History Talk


Ma Manley gave her animated history talk to the Trelawnyd Friendship Group this afternoon. We recruited a few people to add stories to my oral history blog and a few more seemed interested in the tapestry initiative. 

In her mid eighties animal Helper Pat showed a forensic memory of who lived where in the 1930s, we are going to have a Miss Marple afternoon with her with the tithe map.

It’s terribly cold today, the ponies are steaming as they eat their haylege and not one of the friendship Group removed their coats in the hall.

 

Not my first rodeo

 

Mary and her latest Trendy Carol’s Jumper

The plans for taking on another Bulldog have elicited some debate and trolling recently, most have concerns about Mary’s welfare, but a few have worried about Weaver and Bun. 

All have a point.

I have to underline , that I am a fair expert when it comes to introducing a new dog to an existing pack of animals. So far I have owned four bulldogs, five cats, 2 Scottie’s and five Welsh terriers and with no exception have I experienced a serious integration problem with any of them. 
That doesn’t mean you don’t have to be careful, obviously you do , but you have to manage the troops with a pragmatic, dog based hand.
You certainly don’t treat dogs like little people.

Old dogs like Mary will invariably give off their own leave me alone vibes, especially to puppies who often don’t and can’t read the room when it comes to manners. Olive is four years old and already comes from her own pack with its own rules and regulations. She is not an alpha female either and has the benefit of being a bulldog . 
Bulldogs are smart too. They understand concepts missed by other mutts. 
When a lesson is learned , it remains learnt, so to speak.
Constance, Mabel, Winifred and Dorothy have all exhibited this strength of character, I doubt Olive will be any different. 
Jealously and food envy can be the biggest of irritations and both can be dealt with by common sense and reading body language . Feeding must always be done individually.
Home must be a calm place too, where all members of the pack understand that you are the alpha and the chasing of small cats is a thing just not tolerated.

Like I said, I’ve never had a problem yet
But you never know……

Skating


 I’m not a sports fan but I did enjoy Riki Miura and Rycichi Kihara’s gold medal performance in the Olympic figure skating yesterday. 
Effortless.
I met a friend and we ate ice cream and gossiped in Fortes ice cream parlour in Llandudno, even though it was only 4 degrees and lit the fire early when I got home then watched Hitchcock’s Notorious 




Soft Noses

 I’ve done self care things today and took an annual leave day from work 
I walked over to the ponies and breathed up their soft noses for an age. 
They smell of straw and oats and earth and have trusting soft brown eyes.
I’ve video messaged my German friend over coffee 
And ate Marks & Spencer tomato soup with garlic bread in front of the fire. and watched documentaries on film directors
I walked the dogs and completed housework and soaked my feel in a washing up bowl filled with incredibly hot water and Epsom salts.
And it’s been a nice day

Tapestry Cottages

 I’m cooking a roast chicken dinner today. There’s enough for two so I will plate up a dinner for a friend in the village. 
The cottage smells wonderful. 
I’ve just spent a good hour with Ma Manley. We are planning a history afternoon in the village hall, in order to spring board a couple of initiatives dear to our hearts. 
The first is to promote the sharing of information and artefacts from Trelawnyd but to also whip up some interesting in the Community Tapestry where people from the village can design their own tapestry of say their home, or part of the village, or landmark and when finished, these personal views can be cobbled together into a community piece of art.


I love this idea, so Ma Manley is going to design me a template of my cottage, and by the time the open day is organised, I will have a work in progress to show everyone 

Ps the ponies are back in their field

One Eyed Olive

 Grace fell through. Her owner started to be somewhat economical with health news and updates, and I won’t be messed around when it comes to bulldogs. Their health can be too precarious to be fucked around. This was back in December

Now Olive has been put forward, 
A healthy and robust four year old . 
She has a gentle nature , loves everyone and has only one eye
She looks and indeed acts like Dorothy.
Even the tongue thing is the same.


Oh Lord……

Charlie Cairoli

 

Every time an old relative dies, so do snippets of your past .
It’s as though a string connecting you to the past has been cut by a pair of scissors, and like a tethered balloon , the memory bounces in your psychi for a moment before flitting away.
My sister messaged me a few days ago to let me know that our Auntie Joyce had died at the age of 97 .
I hasn’t seen her for forty six years, so upset wasn’t on the agenda, but I was transported to a time my parents were party people and relatives ways looked older than they actually were.
Aunty Joyce was in fact a second cousin. She was a short, pear shaped and overly vivacious woman , with red lipstick and strangely surprised looking drawn on eyebrows. She laughed long and hard and looked as though she had just walked out of a 1940s drama movie. 
She always wore a full length fur coat
Even when I was a young man, I was always fascinated by Auntie Joyce’s eyebrows, or more importantly  the lack of them. She drew her brows with an obvious flourish, giving herself an exotic,and permanently shocked look.
Remembering Joyce brought back vignettes of house parties when the men all wore ties and drank whiskey and the woman sported lumpy dresses and drank martini and lemonade. The house stank of cigarettes and cigars, perfumes and old spice.
And as a child the extended family visits reinforced my father’s status as patriarch 

Joyce and her famous eyebrows have now gone 

And another sliver of my past has dissolved into nothing

Onwards & Upwards


 Still buoyant after the success of the talent show  a quorum of the Trelawnyd Production Team met at The Crown tonight to suggest activities for 2026

Suggestions include

  • An informal, boozy debrief for all of the team looking at the December Show . Which will give an opportunity for a proper sharing discussion as well as more voices and ideas to add to plans of this years events.
  • A folk night using a local feel good interactive group who have already offered their support
  • Performances which may support a proposed Garden Party event 
  • Involvement with the newly resurrected Youth Club to perform at the Flower Show and Christmas Show 
  • More support for the yearly Flower Show 
Onwards and upwards
The magic of this small village and its people continues