Dilys Paes

Move near a Mill

I don't know exactly what happened, but we moved to another place which was near a mill. This was a woollen mill and the house, from what I can remember, was a row of houses with their yard in front and some sort of water gully at the back of the house that you weren’t allowed to go near. Everything was dirty and smelly and it wasn't a happy house whatsoever. You had a one big room downstairs, a bit off the kitchen and I can remember a big fireplace in which a fire could roar for hours if you had the wood and coal to keep it going.

I can remember Mum used to go shopping on a Saturday morning and Bill was left in charge of us and we would play different games together. When we got tired, we would ask Bill to tell us stories and our favourite one was the one about a little match girl. We would sit there quietly while very dramatically Bill would tell us the story of the little match girl and when it got to the part where she was shivering in the cold and the ice and snow with no shoes on her feet, and hadn’t sold any matches and she was crying, Gwyn and I always did a crying duet and Mum used to come in and we were there sobbing on each other’s shoulders. Bill, I think, used to enjoy it on the quiet and Mum used to get so cross with him, but it didn't matter and whenever we were left in his charge, we asked for the story of the little match girl.

Move to Holywell

A factory opened in Greenfield which was lower down from Holywell and the lower main road and Dad got a job there. Dad, the most un-factory type of person you could imagine, but he got a job. The council was starting to build a new housing estate in the Holywell town in a part called The Strand and we were fortunate enough to be one of the first families to move into it. Number 3 Heol-y-Brenin, King Street and it was absolutely wonderful because we had our own bedrooms. Dad had a bedroom, Bill had a bedroom and Gwyn and I had a bedroom. We had a garden in the front, a huge garden at the back and indoor bathroom and toilet and lovely kitchen and a huge field off the back surrounded by houses, which was a paradise for children to play and we were so happy, really happy. We were able to get to school quite easily from there because, by this time, we had moved up into the junior school, into the town itself and had no problem walking to school. Lots of our friends also went to school in The Strand. From our bedroom window, we had a wonderful view right across the River Dee. We could see Cheshire, the Wirral and right across and to the big tall buildings of Liverpool as well.

Selwyn

We hadn’t been there long when, I remember just before my birthday, we were told that we were going to spend the day with Mrs Evans and her son, I think his name was Tom. He was at school with us and went to the same Chapel, s, Mrs Evans was going to look after us for the day. Dad made porridge for us which we couldn't eat it because he put too much salt in it, in spite of the fact that he was supposed to have cooked for the British Army! Mrs Evans looked after us for the day and when Dad came to collect us, we came back to the house and behold we had a baby, our brother Selwyn had been born. This was the 13th of August and my birthday, being the 18th of August, I was told that he really was my 8th birthday present. I often used to say in later years that he was my eighth birthday present, the one I couldn't return, but I loved him to bits, I really, really did. Gwyn and I were quite different personalities, but we really did back each other, but on this question of the baby I don't think she took to the fact that she was no longer the youngest in the family. I was thrilled to have someone really small that I could relate to.

Gwyn had the most gorgeous curly hair. This was the most beautiful hair and Mum used to put it into ringlets. Shirley Temple the actress used to have these ringlets. My hair was straight with a fringe, straight down. Mum used to put rags in it at times and when she took the rags out it was twisted, but within 5 minutes it was back to its straightness. It is easy to keep tidy, easy to keep clean and wherever we went, Mum would see to me first and Gwyn had to wait, because as soon as Mum picked the hairbrush up Gwyn would go mad saying Mum was hurting her and pulling her hair. What a fuss she used to make, but she had to have her hair brushed and combed.

I can remember one time when Selwyn was about 18 months and Mum was taking the three of us out somewhere for tea, so she washed and dressed me first then Selwyn in a little silky outfit, that they wore in those days, and I was put in charge of him, and then she started with Gwyn. I don't remember when, but he disappeared out of sight and when Mum asked where he was, I said he must be in the garden. This garden went straight to Dad’s heart because he always wanted a big garden and my word, he used every inch of it. He grew beautiful flowers, vegetables, everything- he just did have green fingers, and he used to make his own fertilizer and he also used to use soot. He had it in a box in a corner of the garden which nobody was allowed to go near. Well, the rule was broken by Selwyn and when we found him, he was covered in soot. Who got the blame? Of course, it was me. Well, it was my fault I suppose, but you were such a little monkey, Selwyn!