1959 To 1964

A Memory of Mochdre.

In the bottom left corner of the photo is a row of four white bungalows. My father --Ron Bartlett built these and several others on the estate from about 1959 onwards. We lived in the top one. The house immediately to the right of ours was owned by the Williams family. This was a husband and wife who had retired from the family butchery in the Midlands. Next to them lived Margaret and Ron Hankey. Further up the street at No3 (I think) lived Bill and Rhian Trench and their son Allan. The Llangwystennin church and graveyard is just out of view on the opposite side of the valley. Both of my maternal grandparents (William and Jane Jones) are buried there.

Mochdre in those days was a quiet village - one pub (Mountain View??) and a row of shops on the main road. I had previously been at John Bright Grammar School in Llandudno, but had to move to Colwyn Bay Grammar when we moved from "The Junction". There was some light industry around Mochdre - the shirt factory, a large dairy and a company that made industrial diamonds. In about 1964, the Welsh Mountain Zoo was opened on the hill above the village by the Jackson family - I went to school with Chris Jackson. I left the village in 1964 and joined the Royal Navy and shortly after my parents sold up and moved to Adelaide Australia. I later transferred to the Royal Australian Navy and retired as a Lieutenant Commander in 2002. I now live in semi retirement at Lisarow NSW, about 50 miles north of Sydney.