Cwm Penmachno memories
Here are memories of Cwm Penmachno and the local area. You can start now: Add your own Memory of Cwm Penmachno or a Cwm Penmachno photo.
First Love
I remeber vividly my first love, her name was Lorina Taylor and she was an evacuee from London staying with her aunt in the house next to the headmaster's house next to the Co-op. She was older than me and we spent many pleasant hours together and I learned a lot from her about love. How I wish I could go back to those days although I am happily married with two daughters and 7 grandchildren.
Small Village Big World
I was also born in Cwm in 1950. We lived there untill the early sixties with my sisters Rhian and Ann. I have just found this web site, and my first impression is how far the children of Cwm have spread over the world. I see people from Thailand, Australia, I myself live in Suriname in South America. I remember all the people from Llechwedd Hafod I.e Richard, the late Edward, I was so sorry to miss his funeral, Gwyndaf and Elisabeth, Emyr Swch, Trefor bach, Geraint, Iola, Gwyneth Mai, Maelor ( Mul Bach) Ken O to name but a few. I liked Iola very much, but Cwm boys did not say such things in those days haha. I have not been to Cwm for a few years now but Rhian and her husband go regularly to see Catherine who used to keep the shop. I speak to her on the phone, and it's pleasing to hear her say that the village is still very much alive. My... Read more
Happy Days
I was born in Cwm in 1936, I went to the local school and I was taught by Miss Jones and Miss Parry and I went to Llanrwst Gramar School before moving to St Helens at the age of 13.
When I lived in Cwm I was a member of the local siver band and practised every week at Swch.
I was so sad to leave the village and , although I live in Thailand now, I visit Cwm every year and I remember the happiest days of my life.
If anyone can remeber me, my father was the local coal man and every one called him Dei Dei, please get in touch with me, Meirion PS My brothers name is Hugh and my sister is Glenys
Cwm to Rhiwbach
I am writing this on behalf of my wife, Brenda Wilcox. She was born in Cwm and so was her brother Chris. Harry Wilcox, her father, was known in football terms as the gentle giant by the locals. Brenda lived in 5 Rhosgoch. When young, her mother used to take the children over past Llyn Penrhiw, past Rhiwbach ruins and on to Blaenau to shop. Quite a distance in those days. People she remembers among others were: John Bryn Madoc, W O Pritchard, Merlin Evans and his children, Ken Owen who was a cousin, Margaret Jones - in 1881 her great-grandfather, Robert Owens, was killed in the quarry whilst trying to relight a failed fuse. I have much more information about Cwm and the people if anyone is interested in its history.
Ian Gadd, pp Brenda Lilian Wilcow.
Childhood Days in Cwm
I was born in Cwm went to school there and have happy memories of playing with Brian Evans, Eric Hughes, William John Roberts, Gareth Hughes and many others. Our cricket pitch was by the slate quarry tips in Swch and the football field was anywhere there was enough room to kick a ball.
I went to Llanrwst Grammar School, left at 16 and went to work in the Forestry Commission until I was called up to the army in 1955. My parents moved to Liverpool during my time in the army and that was the last I saw of Cwm for many a year.
My family and I went back there in 1978 (at this time we are living in Australia)and found the place changed considerably. There weren't many people I recognised!
At the moment I trying to find some of the children that played together in the early 1950s, but no luck so far.
First Love
1995 was the best year of my life, I was aged 13 and I was totally besotted with a lad in the village called James Power, he was working with a local builder from Penmachno called Jeremy McWilliam. I loved the way he was of being the local stud of the village, I became close to James through his sister Tammy. I would go to the local park and admire him from a distance, his family were lovely people who used to welcome me in any hour of the day. James and I went out with each other for a year and 9 months and I was totally gutted when we split up. I remembered teaching James to whistle through his fingers and we used to whistle to each other from a far distance and it used to echo for miles around and we had a secret whistle from the bottom end of the village to the other. When James let out this almighty whistle after hours of him trying,... Read more
Childhood Memories
I was born in Cwm and I was always known by my middle name of Maelor, My fondest memories are playing with my friends Ken, Idwal, Iola, Anne Evans and Anne Parry to name but a few, We all used to meet after school to play, I also used to fish in the river and caught many trout with both rod and by tickling trout, I was so sad when I had to leave to find work, Sadly it was the end of a way of life because when I moved away I found a very different world to the wonderful innocent world I had known before.
Memories of Gwynedd
Anyone Remember The Chapel by Cyfyng Cottage Near Ty Mawr National Trust House?
A family member owns Cyfyng Cottage which is attached to the old Presbyterian Chapel that was used by people of the Wybrnant Valley from about 1850 until the 1960s. The chapel is situated high up on the road to Ty Mawr which Bishop Morgan lived and translated the Bible into Welsh. During the week the chapel was used as a school with children walking up to 3 miles to get there, then on a Sunday it held services. Can anyone remember going to this school or chapel or indeed have any photos or memories of it? I suppose the nearest village is Penmachno about 3 miles away.
Cyfyng Chapel/school
In reply to Christine Conroy re. Cyfyng chapel/school, in the Wybrnant valley, Penmachno. Despite being a few yards on the Dolwyddelan side of Afon Wybrnant, the 'border' betwen Penmachno and Dolwyddelan parishes, Cyfyng school was opened in the chapel in 1900, for the benefit of children from the lower parts of Penmachno parish. It was one of SIX schools in this large parish just before the First World War, teaching a total of over 370 pupils. 25 pupils went through its doors on opening day in 1900, and a photo exists of that momentus gathering. At most, some 32 pupils attended Cyfyng school, during the 1920s. It closed down in 1958, with seven of the remaining eight pupils transferred to Penmachno primary school, and the other to Dolwyddelan, I believe. The remarkable thing is that the school was never connected to electricity, or mains water. Oil lamps and well water was the order of the day. What would health and safety officers say about that today! Cwm Penmachno... Read more
Ddol Terace
Hello. This is not so much a memory as a request. After the war my dad and mum moved to Cwm Penmachno from Liverpool with my younger sister and myself. I was four and a half years old. My dad had a job driving a motor car for a veterinary surgeon by the name of W. O. Jones. We lived at number 3 Ddol Terrace. On 27 April 1951 my mum gave birth to a baby girl who was still-born. My mum and dad named her Christine. This information only came to me about twenty years ago when I started to study family history as a hobby. It has been suggested to me that my sister Christine is buried in Cwm Penmachno cemetery. I can find no record of this through official sources. It has also been suggested to me that a local, retired schoolteacher may have some record of this. Can anybody help, please? Regards. S. Fletcher
Growing up in Blaenau Ffestiniog. 1961
I was brought up in Blaenau Ffestiniog and lived there until 1971. The High Street photograph brings it all back. The shop on the extreme left of the photo was my mum's hairdressing shop and we lived in the flat above. My dad was the Superintendant Registrar and he used to marry people, usually on Saturday mornings. I well remember the lobby to his office always had bits of confetti. His office was called Caerblaidd Offices and they were a bit further left again to this photo. Every morning at about 7am the miners would congregate in the middle of the High Street to the left of this photo and the buses would take them to their various quarries around the town. In June every year the fun fair would come into town, and it was always when you had to revise for the summer school examinations. They would set up camp just behind the square to the extreme left of this photo. It was a busy town in its heyday and... Read more
Bronddwyryd
Not exactly my memory (only 44yrs old). But in the research of my family tree, I have been interested in locating old pictures of Bronddwyryd. The small row of houses were built in 1880, and my great grandfather Richard Evans (1846-1912) was the first to rent the property. His son, my grandfather Evan Evans (1880-1954) lived there with his wife Annie Mary Evans (nee Hughes) (1884-1946) with his mother Margaret Evans (nee Jones) (1848-1929).
Evan Evans then bought the property in about 1923 for the grand sum of 900 pounds. When he died in 1954, he left the house in his will to his eldest daughter, Annie Blodwen Casson (nee Evans) (1920-1996), she died in Canada where she lived.
During the 1950s the house was rented out, and in 1963, when Anne's younger brother left the army, he took residence with his family. On the 28 Sept 1981, Anne bequeathed the property to her brother William Hughes Evans (1927- ) and his wife Jean Evans (nee Evans) (1938- ),... Read more
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