Moving On

Last year fifteen or so of the older members of the village community kindly contributed to Going Gently's sister blog  Voices From The Past. 
My objective in writing the new blog was to document some of the more interesting stories relating to village history before the significant proportion of native Trelawnyd-ites in their late 80s and 90s started to disappear, 

I found the whole process of research a fascinating and at times a rather humbling one, and  over last summer I made some unlikely friendships with a score of octogenarians who had some lovely stories to share.


This morning, as I was delivering some eggs out of the glare of another overly hot day, I walked past the pensioner bungalows in the centre of the village.
Outside one bungalow was piled up  several sticks of furniture. A bookcase, a couple of 1940's utility chairs, a sideboard, and as I stopped to look at them, I spied a neighbour who I know well.
"she's not coming back from the care home she's not quite well enough" the neighbour called a little sadly
"It's an end of an era" she added with a wave.
And I waved back nodding.
The tenant of the bungalow was a lady who had been born in the village 87 years ago.
Her name is Olwenna 
Olwenna had never left Trelawnyd until now, having lived, worked, loved and actively been a part of village life since she was born in a tiny cottage, which was one of three tiny dwellings along London Road 
I remember her delight in telling me the story of how she sang songs in the front room of our own cottage when she was a child, taught by Brenda Smith the coal merchant's daughter.
With a cackle, she remembered playing in "my" field with her schoolgirl friend Megan Hughes and  with pride she showed me a rare piece of arcadian china that was commissioned for sale in the village shop before 1920. The tiny vase had a transfer of the Memorial Hall on the front of it.
It was gleaming and polished on top of the fireplace


87 years in one place... it's a long time.

Here is a brief video of Olwenna ( on the left) chatting to Gwyneth Jones supposedly about the belly dancer who appeared at the village friendship group meeting.. ( in fact they were chatting about someone who had suffered a fall at home)