Llanhilleth

A Memory of Llanhilleth.

I was born in my aunt's [Ciss Smith] house in Caefelin Street, Llanhilleth, during late 1944, early in the morning.  At the same time a girl named Angela [Simpkins] was born in the house opposite at the same time.  My Aunt Ciss was holding me up at the front upstairs window to show the family that I was born whilst Angela's relations was doing the same thing in reverse.

One of my earliest memories was when I was aged about two/three years'.  I was sitting in a pram outside Angela's house with my aunt and mother who were in conversation with Angela's mother.  Angela and I leant out of our respective prams and started kissing each and our respective relations started laughing.

My parents and I moved to London a few years later so that my father could find a better job as he did not want to work in the local pit.   My Aunt Ciss and her husband Charlie used to spend their summer and Christmas holidays at my parental home in London.  Aunt Ciss regularly used to bring whimberries to us which my mother used to convert in to tarts and pies so I am obviously partial to whimberries.

Quite a few times my parents and I frequented Llanhilleth for a holiday.  From the rear living room of my aunt's house I used to watch slag from the local pit being deposited on the mountain on the opposite side of the river.  

During our holiday we used to walk up the mountain to Trinant and on one occasion my father, some cousins and I walked from Llanhilleth across Mynydd Llanhilleth to Pontypool.  I wished I had a camera at the time to record the lovely scenery.

My grandmother used to own a fish & chip in the High Street which had views overlooking the local Pit Head.  During the early/mid-1950s one of my cousins, Derek Watkins, offered me his Welsh Youth RFC cup.  I refused acceptance because if I won a trophy like that I would not give it away.

During the early 1950s my cousins Cynthia Went and Joan Gardner came to visit my parents and I in London - they were aged 16 whilst I was aged 8. I was really excited having them visit.  During one excursion they took me around the Tower of London.  I must have done something right as they did not leave me there.

I still recall my cousins from the Holbrook family, the Thatchers, and vaguely the Butlers.  One of my cousins, Gary Musto, who played for Cross Keys RFC, had trials for Wales, but sadly did not make it.  However,  over the years I have lost touch with my Llanhilleth-based relations which I find disapointing.

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