Stories my Mother Told me

My mother Mildred was born in Aberfan in 1910. She had an older brother and sister, Myra (born 1906) and Harry (born 1908), their surname was Watts. Their mother was called Emily Roberts and Emily's mother was the local midwife who lived at 10 Bridge Street. Mildred was born at 6 Barrington Street and Myra and Harry were born in Moy Road, they all attended Pantglas school. Their father was Bill Watts who went to Aberfan in about 1899 with two friends from London, Charlie Catley and Bill Maynard, to work down the coal mines. My mum used to tell us that in nearly every street they had relatives and they had a very happy childhood. My grandmother Emily had six brothers and sisters and one of her sisters was called Mary-Anne and she had three daughters called Bessie, Nellie and Katie, and they lived at 23 Crescent Street, Aberfan. We took a trip down to Aberfan in about 1992 and she could not find one relative and was quite perplexed, I'm sure that there must be someone still in Aberfan she is related to and would love to hear from them. They left in about 1919 as her father wanted to go back to London which broke their hearts, leaving behind all their relatives and friends, and I don't think she ever got over that. She told many stories and one that stands out is when the miners were on strike and they had no money coming in, and their mother used to send them up on the slag heaps before they went to school and dig out all the bits for the fire. She said it was bitterly cold and hard to dig the bits out. The only food they had came from the Salvation Army who used to come round with soup and bread. My mum died on the 30th December 2009 but her heart always belonged in Aberfan. If anybody has any information on this family or is even distantly related, we would love to hear from you at the email address. Many thanks for reading this. From Carol Price.