" With A Nick Knack Paddy Wack"

K
Ingrid Bergman in Wales

Fifty miles to the West of Trelawnyd  way back in the 1950s a major Hollywood movie was filmed. The harsh mountains of Snowdonia doubled for a war ravaged 1930s China in Ingrid Bergman's " Inn Of The Sixth Happiness" , a film I adored as a child because it had a boy's own adventure feel about it as Gladyd Aylward led her 100 children across the mountains to safety
Today, strange as it would seem, I was reminded of Inn Of The Sixth Happiness.
For, as I was feeding the animals a long crocodile of chattering children appeared down the lane led by one of the school helpers with a flag on a long stick.
I stopped to watch as the entire village school filed slowly past, each child and teacher in their bright green florescent jacket.  I spied Animal helper Pat marshaling the line and she called out that they were all off to the neighbouring village of Dyserth. " We are all going to the Church " she called pulling a face......... " across the fields"
We never had such a treat when I was in primary school


I snapped this photo of the end of the crocodile as it snaked across the sheep fields ( you have to look 
very closely in the centre to see anything) and thought just how lucky the village is to have kept this thriving and popular little school. We lost the post office and the shop , but at least Trelawnyd school is safe for the time being. The school provides the village with a noisy heart.

Now the school children are driven in from a wide area between three villages and before 9 am and after 3 pm and our lane is often gridlocked with cars picking up and dropping off....a minor irritation given the positives that the school brings..

As the line continued to snake past, I spied affable despot Jason' s daughter, who waved energetically. I waved back and I heard her explain to her classmates just who I was
" He's a close family friend" she informed her classmates seriously 

Just out of interest, I took a look at the Trelawnyd School website this morning.
I kind of like the school's aims which are listed there

Work hard
Be excellent
Take pride in our work 
Learn about faith
Be kind
Use welsh everyday
Be healthy
Look after our school and world
Take responsibility for our actions
Make good decisions
Have fun



36 comments:

  1. My guests from Germany last month told me that their parent's house in the village is now rented to a familly from Afganistan by the govermant becouse the village wanted familly with children in the small village.It is all over the world that small comunities are loosing the sounds of young children.

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  2. Edwardian? The events described in the film take place in the Sino-Japanese War in 1937/38.

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    1. My mistake....i aways thought it was Edwardian.....perhaps im getting it mixed up with 55 days in peking

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  3. Anonymous10:22 am

    My hackles rose when I read the school aims, Learn about Faith, but then I reconsidered my rushed judgement. Yes, they should learn about faith, about religion, but just not be taught one version of it.

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    1. Same here, Andrew. But it does seem to be a nicely balanced set of aims that would stand anyone in good stead. Wish those had been the aims of my school!

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    2. Perhaps they mean learn about the dangers of faith and all the damage it has done and does?

      (Perhaps not)

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  4. The only well known films made near here were 'Breaking Away', and 'Some Came Running' with Frank Sinatra and Shirley Maclaine.

    I like that the kidlings speak Welsh every day; too many of the Native languages here are either lost or in danger of being lost, because they were systematically squelched.

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  5. The sound of children laughing is the best sound in the world. The school's aims are the basic, simple rules that make good people, be kind, work hard, take responsibility, and have fun.

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  6. Great film but we have Poldark filmed here.....sigh. Oh and World War Z for zombie lovers amongst us.

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  7. Children mystify and frequently terrify me.

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  8. 'Have fun' being the most important.

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  9. A lot of the school's aims could apply to adults alike and look better than any politicians manifesto that I have seen so far! Being a Londoner though I would have to change 'use Welsh every day' to speaking a bit of Cockney rhyming slang daily 'Cor blimey guv, that Ingrid Bergman's got some titfer on 'er!' (tit for tat = hat)

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  10. Anonymous11:36 am

    Sounds like a blueprint for a good Welsh life.

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  11. I like the school's aims, too; we could all do with trying to live like that.

    Plus, I giggled over, "He's a close family friend." That's so cute.

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  12. These are rules we all should follow but I don't know Welsh. I could do the rest of them.

    You are a magnificent teller of stories.

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  13. This post reminded me of when I was at school in the 50's. We walked everywhere in a snake. Our little school didn't have playing fields or swimming bath and so we had to walk to these places and looking back now, it was some distance. Couldn't see the kids doindg this now.
    Briony
    x

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  14. We used to vacation with many borrowed children plus the family grandchildren. Other adults were in awe. We responded it was simple; they had been taught in school to form lines for everything.
    I love to see the lines of little ones, holding hands or hands on shoulders ahead.

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  15. I love the school's aims John, especially that last one because unless lessons are fun everything else is pretty useless.

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  16. The list is good advise for everyday life. Especially the Have Fun part.

    Interesting post. Enjoyed it.

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  17. Very nice list! I'm sure the school in Trelawnyd is as charming as the rest of the village!

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  18. Sounds like a fun field trip! I'm sure a trip to visit your animals would also be a treat for the children.

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  19. What does the expression " pull a face" mean? Is it smiling? Frowning? What?

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  20. We should all aim for that list.

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  21. I read "Never Say Die", a book about the main character in this movie, when I was very young and it has (obviously) stayed with me to this day.

    Affable despot Jason's daughter's comment is a dear one. And the aims of the school - I can't think of a thing to add. Even the item on faith, of which I have none, is good - we should learn about it, even if we don't practice it. After all, we learn about many other things without using them - knowledge is a good thing.

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  22. I might struggle with the Welsh bit, the only words my Nan taught me were swear words! x

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  23. Have fun is an aim that I haven't seen many organisations include. And a most excellent one to adopt.

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  24. I agree with Lisa. Sounds like a good set of rules for and life. Learning a new foreign language couldn't hurt either!

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  25. Oops, meant to say I agree with Susan, although like Lisa I learned all my swear words at my dear old grandma knee too. She could make Baby Jesus blush:)

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  26. Sounds good to me. We walked to the village hall for lunch daily & to the Church for services.

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  27. Good word for everyone to live by !
    Too bad many do not learn these lessons.

    cheers, parsnip

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  28. Anonymous8:37 pm

    Arabesque, the film starring Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck was part filmed in Crumlin where I lived.

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  29. i seem to regularly hear people complain about school children, especially high schoolers, and it always disappoints me. We were all kids once.
    Your attitude is refreshing

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  30. I have never heard of that movie. How strange that they had Wales stand in for China! I guess filming in China would have been out of the question back then -- but nowadays I bet they'd be scrambling to do it for budgetary reasons!

    It's great that your village has its school. That makes a big difference in creating a community, I'm sure.

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