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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
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.
ReplyDeleteEdwardian? The events described in the film take place in the Sino-Japanese War in 1937/38.
ReplyDeleteMy mistake....i aways thought it was Edwardian.....perhaps im getting it mixed up with 55 days in peking
DeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeleteSame 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!
DeletePerhaps they mean learn about the dangers of faith and all the damage it has done and does?
Delete(Perhaps not)
The only well known films made near here were 'Breaking Away', and 'Some Came Running' with Frank Sinatra and Shirley Maclaine.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
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.
ReplyDeleteGreat film but we have Poldark filmed here.....sigh. Oh and World War Z for zombie lovers amongst us.
ReplyDeleteChildren mystify and frequently terrify me.
ReplyDelete'Have fun' being the most important.
ReplyDeleteI'm with you Cro !! XXXX
DeleteA 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)
ReplyDeleteSounds like a blueprint for a good Welsh life.
ReplyDeleteI like the school's aims, too; we could all do with trying to live like that.
ReplyDeletePlus, I giggled over, "He's a close family friend." That's so cute.
These are rules we all should follow but I don't know Welsh. I could do the rest of them.
ReplyDeleteYou are a magnificent teller of stories.
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.
ReplyDeleteBriony
x
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.
ReplyDeleteI love to see the lines of little ones, holding hands or hands on shoulders ahead.
I love the school's aims John, especially that last one because unless lessons are fun everything else is pretty useless.
ReplyDeleteThe list is good advise for everyday life. Especially the Have Fun part.
ReplyDeleteInteresting post. Enjoyed it.
Very nice list! I'm sure the school in Trelawnyd is as charming as the rest of the village!
ReplyDeleteSounds like a fun field trip! I'm sure a trip to visit your animals would also be a treat for the children.
ReplyDeleteWhat does the expression " pull a face" mean? Is it smiling? Frowning? What?
ReplyDeleteSlight frown!
DeleteWe should all aim for that list.
ReplyDeleteI 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.
ReplyDeleteAffable 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.
I might struggle with the Welsh bit, the only words my Nan taught me were swear words! x
ReplyDeleteHave fun is an aim that I haven't seen many organisations include. And a most excellent one to adopt.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Lisa. Sounds like a good set of rules for and life. Learning a new foreign language couldn't hurt either!
ReplyDeleteOops, 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:)
ReplyDeleteSounds good to me. We walked to the village hall for lunch daily & to the Church for services.
ReplyDeleteBut faith in what?
ReplyDeleteGood word for everyone to live by !
ReplyDeleteToo bad many do not learn these lessons.
cheers, parsnip
Arabesque, the film starring Sophia Loren and Gregory Peck was part filmed in Crumlin where I lived.
ReplyDeletei seem to regularly hear people complain about school children, especially high schoolers, and it always disappoints me. We were all kids once.
ReplyDeleteYour attitude is refreshing
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!
ReplyDeleteIt's great that your village has its school. That makes a big difference in creating a community, I'm sure.