On Wednesday people from all over the world gathered around the grave to say our final goodbyes to a lovely man. The grave yard at Machpelah Chapel in Pontrhydyfen is on a steep hillside and having made sure everyone managed to climb the hill I turned around to look across the little valley. It was a moment of mixed emotions.
The little town looked as if it had been told it needed to be dressed in its ‘Sunday Best’ for the occasion. The new mural of Ivor Emmanuel on the side of the Colliers Arms shone in the sunlight. Across the valley any traces of the damage caused by the industry which have given this place a reason for so long were all now hidden by the forest that has grown in its place. Down below the Pelenna River sparkled as it made its way to join the Afan.
Uncle Colin was my dad’s youngest brother and the last of that generation to leave us. Some of his ashes were being added to his parent’s grave. The rest would be laid to rest in Welwyn Garden City, the place that had been his home for most of his adult life.
Pandy Stores
My grandparents had moved up the valley from Briton Ferry to open ‘Pandy Stores’, a general shop in Morgan’s Terrace, Pontrhydyfen. Arwyn was the first born, my dad Stan the middle child and Colin was the baby. They had had to deal with the tough economic times as the work came and went but on the whole the business and family were happy and thriving. Then came the war…
Brother Arwyn in North Africa
Arwyn was the first to leave to join the Royal Air Force. They called the first 8 months the phoney war as nothing really happened in Western Europe. The war became all too real in 1940 with the German Invasion of France and Norway. Although the bombs would soon fall on the nearby industrial areas of Swansea, Neath and Port Talbot, the war left little mark on the village itself.
That all changed on 11th May 1941.
An X Marks ‘Pandy Stores’ just a few doors away from where the bomb fell.
Like so many Welsh mining villages Morgan’s Terrace is basically one long line of houses that hang onto the side of the mountain. Either side of the main road was uninhabited hillside. It’s thought that a German bomber had bombs left over from a raid over Swansea and decided to drop them as he flew over Ponty. The plane must have flown at right angles to the main road. One bomb fell harmlessly into the hillside, the other landed on 18 Morgans Terrace.
I can still remember the look of horror on my father’s face as he told the story of rushing out to see the carnage caused by the bomb. The dead included a grandfather, mother and father and a 2 year old little girl. Miraculously 2 young brothers were pulled from the building. One was named Ivor Emmanuel, my dad’s friend who would go onto find fame and fortune as a singer and actor.
Colin would have been 5 years old when that tragedy struck Ponty. His life was soon to change in many ways. He found himself the only child in the house when my dad left home to join the Royal Navy. After a short illness his mother passed away when he was 7. Running a shop during wartime and trying to look after a young child was difficult. It wasn’t very long before his father remarried, and Colin had to adapt to a new mother.
My dad in the Navy
After the war my dad returned hoping to take up a special place in university. It soon became clear his father was already very unwell and within months of his return he also passed away. It was then my father’s love for his little brother took over. My dad put his own dreams on hold to run the shop and keep a roof over Colin’s head.
Colin was a very clever lad and entered Swansea University a year early to study Maths. He then got a job working for the aircraft maker De Haviland near Welwyn Garden City. That’s where he lived for the rest fo his life.
Like many in my family Colin decided he didn’t want to do a job he didn’t love and soon took a cut in pay and moved into the world of education. It was many years later that he met and subsequently fell in love with a lady from Malaysia named Ang. In many ways you couldn’t think of 2 such different people. Colin was tall and quite shy, well, before you got to know him. Ang was short and full of sound. Together they made the perfect pair.
On Wednesday Ang and her family from Malaysia joined with the Welsh Popes to say our final goodbyes. Ang is an amazing hostess and even from Welwyn she managed to arrange the perfect day. We all met at The Colliers Arms for Teas and Coffees at 10.30. Ang had arranged for a Mini Bus to bring all of her side of the family to Wales.
Ang’s older brothers had come over for the interment and as we sat drinking tea together in the Colliers I asked them what he thought of Colin when he first me him. Colin had flown to Malaysia to ask for Ang’s hand in marriage. They both smiled. I could tell how fond they all were of Uncle Colin. He certainly made a good impression on his soon to be father in law and the whole family.
At the graveside my big brother David and his wife took the service and I was given the task of leading the hymn singing, Cwm Rhondda and Calon Lan. In her message Anne told the story of Jacob. If you’ve seen ‘Joseph and His Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat’ you will know the tale well. Jacob is taken to live in Egypt with his son Joseph. Just before he dies he asks that when he has gone he be taken home to be buried with his forefathers in a place called Machpelah. How appropriate that Colin had made the same request of Ang to be taken home to Machpelah Cemetery in the land of his fathers.
I had so many thoughts going through my head as we started to leave the graveside. What does home and family really mean? As I looked at my extended family, some speaking to each other in Chinese, others cuddling my new grandson I smiled to myself. Wherever Colin and my dad are I’m sure they were smiling too.