Thought I’d feed the chickens
Giving them a treat
In shame I flung it at a wall
It fell, intact, at my feet

Walking home wasn’t easy
Boys waiting at the top
Us with pies, sponge or jelly
Which they tried to make us drop

Wimberries at Nantyffin

Wimberries are the local name for blueberries which were numerous in the next valley at Nantyffin which is situated just below Cwmbargoed and about two miles above Bedlinog.

Lets go and pick some wimberries

My friends would say to me
So in two ticks we’d all rush home
And gobble down our tea

The off we’d go to Nantyffin
That’s where they grew the best
We had a view of farms below
And a glorious sunset

One farmers name was Kinsey
And now I will relate
His children walked to Fochriw school
And they were never late.

The Station Waiting Room Clock

A policeman with the schoolmaster
Put us in fear and shock
“Own up, who is the culprit
Who stopped the station clock?”

Bopa Rose

My aunt, she was a midwife

And she’d relate to me
How at night she’d safely walk
The mountain roads

And if a man she’d see
He’d touch his cap in due respect
And walk by quietly

My aunt she had a nasty fright
When walking by some trees
When some ponies she disturbed
Galloped fast and free

Rose Thomas (nee Marshalsea) came to Fochriw at the age of two with her parents, from Somerset. She started her nursing career as a midwife in Tiger Bay, Cardiff