Re: My Grandparents

A Memory of Cwmfelin Mynach.

Maldwyn and May John of Rose Cottage, Cwmfelin Mynach, my grandparents on my mother's side, Gwenda Doreen Griffiths, eldest daughter and sister to Eleanor Linda Jones, Maldwyn Lesley John and Maldwyn Brian John. Brian still lives there, runs his own garage (Rose Garage). My memory is of going down there in the summer holidays, playing in the sand outside the front door with cars and lorries when I was 2 years old. I'd spend the day there, in the shade of the tree. Every year for the summer holidays I would be there for the whole holiday, then at the age of 5 my grandad passed away, but I still went down for summer holidays. I remember going to see Glen in the shop, next door to my gran's house, then to see all the relatives who lived down there. I was always in the vestry garden catching grasshoppers in a jar, going to the chapel with my gran when she cleaned, there was so much to do in such a small village, I loved it down there and still do. Glen had a shop that was small but had everything you could think of, it was like a Tardis inside, with a post office, it had two front doors like French windows painted black, which is my most fond memory, the inside is what I can't recall, no photos of it at all. I was never bored from the day I was there to the day I went home to Crosshands SA14 6NL. My grandad and my dad are my heroes, my grandad put together the first means of light in the village, by combining a belt engine to a dynamo using DC electricity, he was a postman, a soldier and a great grandad, 35 years later and I'm still missing him. My gran passed away in 1994. I still go down there every chance I get, still got Gwenny and Margaret and Davey, they're still there. Remembering back, at the end of the lane that passed my grandad's house was a stream that had a slate going across it into the field, the water has been diverted, the slate is still there, most of it is still very similar, yet some of it has changed, the old mill is gone, replaced by a bungalow, the bridge is still there, with otters and eels. Many new faces live there now, and my parents' old house still stands, but is converted into a shed, it was known as "Alba". The shop had petrol and diesel pumps, there was an old building which was a pub at one time is now flat, when I go there now I look at my grandparents' and great-grand parents' graves, how I wish I could turn back time, buy the old shop and restore the memory, that would be an ambition. The memories are now not so clear to every detail, but the best times are, the one place I will always be going to, it's so comforting and peaceful, memories are great and fabulous, if only I could have those photos of the good times, for me it would be magic.

---

---