大象传媒

The Bride

The Bride, like the Groom, was the youngest in the Family, her elder brother and sister had led the way, would she follow? After attending the local Infants School, she entered the Junior School - nicknamed the 'Riverside Academy' - that was situated at the bottom of Station Road in Ferndale. Blue eyed, inquisitive, quiet but mischievous, doing the things her siblings frowned on. Tomboy games, sliding down the sides of the coal slurry mound that was called "The Banana Tip" (because of its shape); tying string to individual door knockers and pulling the string - hiding and waiting for the occupant to come out and find that no one was at the door. Rushing through school, and then on up to a friend's house in Lake Street to take a deep breath, get oneself settled, to listen to the Radio Programme "The Man from Mars" eyes wide open, whilst relishing the flavour of a homemade Welsh cake.

The Bride attended the local Wesleyan Methodist Sunday School in Ferndale. Band of Hope with the promise of "Sixpence and you're saved" was where her childhood energies were formed. With scissors in hand, she cut the long thick hair of a school friend and was admonished by both teachers, and parents. For her defence, she claimed "Well, ...... was happy. She said she wanted her hair cut short!". A fellow pupil was drowned in the River Rhondda Fach that meandered nearby, he had been caught up in the 'Whirlpool' area, and she was warned from going near the river, but along with others - like Stanley Baker (who had watched 'magic lantern' images supplied by her Father, little realising that this young person would be up on the silver screen in the years to come), the 'outside' area was always a great adventure. She rehearsed for school plays but they all had a fit of the giggles, and the merriment rippled through the cast until a furious teacher had to draw the curtain on any budding show business careers.

After a period in an Isolation Hospital suffering from Scarlet Fever, the Bride felt she had grown, and everything and everyone around her had grown smaller. Senior School was not so appealing, she just wanted to sit in the back of the class, and not be noticed, but knowledge of the surname meant she was brought to the front in direct sight of the teacher, cognisant of the fact that her siblings had come before and succeeded, but the pressure was overwhelming. Miss 'Babs' Browne, was the Teacher who encouraged her imagination; she opened up the world of books to her, as each English lesson was eagerly anticipated. The world took on a different cloak as she listened to the words tumbling from the page, and her mind drifted away from her Valley home to the land of "The Lady of the Lake" and to Avonlea for "Anne of Green Gables"; and there were always the "Just William" books of which every word she would relish with delight, detailing the female version in her own imagination.

The Bride was trained to go into Service at Dan Y Deri in Ystrad, and like so many others, she left her home when she was 15. The county of Hampshire, where her maternal forebears had laboured the land, beckoned to her. The Bride's first role of employment was that of an Under House Maid -covering the duties of a Maid at a large country house and estate, which was called The Manor House. The Lady of the Manor arranged for her to be suitably attired : a serviceable black dress brightened only by a white lace trimmed apron, a cotton band also trimmed with lace, was placed across the top of her head, and lace trimmed cuffs were an addition to the sleeves of her dress. Stockings and sturdy brogue shoes - both in black - completed the uniform. At this station in her life she was referred to as 'Mary'. A Senior House Maid, who had originally from Mid Wales, supervised her. They would go on to become lifelong friends. May Edwards was engaged to a local Fireman, Don Davies, and when a Fire Drill was called at the 'Big House', it was the Under House Maid - being the slightest of the household servants - who had to be given the test of a provisional slide to escape from a top floor window, or a Fireman's lift. When May married her Fireman on 11th June, 1938 in Hartley Wintney, her understudy became her Bridesmaid, and after the Reception the married couple were driven off in regal style in a Fire Engine of that decade.

Douglas Bader (as he then was), the legless pilot, was a constant visitor to the House. The Under House Maid could only stand discreetly and wonder as she saw the enormous strength of character Bader had as he manoeuvred himself around the House and grounds. When she took him Breakfast, she would see the apparatus that he struggled with each day; and in clearing the Bathroom area she would see the discarded cotton wool puffs that had dusted the necessary areas prior to the process of attaching the artificial limbs.

Guest soap, small in shape, would only be used once before being discarded, she would mould these into a larger tablet of soap, which she would pass on to her sister. Again, she was a Bridesmaid in 1938, when her brother married, little realising that the day would bring about the beginning of a romance for her sister that would forge an eternal link between two families.

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