Pentrebach 1960s

A Memory of Pentre-bach.

I became familiar with the village and people of Pentrebach and around that area from about 1967, when I began to go out with the daughter of the local Publican / School Bus driver / Sawmill worker, Eddie Williams. I remember Eddie as an affable, generous man. His wife Mary was also such a lovely lady, and of course I loved their daughter, Pat. All are now, very sadly, deceased. The pub was the Shoemakers Arms. Absolutely no frills, and full of characters and character. It's now a gastro pub and has nothing of the atmosphere of the days I remember, although the food is very good apparently. One local was a man called Waler, who would sit in the corner by the fireplace night after night regaling people of his exploits as a 'bone setter'. I've been back to the village a few times since, and of course progress and time means that the character seems to have gone from the village now.

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