大象传媒

This story was submitted by Roberta Plant on behalf of Monica Henbeck, sister of the late Dorothea Watkins.

When war was declared early in September 1939, the summer evenings were still long and light, but as they grew darker, the black-out became a big issue in Llangynidr. It must be virtually impossible nowadays for people to imagine the village in total darkness, with heavy curtains obscuring all house lights and vehicles with minimal lighting - even pocket-torches had to be obscured. As people passed you in the darkness and said 鈥淕oodnight鈥�, because Llangynidr was a much smaller place then, you usually recognised the friendly voice and replied 鈥淕oodnight鈥� in return.
The other big event in the early days of the war was the arrival of the evacuees from London. As the village schoolmaster, my father was given the unenviable task of finding temporary lodgings for many children and several mothers at very short notice. Everyone who had spare rooms in their house was obliged to take in evacuees and in many cases this lead to trouble and complaints- badly behaved children and mothers unable or unwilling to adjust to country ways (many returned to London after a very short time). Even the church room (near the rectory) was brought into use for a while as accommodation, with a curtain dividing it into two rooms. One family stayed in the village for several years, but the lack of transport and entertainment drove the majority of the women to take their children back to the blitz in London in due course. At that time the last train from Abergavenny came through Llangynidr at about four o鈥檆lock, so the only possibility of going to the cinema was to go to a Saturday afternoon matinee in Brecon. Of course petrol rationing restricted the use of private cars.
A scheme was set up in Llangynidr whereby members of the forces coming home on leave late in the evening were met at Abergavenny station by Mr Abraham Parry鈥檚 taxi, which became affectionately known locally as 鈥楢braham鈥檚 bosom鈥�.
Food rationing also had its effect on the social life of the village. After the church room became empty again, it was the venue for the very popular Saturday night whist drive, at that time the social event of the week. Because of rationing, the usual sandwiches and cake and tea could not be provided during the interval, so instead my father handed round printed song sheets and there was some rousing 鈥榗ommunity singing鈥�, which he accompanied on the piano.
During this time troops of various nationalities were stationed at Glanusk Park and my mother often invited some of these - Belgian or American to Sunday afternoon tea. She was also busy organising 鈥榗omforts for the troops鈥�, a scheme by which parcels of good things were sent at Christmas to all Llangynidr members of the forces. She went all round the village, including the outlying farms, collecting donations to pay for the parcels, and distributing wool so that people could knit gloves and scarves and balaclava helmets to be included in the parcel.
The young men of the village were by now scattered far and wide- some doing RAF training in Africa, some fighting in Europe and news of them was eagerly passed around. If one of them came home on leave, we played tennis on a court behind the old draper鈥檚 shop belonging to the Davies family. When Alan Watkins arrived safely home after Dunkirk, the relief was tangible throughout the whole village.
Christmas 1943 remains a very clear memory, as my father lead a party of young people (some, like me, home on leave) around the village singing Christmas carols, to raise money for the forces鈥� fund. My army great coat was a great comfort as we walked through the frosty fields on a very cold night. Everyone gave us a warm welcome (with refreshments) in what was a very friendly village. The following week I was posted to Bletchley Park.
Many enemy planes flew over Llangynidr during the war, most of them on their way to bomb Liverpool and the Mersey area at night. Their engines had a distinctive sound and people did not really need the air raid warden (who rode all around the village on his bicycle, blowing a whistle as he went) to tell them that there was a raid warning. At first people took shelter in their cupboard under the stairs or even under a table, but as time went on, they became more blas茅 and carried on as normal. A bomb was dropped on Llangynidr mountain, leaving a very large crater which my school friend and I discovered after a long search. The bomb might so easily have fallen on the village. We did hear at the time bombs had been dropped on farmland near Abergavenny.
In Brecon, if their was an air raid warning during school hours, the girls all had to leave the High School and take shelter in a narrow country lane overhung with trees further up the hill, until the all clear was sounded.
My mother was the founder and first President of the Women鈥檚 Institute in Llangynidr. She was a retired teacher and when, during the war the teacher at the Duffryn School had left, and the authorities were finding it impossible to appoint a replacement for such a remote location, my mother offered to fill the gap temporarily. She spent several happy months with her little group of about eight children 鈥淯p the Duffryn鈥�, walking the four miles of so back to Llangynidr every afternoon whatever the weather. My sister and I also got to know 鈥楾he Duffryn鈥� very well when one summer during the war Mr Fifield the postman, was ill for some weeks and we volunteered to take the post on foot to the whole Duffryn valley from Pwll Court up the DanyDarren and down to Maesybeddau. We were lucky with the weather but it was a long walk and we much appreciated the cider which we were offered at many of the farms!
Perhaps the strangest incident in wartime in Llangynidr was the sudden disappearance of the two suspected 鈥榮pies鈥�, who for some time had come regularly to stay at the Coach and Horses. One of the men was thought to be secretary to the other. One morning as our school bus was passing the Coach on the way to Brecon just after eight am, to our surprise there were two police cars parked outside. We heard later that the two men had been taken away and had been found to have a carrier pigeon. No-one ever heard what happened to them, but it seemed significant at the time that 鈥楲ord Haw Haw鈥�, an English defector who broadcast anti-British propaganda in English for the Germans, had been making several references around that time to things happening in the Llangynidr area, such as a shortage of water at the Glan Usk camp, which only local people would know about. Had the carrier pigeon been carrying messages? The two men never returned.
An afterthought :- recycling was started during the war when an appeal went out for empty tins to be collected for use in the aircraft industry. This lead to a house to house collection in Llangynidr by volunteers.

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