Settling Down

My job was in a home for the blind. I had to clean and generally look after the nurse’s quarters. I stayed there for a few years and made lots of friends. They were all such lovely people. I also met someone special.

The person that I was eventually to marry. We had both been together for some time but decided to save some money so we could have our own home. The best jobs for saving money at this time were in the hotels, and so I took one. Not a good wage but lots of tips, which I saved and saved. You had to work hard long hours but I was used to this. I had been in service a good while now. The quarters were not as plush or comfortable as in private service but it was earning me money I wanted.

As soon as we were able to save enough money we decided to get married.

Before long my husband and I were able to rent a small but comfortable house, which we furnished completely ourselves. My husband made all the furniture and I made all the curtains etc. It gave us both a lot of pleasure to think that it was all our own home. My days in service were over. Many people seemed to think that it was all drudgery but it was what you made it and I enjoyed almost every minute of it. It gave you board, lodgings and companionship, which isn’t a bad thing is it?

The family soon expanded to include our son Michael John and a daughter Judy Roseanne, who now both have families and grandchildren of their own.

Plate 14, 15

As the years passed by we still managed to get together from time to time, as shown in this picture taken in 196 after my mother’s funeral.

No early picture of the family home appears to have survived the passage of time, As I said earlier, most of the family siblings moved away from the valleys at an early age never to return, with the exception of our youngest brother David John, who still to this day lives in the original family home in Penygraig. Here is a picture of it today in 2004