My Mum And Grandparents

A Memory of Ystrad Mynach.

My mum was born on May 1st 1914 in Ystrad Mynach. She was called Bertha May. She was born in the vicarage of Holy Trinity Chuch where she grew up, the oldest child of the then vicar, William James Williams. She later had two brothers, Mervyn and Geoff. Tragically my grandma, Lilian Grace died on the 1st July 1920 when giving birth to her fourth child, and the little girl who was baptised after her mother and also named Lilian Grace, died the day after her mother. Both were buried in the same grave in the churchyard at Holy Trinity. My grandad died in 1932 and is also buried at Holy Trinity.

I and my two brothers grew up in Cardiff and then Bristol. When I was a child, my mum always reminisced about Ystrad Mynach, telling me stories about different family members and local characters. They were stories of tears and laughter. After she married at the outbreak of WW2, she moved away and never returned until one last time when she was in her 70s and dying of cancer. My eldest brother took her on a last "pilgrimage" to Ystrad Mynach, but strangely she apparently found it very upsetting as Ystrad had changed so much and my brother even half wished he had not taken her. She died later that year. They do say when we leave a place, we should never go back, don't they?

All I have now are lots of old faded indistinct black and white photos. I have always promised myself that one day I would go back and visit Ystrad Mynach, if only to visit the graves of my grandad and grandma who of course I never knew. But time has a habit of passing and I deeply regret never having gone, and I know now that as I myself am now in my 70s and disabled, that I never will.

I would dearly love to hear if anyone out there has any knowledge or local info about my family and Ystrad however trivial it may seem. Present vicar maybe? I would be more than happy to send a donation to the chuch roof fund!! I may have been a Londoner for many decades now, but I still have the Welsh blood I was born with in my veins!

Thanks for reading this.

Sue Wilkes
susanwilkes100@gmail.com

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