn Lewis, Jack

Roberts, from by the bus ring, Mary Lewis and one other girl, I think her name was Elenor, but

poor Kitty would have to tag me along. She would sit me on granny Chester's wall, or they would

go down to Joe Spot's chip shop and leave me with Jack's young brother sitting on the fat boxes

in the chip shop.

we had a very happy time at home, my brothers owen and Geof along with my dad would

play darts or snooker, we had a small table and I recall all the furniture being pushed to one side

for them to play. My mum frequently played the piano and we would gather round her to sing.

The War started and things changed. The first year of the war my Dad insisted we sleep under the

stairs at the Council school in Gwersyllt. My grandmother was caretaker there at the time, and they thought

we would be safer there if bombs were dropped. Some other people used to take their farnilies to sleep under

the bridge on the Llay New Road, especially if there were warnings of air raids. Shordy after my dad got

killed, not by bombs, but bY a bus.

I remember the railings that went around the village circle by the bus stop being removed for the war

effort, along with any iron that could be collected from gates, etc. We used to have blue strips of masking

tap€ criss crossed over the windows to save glass splintering in any blasts, and of course we all had to have

blackouts on the windows.

The double decker buses used to have a trailer with gas at the back, because of the petrol shortage.

This used to smell dreadful. They also had what looked like a venetian blind over the headlights to stop

the light rays shining upwards to attract enemy aircraft.

During the war everyone helped each other. My mum would exchange our sugar ration for soap wit}

Mrs. Harry Davies. Most people had their own chickens, so you would exchange eggs for some other

commodity.

Then there were the regular concerts in the old billiard hall. Mr. Knight would come to our house with a

trailer to take the piano to the hall. My mum would play it, and Mr. Knight would do monologues, a

favourite was'Burlington Bertie'. Mary Taylor would play herviolin, and Violet Meacock would sing. She

had a voice like Judy Garland.

Rationing brought lots of problems, and in particular if your feet grew quickly and you needed new

shoes. About every six months a person from one of the Departments would come to school to measure

ourfeet. Ifthey had grown fast you would get extra coupons. Mum used to say to me "Push your feet forw ard

so as to qualify, but I was never lucky enough, I'm only a size 3 now. Muriel Wynne' my friend, always

got them. Most days I played with Muriel, and something that sticks in my mind is sitting watching

Muriels' Dad in the garden shed cutting men's hair .

We would go for picnics down by the little stream on the New Road. One day we had just started

paddling and making lots of noise when Dickie Edwards appeared from under the bridge, he shouted

"Where do you think you are, in bloody Blackpool?" We were so afraid of him we ran for our lives.Other familiar sights were the navy blue fever ambulance around the village. Scarlet fever and

diptheria were very common then. Also a Mr. Edwards from Rhosrobin used to come round twice a weekto collect and deliver wet batteries for the wireless. This was before people changed from gas to electricity.

Then there was tlte window cleaner Mr. Greenaway. I was a bit dubious of him because he wascoloured and coloured people were very uncommon then. There was Mr. Rooney and Mr.Povey the roadmen. You would always see them when you were walking to school. They always had a word with you asyou passed.

Miss Beattie Penlington was the Post l,ady all through my childhood. She would walk up to TopBradley and down to the wiremill and it was a long way carrying a heavy post bag.

Another highlight was the Bradley Chapel Anniversary. This would take place the last two Sundaysin June. All the children from the Sunday School would take part reciting verse and singing, and wouldbe dressed in their best clothes. Then they would be rewarded with a Sunday School trip to Rhyl.

Nurse Boswell was the Nune, I think she did all of the area as clinic nurse and school nurse. NittyNora she was called, poor woman, she wasn't in the front line when looks were handed out.

Then there was the School Board man. If you were away from school for more than four days youwould get a blue note. Failure to respond to this would result in the Board man being around . He wouldput the fear of God into you.

There were lots of girls in our road, Mary and Connie Ellis the twins, Mary and Betty Boon, Beryland Margaret Challinor. We all used to play in the road. It was safe, nobody had cars in those days. Wewould play hopscotch and get into trouble for chalking on the pavement, and top and whip. We would seewho could make the best pattern on the head of the top when it was spinning. It would gave a kaleidoscopeeffect. Skipping was another favourite, chanting rhymes as we skipped. We played ball on the walls untilwe drove my mum crazy with the continual thumping you could hear in the house.

We had hve shops in Bradley. There was Dodd's shop as we called it. Mr. Dodd was a naggy old devil.I remember Ceof my brother sending my other brother Gerald in for a pennyworth of creamed turnips. Ican tell you he came out faster than he went in! 'Ned Fart' as he called him chased him with a stick.

Stan Davies was another character. If you hadn't got the right money , he wouldn't serve you.Mrs. Jones the Top Shop sold everything you could think of, from knicker elastic to paraffin oil. She

was so nosy and would grill you about all your family before you left the shop.I was a member of the Greenwoods. I think it must have been similar to the Guides. It was the junior partof the Guildry. Mrs. Edwards from the Manse in Gwersyllt used to take us, along with Mrs. Griffiths fromthe Mold Road, Gwersyllt. This was attached to the Congregational chapel.

28

JOYCE HANMER nee ROBERTS

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I attended the Infants' School in Gwersyllt known as the Council School. The onlyteachers I remember there were Mtss Maloney and Mlss Belton. If it was ratnlng hea\5/,and I must adrrit it rained a lot Ie Wales, my mother would keep me at home , then ongoing back to school, Miss Maloney would call me up and say "He must be a sugar baby- afraid of the rain!". Certatnly I must have been well looked after, because I had to wearleather legglngs whlch were fastened wlth a row of small buttons up the slde, and arubber ralncoat complete with sou'wester.

Occasionally I must have got illto trouble at school, because I remember gettingcaned wtth a ruler across my hand by Miss Belton, the Headmlstress. It certainly hurt.In this school we had a brass band - at least we had the lnstruments. They did not teachus muslc, but as a member of the band I played the qrmbals and really enJoyed lt. Theyalso had a ma54role whtch would be set up inside the school. We would then have todance around it makfng patterns with the tapes until they were plalted around the pole.

After chapel on Sundays the whole village seemed to go for a walk - normallythroug;h the Round Wood . Ifyou as chtldren were on your own and got a llttle boisterous,as we sometlmes dld, someone would always call in at home and report you. You werealways asked at home what the text was for that service and you were expected toremember it. At the chapel Anniversar5r we would normally have to reclte ftom memorylong passag;es of scrtpture, or stng a hymn or song. At a rehearsal for one of theseAnniversary Servtces there was a glrl called Dtlys Vaughan Hughes who had a lovelycontralto voice .She was shglng when three of us boys Jolned in with her to stng a klndof descant. It obvlously sounded good as tlley all wanted us to do it at the Servlce, butwe must have been really awkward because we said nol

A special day was Whlt Sunday, when we always had somethtng new to wear, andHeaven help you tf you got your clothes dlrty. I was wearing a new pair of boots one day,and that same day I went down to Dlckte Edward's farm, and helped them get the cattlefur for mtlklng. I was standtng Just outside the shippon when some cows came rushtngout, and I stepped back, havtng forgotten there was a drop there of a couple of feet tntothe area where the cow muck was thrown from the shtppon. I went into lt and was stuck.The manure came up to my knees, everyone was laughlng and I was hauled out, stlllcovered in manure. I scraped ofi as much as I could, but lt was qulte obvlous where Ihad been as you could smell lt as well as see it - I was ln trouble again!

As a boy I had no partlcular hobbies. I llked readtng and also enjoyed maklnggames with wood, that is bagatelle and draughts. During the day I would pl,ay wrthfriends, they would be immedtrate neig;hbours at first, then as I got older the clrcle spreadto further parts of Bradley, then to the next vtllages. In school, howwer you played wtthdlfferent ones. Boys dld not normally play wlth the glrls, certainly not at school whereyou were strictly segre$ated for plaJrtrme, There were tlme however when boys and glrlsdtd play together, wtth sptnning tops in thelr season or with hoops, these could be justhoops of iron or bicycle wheels whlch were wlth or without spokes. You would propelthem along with a stlck and run wlth them. The sklll was trytuxg to hrrn corners at speedwithout slowrng down. Normally the girls would play thelr own games; skippfng, tag,ball, house or even hospital. The boys would be playtng football, cricket, cltrnbin€ trees,and then the tag would go on all svgl the vtlage. You had other games whlch came lntheir season, like conkers and marbles. One game we played and pa.rttcul,arly sulted tothe blackout during World War TWo was called 'Sound Your Echo' One boy would runoffand then shout' Sound your echo'. Ttre one who was 'tf would then try to track themdown by shouting out and then answerleg. It was a game that could go on for hours.

A lot of memortes go through the war. The day it started, I was walking along the

road towards Gwersyllt, e4pectlng to see the Gerrrans come over in an aeropliane, whlleour men stood on the ground with rifles fuing at the planes - eight year old boys hadvery funny ideas! They built an alr rald shelter across the road from my home, now thechip shop. It was a blast shelter really. Then everyone was issued wlth gas masks whichwe were oq)ected to carry at all ttrnes. There were identt$r cards , and I have noUced thatthe number you were given on that card is now our Naflonal Health number.

My father was a member of the Home Guard. He had been in the T.A. until l93gas a corporal, because of thts they made htrn a corporal in the Home Guard, mainty ,I think because he was the only one familrar vrith the Lewis Gun. He brought home wtthhirn all his training pamphlets , and having read them that often I knew them off b5rheart. There was a tale of one man who was shot and lctlled b5r one of the Home Guardpatrols. My father refused to talk about ttrls and we heard nothing more. All the menwho were not ln the services were expected to jotux some part of the cMl defence. Iremember seetng some of the A.R.P., especially at night when they came aroundchecking that no ligf,rts were showing, but the group I remember most were re HomeGuards . They had one of their flrst parades opposite our house, and tt rea$ dtd lookllke Dad's Army! They were in denlms which always looked awful, they had armbandswhich satd L.D.v. - Local Defence Volunteers, but no weapons. They came later as didthe unlforrns, they also changed their name to Home Guard. Regular arrry instructorscame to tratn them, but ttrese old boys in the Home Guard were elther too old or wereunfit and they did not Ilke being chased over flelds and assault courses. I heard qultea few grumbles about these instructors chasing old men over the fields.

some people in the vlllage appeared to b€ more important then others. These werethe local shopkeepers, Mr. Matt lfuight, Mr. Fisher, Mr. Jones and Mrs. Boot, the localpolicemen, Mr. Jones, farmers Dickie Edwards, Mr. Diggory and Stan Chesters. Thenthere were the teachers, the Minister and the Headmaster, Frank Jones. The Headmas-ter was the only one you called 'sir', because he lnslsted on it. He was also the officertn charge of the Home Guard, and when lt came to p.T. tlme at school he would takeall the boys and give them drlll. At one tirne he also pointed out that not on\r were weto call hirn sir, but lf we passed hirn in the street we were to salute him (shades of Dad'sArml) My father found out about this and went mad, I was gtven strlct instrucuons notto salute the Headmaster, and I think the whole thing died a death.

On the day they announced that the war in Europe was over there were greatcelebrauons in the village. They all seemed to gather on the juncflon opposite Knight,sshop. Someone brou$ht a radiogram onto the street, and everyone started danclng aJrdsingrng. The whole village seemed to be having a great ttme. Food was broug$t put andsometine it wasjust cake or some cheese rolls, others brought out drinks and lemonadefor the youngsters. Then a little later the Blackout restrlctions were llfted and shopswere allowed to have neon lighting to advertise thelr businesses. I remember going intotown one evening and thought lt most unusual to see some of the shops lit up. The neonlights at the time were very simple, but to me they seemed wonderful.

LT. COLONEL J. ROBINSON - COLCHESTER

30

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I was born on May 30th 1933, the only daughter of Jane and Robert Hughes and christened DilysVaughan Hughes. Vaughan was my mother's maiden name. My mother was aged 38 when I wasborn, and my father 5 years older. We lived at 22 Glan Llyn, Bradley at that time.My mother wanted to name me Gwynneth, but prior to me being born she was working in servicein Bolton. While there she attended chapel and macte friends with Uly Jones, whose parents camefrom Cefn Mawr. On the actual day that I was born, Lily came to visit and said to my mother . ,'lfyou call her Dilys, I will buy the pram." Needless to say, my mother took her up on the offer!

I was four when we moved house to 181, Glanllyn, now no. 9 Heol - y - Wal. I can justremember this event and being very excited at the prospect of having a large garden, completewith fruit trees - blackcurrants and raspberries. Looking back, I can't for the life of me understandwhy we had a large garden, because my father was a very reluctant gardener, in fact he hatedit !The love of his life was fishing, usually in the River Alyn. ln fact he was known in the villageas'Bob the Fisherman'. As soon as he got home after working a shift at Uay Main colliery, hewould be off fishing, not retuming till it was dark. As a child I can remember lying awake at night,listening for his footsteps - I was wonied in case he fell in. We always had plenty of trout in thosedays.

I attended Gwersyllt Council school. Myfriends were Betty Fisher ( who lived 2 doors away)Beryl Lloyd and Alice May Williams. On myfirst day lwas taken there by Beryl Lloyd's mum, I don'tknow why my own mum didn't take me ! Atter the first day we were on our own, no school shuttleservice in those days. Miss Maloney was our teacher in the 'Babies' class and t disliked her fromday one I

I was walking home f rom school one day with my f riends, and we got as far as the cottageswhereNigel andGeraldRogersoncelMed.Therewasawall infront of thecottageswhichhadspiked railings, we usually climbed up and walked along them. On this particular day, Betty Fisherslipped and tell onto one of the spikes, it went into her armpit. I ran as tast as I could to fetch herMum, she in turn called for Mr. Bob Jones, the ambulance man. She was taken to hospital to haveit stitched and she suffered badly for few weeks after that

I attended Bradley Congregational chapel, Sunday School at 2 p.m. and Evensong at 6 p.m.The Superintendent was Mr. Fred Jones. All his family were involved . Son Cyril and daughterFreda played the organ and the piano. Approximately one hundred children attended in thosedays ,because for regular attendance at Sunday School, you qualified for a free bus trip everyyear, usually to Rhyl or Llandudno.

We had an Anniversary Service every year when we entertained the congregation withsongs, poems scripture readings etc. We had a makeshift stage for this event. The 'baby' chairswere at the front of this stage , larger next, then forms at the back for the tallest of us. All veryunstable! The boys who stood on the forms behind us, in particular Gordon and lvor Wright,Jimmy Robinson and Ron Roberts used to push us to make our form wobble, hoping it wouldcollapse during the servicel We had an annual Scripture examination too, it included all theWrexham area chapels. For these we had scripture lessons twice a week to slart with, then everynight as the exam drew closer. We were really keen to pass because we didn't want to let Mr.Fred Jones down. He and Mr. Glyn Trevor gave up much of their spare time for the Chapel andthe children of Bradley. I still have a bible dated 19€ for passing this exam. lt is inscribed'TheDenbighshire Sunday School Scripture Examination.'

There was a man living near us called Williams but his nickname was Farmer. One daywhilst playing in the street with Johnnie Lewis, Sylvia Edwards and Betty Fisher, the ball went intohis garden. I wentto the door and asked ,

"Please can I have the ball back, Mr. Farmer?" He was none too Dleased and told me to-B---- Otf." My mum and dad thought it was hilarious, but as a kid, I sure was scared!My father's brother, Frank married a lady called Min. They had three daughters; Betty,

Minnie and Mona. They also had a little boy, Frankie who tragically died at the age of three. AuntieMin was devastated and never really got over this tragedy. She was a wonderful Auntto me, sadly

she died eleven years age. We had lovely parties at her house - one of her favourite gamesinvolved bobbing for apples in a bowl of water. We came into the room one at a time but priorto this Auntie Min had blackened her hands with soot from up the chimney. Then she would coverour eyes while we tried to get the apple with our mouths. We were then sent to a dark room. Thishappened until everyone had had a go. We were then brought into the lighted room screamingwith laughter at other people's' black eyes , too innocent to realise that ours were the same!

I think the children in Bradley had a good life; some better than others. As an only child,I think I did very well, never seemed to go short of anything.

Oh happy, happy days!

DILYS BITHELL nee VAUGHAN HUGHES

I was born in Railway Terrace, Gwersyllt ln 1926, and moved to Bradley when I was

about four.

My dad wasFrank Hughes and my Mum was also called Minnie. There were three

of us glrls, Bett5r, Mona and myself.

Dad worked in Llay Matn Colllery. He used to travel to work ln a lorr}r, as did the

other mlners, lt was owned b5r Tommy Bellls who was a coal merchant and llved on the

Bottom road next to the stone brldge in Gwersyllt. The miners used to be allocated a ton

of coal, I thtrk it was one every month. The coalman used to Up tt by the gate, then the

men, after a hard day's work would have to carry it to tJre coal house.

My Dad had two brothers and four slsters who all lived ln the vilage. I used to play'with my cousln Lucy Davles and Margaret Davles , slsters Winnle and Eva Bromham

and Evellm Crump who lived across the road. Evelyn's dad was ldlled tn the Gresford

Disaster in 1934. She was the eldest of four chlldren he left. I was eigfrt at the ttme, but

can remember tt was an awful day , so many local men were kllled.

We used to have good times playmg dressing up, hopscotch , marbles and skipptrxg.

We'd play tn the wood by the Waens. In the Bluebell wood we'd ptck bluebells, cowslips

and violets, you don't seem to see those ln the woods these days, and to ttre Round wood

where we'd roly poly down the Batters.

My mum was from Bradley and so was her friend Hetty Jones, she had a son Lee

and a daughter Glenys. We would walk to Caergwrle Castle and have a pic-nic,

sometlmes we would go on the train, that was a real treat.

We'd go for walks through the Wilderness and down to the Clayhole, you'd see all the

famtlies there on a Sunday.

We moved to No. lOO, to a blgger house, as my dad's si,ster was living wtth us. Nerrt

door llved Mr. and Mr. Hestly, he worked at the R.O.P. garage ( I thXrk that stood for

Russian Oll Products) It was later bought by Tommy (Transport) Roberts.

32

ItIIIIIIIItrfTf:

FFFI

F

TWo doors away lived the man we knew as ttre Aunt Sally rnan. He used to sell tfiis

liquid soap. He had a bike with a trailer on which he had a tank wrth a tap. You'd take

a bottle and he'd ffll it. It was very popular stuff.

we used to go to Bradley chapel in the week to the Band of Hope. we had to put

up our hand and promise not to touch any into5cating liquor, I'm afratd to say I've

broken my promtse. we would go to church on sunday, as we as we went to sunday

School up by the Park Wall we would sometimes meet the men comlng home from the

Club. We would say "Hello Uncle- whatever their name was" (they weren't all relations)

and they would give us a few coppers, then we'd call at Barker's shop just over the stone

bridgle on the Mold Road, or to Ted Swap who had a shop on the Bottom Road, and buy

sweets.

The vicar was Aurellus Jones . He and his wife used to have fetes in the Vicarage

in Summerhlll. They had a lovely garden, and used to grow a lot of grapes'

Mlss Dodd was Supefintendent of the Sunday School and later Sally Blackwell who

had a shop in ChaPel street.

Mr. Herbert Powell was with the boys. He was later secretar5r of the Welsh Football Club.

Mi,Ss Ada Penlington was our teacher, as was her sister Beatue who was also Post lady.

They had a brother Tom who lived on the Mold Road. I was in the G.F.S. ( Gtrls Filendly

Society) It was held in the church hall. Mi,ss Club and Miss Myra Williams used to have

trips out, usually to Llangollen. Mtss MSna later married Curly Roberts who was one of

our teachers at the Council school. There used to be a fete at the park, and there would

be a cricket Queen. we were all pleased to go itr that. Mrs. Emlyn Jones and Mrs.

Blackwell used to run lt, it was a big day for us getting dressed up.

we had whlst drives and dances, my friend Audrey Edwards used to play whist,

so we were allowed to go wtth her, she would play whlst and we would go to the dance.

Joe Hoknes used to have a band, also Hector Allen, so lt was great, especlally if my dad

came for us, as he could dance, and he would show us some of the dances'

We were preparing for the war and we had to have practlce what to do in an air raid. If

we were in school we were not allowed to came home to Bradley, we were given houses

we had to go to. I was to go to Rhosrobln, but when the supposed siren went I ran home

so of course I was ln trouble. We had to carry gas masks everwhere and pmctise puttfng

them on, they had an awful rubber smell.

We had a lot of evacuees here from Liverpool, it must have been awful having to

leave their families. We made ftlends vdth quite a few of them, some didn't stay long'

but one of them, Jirn Chester who lived with Miss Dodd never went back, he married

here and Uves in GwersYllt.

we had a happy chtldhood, everyone seemed to have the same, we knew everybody

in the vtllage, tt was like one big family'

IJ I uson the Lottery I u:ould still rrant to l1,oe in Bradleg, that's mg home'

33

MINNIE HUGHES

tJhen I s tar ted at Gwersy l l t Church School I was taken by Eni ly Parry

w i ro was a ieacher the re . She had . two s i s te rs , one was Eun ice Par ry

can I t remember the nane o f t i re o ther , and a b ro ther ca l l -e d ? ,en ,

T h e P a r r y f a m i l 1 ' l i v e d b e t w e e n J a c k f i s h e r t s a n d A u n t i e A l i c e a n d J o e

Hughes . A l ic e and i oe had three d.au: :hters D or othy , ;ery l and ie : rn i f er .

l e ry l mar r j -ed Davud . Gr i f f i t hs wno i s now V ica r o f Gres f o rd Church ,

he was e L lay boy. Eunice Parry and f ami ly noved, f ro in He o l -y-wai

to w i re re E lwyn and Ky tha Rcber ts now l i ve , nex t to the Gueens HeaC.

Do you remember C l i f f o rd . Jones (C i : i ppy ) who l i ved nex t door to

I ' - r . . re lv i rs . Bob Jones? O:ee day I had on a kn i i ted beret whic i r my

Auntie Glad.ys had mad.e f or De r he was throwing st ones and. one cut my

head , the bere t was covered , i n b lood . ano tha t was the f i r s t and Las t

t i m e I w o r e i t !

I w a s a n a t t e n d . a n t i n t h e C r i c k e t S u e e n f e t e . ! / e u s e d t o p r a c t l s e

each week in the s tab les a t the back o f the Wheatshea f Pub in

Gwersy l l t . OLwen Jones , Rosemary Jones and Gwyne th Shone were a lso

in the Clueen I s re t inue . Jean Elwyn f rom Summerhi l l was the Cr icket

Queen that year . She had, long dark r ing lets . A lma Orens was lady- in-

w a i t i n g . A L n a h a d a s i s t e r c a l l e d . S y l v i a a n d t h e i r p a r e n t s k e p t a s h o p

a t t h e b o t t o m o f t h e I i i r d i r , ( i w e r s y I l t .

I r e n e W y n n e , C o n n i e a n d . r n y s e l f w e n t t o J a c k i e E a r r e t t r s f a r m f o r

mi Ik , when iack s erved. us r we were t o ld by our I io thers t o ask f or

* p ints , but i f h is i ' io ther served. us we asked. f or 1 p int and beins the

€ ienerous lady tha t she was ,she f i l l ed our m i l k cans to the top ! I

I f I rene d . id . ' n t c one w i th us and Jack se rved . us r he a lways asked . f o r he r ,

I t h i n k h e f a n c i e d h e r !

t lhen I was seven I was at ny Aunt ie Gladys anduncle Ern's house

when they vere d.ecorat ing. uncle Ern was vhi tewashing the cei l ing, starrdinS:

on a tabIe, and I was si t t ing on the f loor und.erneatb, s ingin€' f rcm a

l iynn Book I 'Thete is a Green Hi l l Far ;wayrrras f crawled' out on al l

fours Uncle Ern jumoed down cn to ny arn and broke i t :

i l i , ! l t : ,r ! ,

Itttttil

IIrtIrIItIarr

0lwen iones (who i ived. next d.oor to us ) A lma Dawson and. I ' lur ie1 Wynne

hao . a Sa le in my I ' i umrs back ya rd I suppose they wou ld ca l - l i t a ca r boo t

s a i e n o w ( w i t h o u t i i r e c a r ) a n o m i ' l : u m a n d A u n t i e G l a d y s s o l d t e a , p o p a n o

c a k e s t h r o u g h t h e b a c k w i n d o w . C a n r t r e m e r n b e r w n i c h c h a r i t y t h i s w a s f o r .

I hao s ome b r igh t red na i 1 va rn ish ano A lna Daws on asked t - f she

cou lo sne l l - i t a t id so d . id i l u r ie l l l ynne , th ink I nus t have nushed too

h a r c , i ' , o r i e d . c n t h e i r n o s e s f l , - r s . h ' y n n e c a m e t o o u r h o u s e t o c o n p l a i n

to ny l {u rn , and . she in he r temper took the bo t t l e and enp t ied i t dcwn the

1oo . ' v le were the on ly house in - ' rad . Iey tha t had a reC loo l

The Wynne f ani 1y had a buo.gie which d. ied. . . [ ' . r . Wynne wrapped. i t

i n co t ton woo1 Fu t i t i n an oxo t i n bu r ied in in a Srave wh ich was marked

w i t h , , c r o s s a n d l - i t t l e s t o n e s a 1 i r o u n d . i t . O n e d a y , w e e k s a f t e r ,

i , . u r i e l W y n n e a n d I d . e c i d e d . t o d i g i t u p t o s e e i f i t h a C t u r n e o t o

a s h e s ! I t w a s s t i l l w h o l e , i t l o o k e d . s o l o v e l y u n t i l i p i c k e d i t u f )

a n d a l l i t s f e a t h e r s t u c k t o m y h a n d s . l

Ano ther t ime C onn ie \ , l ynne , Chr i ssy Cha l loner (Joe 's s i s te r ) and .

I wen t on our b i kes to L lay Rec . As I wen t down the s l i de I r i pped .

ny c oat and they nad.e me go uD anC d. own the s tree ts in Llay with ny c oat

hanging d own. I d.are not go h orne on my own. I had. been warned. not

to ge t i n to an . / t roub le ano th i s was a decen t 6gaberd . ine coa t .

i ^a r ion Wi l1 ians , Gwyne t i : Fovey and I used . to to to the 01d . i i a I l ,

G w e r s y l l t P a r k t o p l a y . W e b o i l e d p o t a t o e s i n o l d t i n s a n d a t e t h e n

i t r s a wond .e r we d . id . rn t have f ood po ison i .ng . The l i a l l had a love1y

c oat c f arns under the ivy over the i ' la in Door, there was a1s o an o1d.

c oach , I w ond.er where they went .

I r e m e m b e r s l e e p i n g a t G w y n e t h P o v e y t s h o u s e . V e w e n t t o G r o v e i ' a r k

SchooL t oge 'uher , a1on5: wi th Al ice i ' ia i r l ' ; i l l j -ams , i ' iar i on Wi l l ians , and

P r a n k F . o b e r t s ( t : l c l c e y ) .

A f te r a t tend . ing Gwersy l l t Church on a Sund .ay n igh t , I rene r C onn ie

W y n n e a n d I u s e d t o g o t o n e e t C . . ' r i l w h o l i v e d i n L l a y ( f r " w a s C o n n i e f s

b o y f r l e n d . ) , w e t o o k f r i g h t h a l f w a y a n d w h e n w e g c t h a l f w a y b e t w e e n t h e

J )

banks up the t oP of

t o p o f o u r v c i c e s

a g a i n s t t h e w a l L l I

r u n e n i l e .

the h i l l on the L lay New Roadr we wou ld s ing a t the

I A11 o f a sud .d .en ) C i r t y b lack pudd ing wen t p lop

I tn ink i f zr11.r6t" hao heard us r they woul-a have

l i e used to make snow nouses on our f ron t Lawn ano Bobby Dav ies ,

F iy land lav ies and a few o thers v rou la come and . th row snowba i l s to knoc l :

t t 0. own. In our s t ree t we had. ; ; rea*, f un. Ue p layed around the

lanp oos t , the re was a w id .e oavement and . i t was our usua l meet ing

p1ace. S ome of the f arn i l ies around. there were the lJatk ins ' Tommy

i lo l l i s , r - rav id Gr i f f i t hs a r id b ro t i :e rs , Conn ie , Raynond . and . Rober t j ones ,

( t n e e h i l - o r e n o f I . 1 r . ; i i ' l r s . B o b J o n e s ) , G 1 y n , E n i d . a n d C l i f f o r d . J o n e s ,

Ahna, Ryland and Norman Daws on. Norman Dawson is now the f rad.Ley

P os tman ,

When ny Grand.ma, wi ro l ived in Cef n-y-bed.d Srn i thy , was i l l r we

s t a y e d t h e r e t o l o o k a f t e r h e r . I t r a v e l l e d t o s c h o o l i n G w e r s y l l t

f ron the re . A teacher ca I led I t i i ss E l l - i s P icked . me up in he r ca r r I

th nk she t rave l led f ron Cueens fe r ry , she used to le t me comb her ha i r

f o r he r , i t was in a bun . O ther teachers I remember were l " i i ss Rogers

and I ' i i ss Jones , the la t te r mad.e me d . r ink ho t m i l k wh ieh had been pu t

t c warm in f ron t o f the huEe e oa l f i re ( t to cen t ra l - hea t ing in those

d a y s ) I h a t e d i t a n d h a v e n e v e r l i k e d h o t m i l k s i n c e .

P lease exeuse my wr i t i ng and spe l l i ng they were never my good .

points . l ly Mun a lways said. I on ly passed. the scholarship f or

fo r Grove Park because the re was a spare sea t tha t yea l !

36

GLADYS JONES nee WILLIAI{S

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I remember starting school aged 5. we left at 15 in those days. We would always walkto and from school - no bus or car ndes for us. Each day we would be grven 2d(remember peruries?) tius was ours to spend rn Miss Jones's shop on the hill opposite theChapel. It was so small vou could only have four customers in there at any one time.For our 2d we would be abie to buy 6 sweets. When we came home from school we wereallowed to play outside for about an hour but we always had to be in bed by seven o clock.I used to take a torch to bed with me each nig:irt without my Mum knowrng (l think).

From an early age I lived ir my present house - 40 l{eoi-y-Wal, at the back of the house is awood and we look out over the River Nlan towards Jack Ba:ratts farm. Gladys lived nextdoor to me and we would often slide down the nearby grassy bank on pieces of cardboard,many a time we were sent to bed early due to the holes which had somehow appeared inour pants. We also used to enjoy making mud pies, however since we were not allowedany water we did the next best thing and used what Nature had given us - I'm sure you canguess what that was. When we were about 12 we would all walk to Caergwrle Castle for apicnic, it was safe to go without adults in those days. We would also love to go toWilderness Farm down by Dickie Edwards.

A gul who was in school with us was very popuiar indeed - her mother kept a shop urRhosrobrn so there were lots of sweets for her friends. Another shop in Rhosrobrn wascalled Agnty Ethels. It rvas on the top of Little Hell and if rve helped her getting the

potatoes and vegetables in she rewarded us wrth OXOs which was great in those days.

We were a happy family, my Mum, Dad and my two older sisters. My dad worked downthe pit at Llay Main and my mum was always at home for us when we arrived back fromschool, she used to make her own bread and pies and when she made her weekly trip tothe CO-OP she wore Ponds cream.

There are a lot more memories that I hold dear, starting my fust job at Rogers & Jacksonsin Wrexham, Sunday School trips to Rhyl on the first Saturday in June each year - thosewere the days when Chapel was three times each Srurday. This was a tin Chapel in Bradleywhere two houses are now built next to the old Fire Station. I remember so well my Dadcoming home from hrs shift at the pit and having a bath in front of the fire - he was coveredin marks from where the coal had fallen on him. He used to take his Snappin tin to work

each day and mum would put exta sandwiches in {br us girls - they always tasted nicerafter then trip down the pit.

My mum died when I was only 2l and I still miss her, she gave me and my sisters sucha happy childhood. A few weeks ago Minme and I lost a dear friend who had lived by usall ou lives and who we saw every day, and although we miss her we still remember her.

OLWEN HALLAMBY nee JONES

No one can take our nxemories away

5 l