Childhood memories of Tanrallt Terrace, part 1

This a photo I took last year when we visited Blaenau Ffestiniog. This is Tanrallt Terrace where I grew up in, and our house is the one with the flat roofed porch, the second house on view from the left hand bush. It was 1967 when we moved here and we left in April 1982, to live in Llandudno. When I looked at this photo last week I was reminded of so many memories.
Where do I begin? Well, the rock from which this photo was taken semed to attract kids. Whether it was to climb it or slide down the side of it or what, but many a time I would look out of my bedroom window and see someone attempting to climb it. This was our Everest, it had easy faces and of course difficult ones, but even the simplest route to the top could have easily ended up in tragedy. If you carried on walking in the direction the photo was taken, there was a slide to our left, but also a precarious route to get to it. This was the way I often went, but I shudder to think what would have happened to me if I had missed my footing. The more adventurous of us would tackle even scarier ways up. For instance to the right of this photo was a drop to the High Street. I can remember seeing a lad named Derek Jones actually succeeding to climb up this way with the traffic going by below him! And this was with no equipment, harness and no hooks. Just relying on his feet and hands! Why did people do such things? I presume because the rock was there, and it was sheer luck (and skill I suppose) that no one was killed.
The road outside our house was used for sports matches as well as a car park. God knows how we managed to find the room to play matches on it I will never know! But play we did, football, obviously, and cricket. The neighbours were nervous wrecks worrying if their cars were going to be damaged! Everytime someone hit a windscreen or the top of a car, we would all turn our faces with grimaces on them and expect the owner to come out and tell us off. We were so sports mad we would play anywhere. See that rock in the distance just beyond the top row of houses? Well we would play football there! The unfortunate and annoying thing about the place was the fact that at one end of the pitch there was a sheer face, and if someone happened to kick it wildly that way (or score a goal with a hard shot) the ball would sail over the edge and down to the bottom field. If the ball didn't catch on something, like a ditch, it invariably continued to roll down Richmond Terrace and beyond! Of course, the one who initially kicked the ball over would have to retreive it, which meant running down the grassy side and trying to get to the ball before it reached the Terrace below. The architecture of the terraces where we lived was so zig zagy that the poor unfortunate lad could end up right down to where the main road was, and believe me that was some climb back to the playing area! By the time he got back up there he would either collapse with exhaustion or find that the rest had got fed up and gone home for lunch! By the end of the game, everyone would have had to go through this as we all had a wild shot in us during the football game, and not only we had our fill of football practice we also got in a dose of athletics as well!
Another playing area we used a lot was the patch of field at the end of Tanrallt Terrace. This was a multi-purpose area for the community. It served as a place for the mothers to hang their washing to dry, and there would be up to at least 5 different sets of washing. In the middle was the street cricket pitch, and even this would be prone to disaster. To the right of this patch of grass would be the back doors of the houses in the high street, and almost all of one would be enclosed. Except for one! And that was the end one, right where mid on (cricket term) would be. This would be a favourite shot for most and if you got it right it would mean that it would head towards the exposed edge of this end house, and if this was the case the cricket ball would trickle down right to the bottom where their back door would be. And to make things worse there would usually be a sheepdog down there! At the time, being bitten by a sheepdog at the age of 4 was still a fresh memory for me (this story I will relate at a later date), so we would hope that Dafydd (the owner) would come out and give us back our ball. If not, and we didn't have another cricket ball, then game over.
I had an unfortunate encounter with one of those washing lines. On one occasion I was running about the area, I jumped across the ditch that surrounded the washing line field and didn't see the steel wire that was hung from one post to the other that was the washing line. I didn't see the wire as it was probably camuflaged with the dull, grey sky that seemed to permanently reside over Blaenau. It caught my throat and swung me into the air and I landed on my back on the field. I was lucky I wasn't decapitated! Fortunately I was ok and a little shocked more than injured.
I also saw my taid Hughes for the last time from this field. It was February 1974 and I saw him on his way home to Hafod Druffydd and we waved. He died a week later of a heart attack. Unknown to me at the time he was suffering from heart problems, ever since he saw me being mauled by a farmer's sheepdog back in 1967. It happened right in front of his house and unfortunately he witnessed this event and obviously was shocked at what he saw. I will post some more of my taid in a future post.
More later...

Video Clips

Video has arrived to my blog!

On the left hand side of the page I will be placing some video clips which I hope people will find interesting. The first one I've found is this wonderful images of my home town Blaenau Ffestiniog from the air. Just click and move to the top of the page.
I wonder what else I can find?

Additional:
I have included clips of some of my favourite media interests.

Seinfeld - in my opinion the funniest TV show ever from America. If you like good comedy and surrealism to boot, then you will laugh your socks off! There haven't been many funny shows where all 4 main characters are as equally funny as each other. That's some achievement in my book.

Red Dwarf - What can I say? Probably the funniest show from OUR side! Not really a sci-fi show, just a very funny show which happens to be set in deep, deep space!

Porcupine Tree - Very underated rock band, unfairly labelled as 'progressive', but actually masters of all music genres. Steven Wilson is a musical genius and very prolific in his output. I first heard of them from a 30 second clip on Amazon.co.uk (of the song 'Lightbulb Sun') and was instantly converted. In recent albums they have moved over to the metal side and have aquired a lot of new fans, but they still churn out classic ballads and moving music. Quite melancholic in their music, but this only serves to heighten the emotional mood of their songs. Click on the video clips below and try them out. Serious music lovers only!

Blackfield - A side project of Steven Wilson and again melancholic in nature. Very profound song writing and killer melodies. A live DVD of a concert if theirs in New York is due out in October and by all accounts an outstanding performance. Aviv Geffen, an Israeli songwriter is his co-member and some of the songs have been transformed from Hebrew versions of Aviv's.

Frank Caliendo - Recently found out about this guy. Does very funny impressions of well known American media personalities, such as Robin Williams, Robert de Niro and John Madden. Does killer impressions of George W Bush and William Shatner, and also does all the characters in Seinfeld - including Newman. Check out the Seinfeld clips before watching him if you have never seen Seinfeld before.
Enjoy!

Visiting Cwm Celyn

Today I finally visited the farmstead called Cwm Celyn. For many years it was the home of my great great grandparents Evan and Grace Evans and their family. The present owners, Ian and Abigail had kindly invited us to go up and have resided there for 4 years.

We came off the main road just after passing the Fairy Glen Hotel on the A470, which can take you to Dolwyddelen and Blaenau Ffestiniog, and found Abigail and her husband waiting for us in their landrover. It was just as well, Cwm Celyn was a further 3 miles up a track that weaved and meandered through the pine trees that formed part of the Gwydir Forest. We passed the spot where Evan rescued an American lady from the hands of her newly wed husband, beaten to an inch of her life with a boulder. We found out later that the poor lady was pregnant at the time and contributed to the husband's decision to murder her. No doubt that this event made Evan headline news in his local community, but it also reached the national attention as The Times newspaper also reported it.

When we reached the top the house looked impressive, and the extension caught my eye, possibly because the only image I had previously seen was the half finished construction Evan was in the middle of building in the 1890's photo. The inside of the house has not changed a lot and is as authentic as a 19th century farmhouse can be. It is a credit to Abigail and Ian that they have not altered it too much nor do they wish to. They clearly enjoy being in these surroundings and are also very enthusiastic about the history of the building and the previous occupants. As Abigail commented she knows more about the Evans' than her own family! The age of the house goes back to at least 1680, and they both have accumulated an impressive amount of research. Rest assured that Cwm Celyn is in good hands!

Ian showed us the work that is ongoing in converting the barn/stable which is quite roomy. I can't wait to see it when it's completed. What is also interesting that they have saved some original stones from the walls which have initials carved into it. Evan Evans built the extension originally and has engraved his on the wall that still stands. On loose stones kept by Ian, there are M.O. and J.H. engraved. The M.O. could have been marked by either Margaret Owen or her daughter Mary Owen who lived nearby at Llanerch Elsi. It depends when the marks were made but stikes me as something a child would do so my guess would be Mary Owen, who was born in 1892. Mary and her family would emigrate to the United States in January 1913 on the same ship as Mary's uncle and younger son of Evan, Owen Evans, and start their American adventure at a place called McRoberts, a small mining town in Kentucky. Mary and her sister Margaret both married while they were in Kentucky but eventually moved to Akron, Ohio. Mary married Morgan L Boone, a descendant of Samuel Boone, brother to the famous frontiersman Daniel. Owen eventually settled at Glendale, Los Angeles with his new bride, a Welsh lady named Mabel Canfield from Pontypridd. He started a thriving construction business at Glendale.

We plan to go again (hopefully when the weather will be better) as there are other places to see around Cwm Celyn. I am amazed at how far the children had to walk to school every day and Evan used to work in the slate mines of Blaenau Ffestiniog. They just had to do it, no other choice, and I doubt that they ever complained about it.

Interesting characters in my family

Over the last year of researching, I have discovered a few interesting characters who I want write about.

A distant relation was Rebecca Stuart Clark, a cousin to my great grandmother Laura Morris. Born in Pwllheli in 1863, she became an entrepreneur in the fishing industry and is credited with the industry in Pwllheli lasting as long as it did. By the early 20th century, the fishing industry was in decline due to competion from other fishing fleets around the country. In a book by D. G. Lloyd Hughes on Pwllheli he comments:

'By the 1920's the town's fishing industry was a sorry sight with only a handful of boats, the popular nobbys, remaining. Most were owned by one fishmonger, the redoutable Rebecca Clark...But for her there would have been virtually no fishing of note from Pwllheli by the 1930's. Had someone of her calibre and financial backing taken an interest when catches were at their highest during the 1870's there might have been a chance that the industry could have been placed on a firmer footing'.

In the early 19th century Rebecca was living with Ellen Ann Morris, her cousin and sister to my great grandmother. Also living with them was a Eliza Ellen Roberts, daughter of Samuel Roberts and Cathrine Williams. It looks like both of Eliza's parents died in the 1890's, Samuel at St. Asaph Lunatic Asylum in 1897. Samuel was a brother to Rebecca's mother, Ann.

Rebecca lived to a good age and died a wealthy woman. My mother remembers meeting her at her fishmonger's shop when she was a little girl living with her aunt Elizabeth.

My family connections, part 1

My recent researches into my family history has revealed some interesting connections. Many years ago I was told that one of these was a link to David Lloyd George. This was pretty exciting hearing this but no one in the family quite knew how we were related. So one of my goals was to find this elusive connection, and all I had to go on was a remark from an American relative said to my great aunt Olwen. At the time I only knew of one family, in Los Angeles, that were related to us. Today I know of many, residing in different parts of the US, and there are more that I don't know of yet. However, researching this link with one of Wales famous men was long and many dead ends were reached. Eventually, I decided that there was no link and went on other areas of research involving other ancestors. I went on the hunt for other American cousins when I discovered, quite by accident, that we had ancestors in Vermont. There was a sister of my great great grandfather, Mary Lloyd Williams, who I could not find in the 1881 census. I knew she had married a Griffith Isaac Roberts, a slate miner from Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, and had 2 young children by 1871, the whole family could not be found 10 years later. This prompted me to think that they had emigrated. Fortunately the 1880 US census is free (on the family search website), and I found them there. They had emigrated in 1874 and had started to have American children. Eventually they would have 6 surviving infants, one other, Jane, died soon after birth and is buried in Blaenau Ffestiniog.
Researching the survivors has not been easy, though with the help of Ancestry.com I have managed to find who they married. Further information can be found on my web site at http://www.gwynhughes.co.uk/ . Obtaining the death certificate for Mary has helped me clear up the mystery of where the connection with David Lloyd George is. With the name Lloyd in my mother's family the assumption was that the great man was linked to us somehow. Now, I knew that Mary's father was a William Williams born in Penrhos, near Pwllheli. What I didn't know was her mother Jane's maiden name. The death certificate revealed all! She was Jane Lloyd! This is how the Lloyd name was introduced to many future Williams decendants, including my mum's brother, John Lloyd Williams.
So, this proved that there was no familial link to David Lloyd George, and that the Lloyd name in our family originated from a family from Llanfrothen. Luckily, there is a pedigree link to Jane Lloyd on the Family Search website, therefore more information was available.
However, a few months ago I researched into another ancestor, a brother to my great great grandmother Grace Evans, Morris Owen Evans. He was a congregational minister, born at Ty'n Ddol, a farmhouse in Tanygrisiau, in 1857. I found out that he married a Katherine Daniel, born near Bala and she had a brother David Robert Daniel. Here, at last was the link to David Lloyd George! Not a family one but nevertheless a link. DR Daniel will be found in all books on DLLG as they set up a newspaper together, Yr Utgorn Ryddid, at Pwllheli. He went on holidays with DLLG and friends, and was a close confidant to his family. This explains why DLLG was regarded highly by my ancestors, and I hope to find out if Morris was involved and included in the sphere of influence that his brother-in-law was involved with. He and his family also emigrated, to Cincinnati, Ohio.
More ineresting family links soon.

Creating your own family tree website

This is a handy little web site I've found that anyone can use for free and start their very own family tree. I have been looking around to show graphically my family tree that is easy on the eye. This is it, and can be found on Tribal Pages.com . It's easy to register and you can control the privacy of the site by registering an administrator and a visitor password. I chose the standard privacy option so that I could share certain information on the web, but there are other options available.
You can also link with other trees (just as Genes Reunited do) and search for your ancestors.
Worth a try!

Best Album of the Year?

I doubt that it will win any awards but the best ones never do, do they? Although Porcupine Tree's new album (I still call them albums - showing my age!) 'Fear of a Blank Planet' has turned out to be their most succesful to date, I think Blackfield second album (titled 'Blackfield II') is a little gem, and is the best I've heard this year. It's so good I don't think I will hear a better one, even writing this in August!

Blackfield are a collaboration of Steven Wilson (of Porcupine Tree) and Israeli singer songwriter Aviv Geffen and together they write good melodic songs. Often described as Wilson's pop outlet, the songs are invariably laden with guitar riffs. They are very big in Israel because of Geffen's long standing popularity. Here is a link to a preview of their second album, courtesy of You Tube.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mMP8lS7FQTo

This isn't wishy washy pop drivel. These compositions reflect the state of the world we live in, hard hitting reality, no sugar coating!

Here is one of the best videos I've seen for a long while:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrIqp4vBgP8&mode=related&search=

Here is a live in the studio version of their Israeli hit 'Pain' (from the first album)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UudSJa49f_k&mode=related&search=

Interview with Steven Wilson talking about Blackfield II

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VLkQkrk6DDk

Again there are plenty of stuff on You Tube if you want to see and hear more.

Back to the Tree!

It's about time I used this blog to bring to serious music fans the quality of the group Porcupine Tree. I have been harping on for years now how good this group is and of course other side projects that Steven Wilson is involved with. With the power of You Tube I can now show how good this music is.

A documentary on the making of Deadwing (2005) can be watched here

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gnHmrN7_eOw&mode=related&search=

This is the song 'Trains' combined with an anime video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GXkEPk9ibX8

There are also loads of tribute versions of songs of the band. Here are a couple of my favoutites.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjuufF_ZnbE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DYJMYfP68UQ

There are loads of vids on the group on You Tube. They're worth checking out.

Simon's Exam results

It's been an eventful week for my son Simon which keeps getting better for him. He got his exam results this morning and he has obtained 8 GCSE's which include a couple of B's for both History and Welsh. We are all very proud of him, especially as it has been a traumatic couple of years for him at the school. He will have an interview tomorrow to see if he is allowed to enter the 6th form. He has the grades in the subjects he wants to A levels in so hopefully some more good news tomorrow. His nain took us all for lunch to The Estuary at Glan Conwy and we had a very good meal and a very nice time. It was nice to sink a couple if beers for a change!

Simon is 16

My oldest son was 16 yesterday so we decided to take him to a place he didn't think he would ever get the chance to go. We took him to Manchester United's ground Old Trafford where they take people around the ground on stadium tours. He was very pleased with the 'present that we could not wrap up' and bought him a new Man United football shirt with 'Tevez' on the back of it. We also took him to lunch at the Red Cafe, and I can recommend the buffet there. The tour guide, Stewart, was very entertaining and luckily I got away from revealing the knowledge of my football team. It would have been very awkward if he had found that I support Leeds United as they are not so hot nowadays and there is fierce rivalry between the two!

Judging at how many times Simon thanked us during the day I think we got it right this year!