As a result of this illness I could not play the piano any more since my co-ordination seemed to have gone. I still have difficulty with any keyboard. I also developed a very bad stammer which lasted for many years. When in my late teens, my mother knew when I was not feeling well since my stammer got worse.

At the age of seven I moved to the main school on Fochriw Road. The infant’s school was mixed, but the main school was boys in one half and girls in the other.

The school had a large assembly hall so we all sat there on the floor for singing and prayers and the headmaster’s speech of the day.

At the age of eight the family had to move to Fochriw so I had to start at another school.

In the early 1920’s the only public transport system was the railways. These ran at the bottom of the valleys. So if you went from valley to valley you had to walk.

The villages that the railways passed through all had a station with its own goods shed and parcels office, small parcels and perishable goods were delivered by passenger train. The last coach on the train was the guards van and the goods were carried in that van.

The station staff was much larger than today, goods from passenger trains were delivered to the customers by the railway porter, by hand or on a small two wheeled hand cart.

The heavy or bulky goods came by goods train the wagons being shunted into the station siding for unloading. Goods were collected by the customers themselves or delivered by the local haulage contractor, which was usually the local farmer with a horse and cart.

There was no motor transport in the early 1930’s since everything was moved by horse and cart.

The village was organised in most commodities, the farmer milked his cows early, the milk was loaded into metal churns each holding about 20 pints, these he placed on his milk float which was a two-wheeled cart built up at the front and sides but open at the back for access, with two or three steps. He had a ladle which had a handle about 2 feet in length which allowed him to reach the bottom of the churns.

The customers came to the cart with their jugs and they received the amount required plus a little extra so that the farmer could not be accused of short measure.

The baker came next. He had a four-wheeled covered van, the bread had been made overnight and was still warm. No plastic bags or sliced bread. Some of the older ladies made their own bread and took it to the bakery to be baked.