The latest issue of "Gwreiddiau Gwynedd" ("Gwynedd Roots"), the six monthly journal of the Gwynedd Family History Society, has arrived and again its 64 pages are packed with interesting articles and items of information. As usual there is a spotlight on a particular area of Gwynedd and this time there are 10 articles concerning Porthmadog and district.

I used to know this area well during my early teens when I lived in Llanfrothen and used to cycle everywhere, in particular to Penrhyndeudraeth, about 2 miles away, and Porthmadog, about 4 miles. There was a nightly cinema at the Penrhyndeudraeth Memorial hall with occasional concerts and live shows featuring memorable artists such as Al Roberts. In Porthmadog there was the 1931 built Coliseum cinema which featured films changing ever two nights Monday to Saturday together with a Saturday matinée featuring the memorable cowboy heroes such as Hopalong Cassidy. While single cinemas have closing everywhere over the past couple of decades this cinema was remarkably kept open by a local trust until last August. This action spurred the creation of a "Friends of the Coliseum" group who are working hard to get it reopened. One of the happy memories of those days is that you could leave your cycle round the back of the cinema unlocked and unchained and it would always be there for you at the end of the performance. It's a sad reflection of life today that nobody would dream of doing such a thing today.

The other aspects of Porthmadog and Penrhyndeudraeth during my younger days that stay in the memories were the shops and interestingly two of the articles refer two of these shops. One was Pierce Ironmongers which was a fascinating shop which sold a much wider range of goods than the conventional ironmongery. I have a feeling that my first drop handles three-speed cycle there which served me well from the age of about 11 and through my student days when I lived in Ffestiniog. At the start of term in September/October I used to go with my case on the bus to Penrhyndeudraeth to catch the train to Aberystwyth. On the first Friday afternoon I would hitch-hike home and on the Saturday I used to cycle the 60 up several steep hills form Ffestiniog to Aberystywyth so that I could have it to use during the college year.

The other shop was Siop Paul, a lively newsagent and associated goods. There is an article by my friend Gwenda Paul about the family of her husband, Brian Paul. It was Brian's father who kept the shop in my childhood but the article is about the ancestors going further back. It's uncertain where the original John Paul came from but he is recorded as marrying Margaret Owen in 1808. He probably came to the area, along with many others for the building of the Cob and other developments instigated by William Alexander Maddocks which totally transformed Porthmadog and the whole area. This is an interesting article about the family.

One of interesting shops in Porthmadog with an unusual name was "Siop Pike" and there is an interesting article about the Pike family. The original William Pike was born in Keyworth in Nottinghamshire in 1871, worked in a woollen factory and became a professional cricketer. He came to Porthmadog in 1902 to take up employment at the Porthmadog Cricket Club. It seems incredible that the Porthmadog Cricket Club was employing professionals in those days. He opened a shop as a newsagent and sports equipment in 1902 and there is a family history story with interesting photographs of the development of the shop which is still run today by the article's author, William's great grand-daughter and her husband.

The photo on the cover shows the embankment in the early years with a horse drawn train with a load of slates destined for the harbour in Porthmadog.

To enlarge an image, double left click on the image.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk Meetings will restart in September and will follow the following pattern:

Caernarfon, (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn:

Bangor, (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street:

Conwy, (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn:

Pwllheli, (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:

Dolgellau, (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel:

Llangefni, (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa:

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 9 June: 2.00 pm at the The Awelon Centre, RUTHIN, LL15 1BN.
Anne Batchelor: "Fleas, bugs and a pickle tooth"

The Gwynedd Family History Society will be holding its AGM at 2.00pm Saturday May 19, 2012 and this year it will not be at Yr Aelwyd, where the office and Library are located, but in a new venue in Caernarfon. This year it will be held at the Church Hall, Feed My Lambs, in Llanberis Road in Caernarfon.

I wrote a bit about Feed My Lambs in Blog 13 back in July 2008 when the building was about to be opened up to the public following extensive restoration work thanks to a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It was built originally in 1836 to the design of prolific Caernarfon Architect John Lloyd who was responsible for the design of numerous prestigious buildings in Caernarfon and elsewhere in northern Wales between 1815 and 1863. There was an article by Dilwyn Grey-Williams about the work of John Lloyd in Gwynedd Roots No. 60 in the summer of 2011. This included a list of the all the buildings known to be attributed to John Lloyd. Other buildings in Caernarfon include Ebenezer Chapel, the Harbour Trust Offices, the Market Hall and the former Williams & Co Bank in Bank Quay.

Feed My Lambs is a Grade 2 listed building and is mentioned in 1844 as the infant school associated with the nearby National School, known as "Ysgol Rad", which was also designed by John Lloyd and built in 1842. The National School ceased to be used as a school when the Maesincla School was opened and the building had been used as a library and a community hall before it was demolished during the early 1970s following the disastrous decision by the former Caernarfonshire County Council to build a by-pass going through the town! Photographs of the splendid buildings demolished by the decision to build the by-pass can be seen on the walls of the Menai Room in the Town Council's Institute Building. The site of the former National School is now a children's playground and only surviving part of this building is the arch on the opposite side of the road to Feed My Lambs (first photo). The Listings Schedule describes Feed My Lambs as a "rare surviving early 19th century school retaining original character".

The second photo shows the sad state of the building before the restoration work. During the work of hacking away the old plaster an original window that had been hidden for several decades was revealed (third photo). It was decided that this should be brought back to life through the provision of a new stained glass window. A competition was held amongst pupils at Maesincla Primary School and renowned stained glass artist Meri Jones was very impressed with the standard of the entries which demonstrated considerable thought and imagination. She selected a winner, the entry from Chloe Ruth Spencer, upon which to base her design for the new window which is shown in the fourth photo.

Meri selected the entry from Jordan Barnes for the design of a smaller window in the lobby which was dedicated to Bishop Anthony who had died in 2008 which is shown in the fifth photo. The impressive new gates designed and produced by Brunswick Ironworks are shown in the last photo but don't worry about the steps, wheelchair access is provided to the right of the photo.

The AGM will start at 2.00 and will be followed by a talk, in English, by Paul M Broadbent entitled "Family History - a Bookbinder's View" and then refreshments. Come along to participate in the AGM (if you are a member), enjoy the talk and see the restoration work that had been undertaken on this building thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund. Newcomers are very welcome.

To enlarge an image, double left click on the image.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn:
No meeting
Bangor, (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street:
No meeting

Conwy, (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: No meeting

Pwllheli, (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
No meeting

Dolgellau, 10 Mai (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel:
Hywel Roberts: "Anffawd fawr fy hen daid"

Llangefni, 17 May (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Trip to be arranged

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 12 May: 2.00 pm at the The War Memorial Institute, PENYFFORDD, CH4 0JD.
Harry Andrews: "THE FOLLIES OF A VICTORIAN ATHLETE"

During the last three Blogs I've shown photographs and postcards that have helped to build up an outline of his live before the war and in previous blogs (from No 46 onwards) I've shown numerous photos and postcards that showed his life during the war including his time in the POW camp. I now look at aspects of his life after the war. Before the war we saw that he was keen on taking holidays and day trips. I assume that for these that he would have travelled by train although there is nothing written on the cards to say so.

There are a number of postcards after the war showing that he went to London during August 1921 and 1922 and a few day trips. But after the war he clearly purchased a motorbike as the first photo shows. Tom is, as usual, smartly dressed in plus-fours but I can't make out the make of the motorbike on the petrol tank.

The second photo shows my mother on the back of the bike with her friend Cissie (Elizabeth) Williams with her hands on the handlebars. The photo is taken at the side of Bodhyfryd, an end terrace house in Penmachno where Cissie lived with her parents, Owen and Margaret Williams. Cissie became a teacher and she was one of my teachers at Penmachno School. I knew the house well as I used to go there for tea on Sundays after being to Sunday School. They had a bagatelle, which was very unusual, and I used to love going there. Her father, Owen Williams, had a joiner's workshop down the road and he made me a chair during the war years. My daughter has used it when she was a child and now it's starting to be used by my grandchildren.

I show a postcard sent to my mother from Oxford dated 1 August 1921 and the back written in Welsh he describes his journey: "Here today before setting off to Brighton. Had a good journey without any problems - through Shrewsbury, Hereford, Monmouth, through the Wye Valley to Gloucester." Tom clearly enjoyed travelling on his motorbike and he probably made many journeys like this.

The last photo shows Tom in his 50s standing on the promenade in Colwyn Bay. This is how he looked on the only occasion that I can remember meeting him when he came to visit us at Gwiga about 1944 and I was aged about 5 or 6. I had heard my mother talking so much about him; I was full of excitement waiting for him to arrive and then seeing him walking across the fields towards the house, waving to us as he approached.

There was a short report of Tom's funeral following his death on 18 September 1945 at the age of 59 in the north Wales Weekly News saying that he had worked as a cutter and salesman with H R Davies in Colwyn Bay and that he was a skilled craftsman. It reports that six of his fellow workers from H R Davies acted as bearers. I show a tribute in Welsh in "Yr Herald Cymraeg". There is a short account of his life as a tailor but no mention of his war experiences. He is described as one of the most amusing of men and a very special and unique character. The writer says he spent many enjoyable hours in his company. He was a man who never spoke badly of others and respected everything good and believed in the teachings of Jesus. It was probably these attributes that enabled him to adapt to life in the POW camp and become friends with fellow prisoners from so many different countries as we saw from the photographs.

The photographs and the numerous postcards have enabled me to build up quite a full story of his life and I'm so lucky that my grandmother and then my mother kept these postcards safely.

To enlarge an image, double left click on the image.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 26 Ebrill (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Hywel Roberts: "Cofnodi dyddiau cynnar"

Bangor, (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: No meeting

Conwy, (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: No meeting

Pwllheli, (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
No meeting

Dolgellau, 10 Mai (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel:
Hywel Roberts: "Anffawd fawr fy hen daid"

Llangefni, 17 May (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Trip to be arranged

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 12 May: 2.00 pm at the The War Memorial Institute, PENYFFORDD, CH4 0JD.
Harry Andrews: "THE FOLLIES OF A VICTORIAN ATHLETE"

The first PC shown is from Liverpool dated 6 October 1909 and sent to my grandmother saying that he is in Liverpool for the day and the weather is good. The photo is interesting in that it shows a view of the Landing Stage which is very different from the view that we are accustomed to today with the wonderful Liver, Cunard and the Liverpool Dock Board Buildings giving a magnificent waterfront scene. This card shows only the splendid Liverpool Dock Board Building which was completed in 1907. The other two iconic Liverpool Pier Head buildings had not been built at that time. The Liver Building was started in 1908 and completed in 1911 and the Cunard Building was built between 1913 and 1916. I conclude from this that the Landing Stage area wasn't spectacular at all before these fine buildings were built.

The second PC shown is from Dublin dated 26 December 1909 so he must have taken a few days holiday over Christmas. He writes that he has been very ill on the ferry crossing! It's addressed to his sister-in-law, my grandmother.

In the 1911 Census I found Tom living as a boarder at Glanfor, 2 Grove Road, Colwyn Bay, which was very central in Colwyn Bay and not far from Abergele Road where Tom worked. The house is a large house at the end of a terrace of 3 houses and still retains the name "Glanfor". At the time that I went to Kew to try to find Tom's war records these census records hadn't been released, but if they had they would have been of considerable help to me as this would have been his address when he enlisted. It is seen that the couple with whom he was staying were not much older than Tom and that the husband, Hugh Roberts, was a pawnbroker. Hugh was born in Bagillt and his wife, Annie, in Bodfari and both are bilingual, speaking both Welsh and English.

The third PC is from London on 28 August 1911. I also show the back of the card and it's the first card that is addressed to Kate, my mother, who was then aged about 30 months. He gives the address of where he is staying with a Welsh landlady and he is enjoying himself.

The fourth PC is again from London dated 26 August 1913 sent to his father and he says that he is staying for the week and signs off with "cofion tanllyd" meaning "fiery greetings"! The weather is good and he is thoroughly enjoying himself. On 27 August he sent the fifth card addressed to my mother, now aged 4. He sent sixth card from London on 28 August 1913 to my grandmother saying that he will be returning on Friday evening; so everyone except my grandfather had received a card from that London holiday!

There are also postcards from other places such as Chester, Liverpool, New Brighton etc. where he had been on day visits. The image that we therefore get about Tom's life in Colwyn Bay before the war is that he was a young man who was socialising and enjoying himself and taking regular holidays in London during the summer and occasional holidays elsewhere and he was taking frequent day trips.

To enlarge any image, double left click on the image

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 26 Ebrill (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn:
Hywel Roberts: "Cofnodi dyddiau cynnar"

Bangor, (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: No meeting

Conwy, 9 April (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Members' Evening

Pwllheli, 20 April (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
John Dilwyn Wiliams: "Gair o brofiad archyddol"

Dolgellau, 12 April (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel:
Dewi Prysor: "Rhyfedd be gewch chi dan garreg"

Llangefni, 19 April (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Amanda Sweet: "The QuarterSessions of Anglesey" In the Archives

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 14 April: 2.00 pm at the International Pavilion, Llangollen, LL20 8SW. AGM followed by:
Ian Hartas: "BDMs on the internet" (A demonstration)

The first Post Card shown, sent on 15 October 1908, to his brother Owen to the family home saying that he's pleased to hear that he is better and will be coming to see him on Saturday. I show a photo of Owen, an auctioneer's clerk, who had been ill for some time and died on 1 November 1909 at the age of 27. The card shows the "Pwllycrochan Hotel" which looks a splendid building. There is no present day hotel of this name and I have no recollection of a hotel of this name in or around Colwyn Bay. Having worked in the Llandudno and Colwyn Bay hotels during the summers of my student days I used to know the hotels quite well during the second half of the 1950s. I put the name into Google and found an excellent article dated 14 August 2009 giving full history on the Three Towns Blog and I would recommend anyone with an interest in the Colwyn Bay and Llandudno area to look at this highly informative blog http://llandudnoandcolwynbay.blogspot.com

From this article I found that it was the sale of the Pwllycrochan Estate that that kick-started the development of Colwyn Bay as a seaside resort. Pwllycrochan Hall was the heart of the estate and was remodelled as a hotel. It flourished as a hotel into the beginning of the last century and in 1937 hosted the Grand Coronation Ball. During the war it was requisitioned by the Government and didn't reopen as a hotel until 1948 with 75 bedrooms. Business wasn't so good after the war and the hotel closed in 1952 and was then sold to Rydal School who moved their Preparatory School there in 1953. The full history can be found in the article.

The splendid building shown on the Post Card is now the Rydal Penrhos Preparatory School and is still a splendid building today.

The next PC that I show is from Tom to his father dated 22 November 1909. He refers to a letter received from his father and says that that he was pleased to receive it but thought that it was best to delay replying. Tom's brother Owen had died on 1 November so I assumed that his father's letter was referring to this sad family event. The other interesting aspect of this card is that it is addressed to Gwiga rather than Talywaen, the established family home since 1866 when my great, great grandfather William Williams rented the terraced house. On 20 July 1867 William purchased Talywaen with the aid of a mortgage from the North Denbighshire Permanent Benefit Building Society (details in Blog 25, April 2009). William's wife died and on his second marriage William moved out of Talywaen to set up a new home and sold Talywaen to his son and my great grandfather, William Pritchard Williams, on 21 February 1891.

Tom says that he is pleased to hear that the family had moved to Gwiga and that they liked the place and that he would be coming to see them in their new home on Saturday. My mother was born in April 1909 and she told me that she had moved to Gwiga by the time of her first birthday but I now knew from this postcard that the family had moved to their new home in the 13 acre farm, Gwiga, in November 1909. There is an additional note on the top asking "how is Kate" who was about 7 months old at this time. Gwiga was the home where I spent my formative years during WW2. However, the 43 year link with Talywaen did not come to an end in 1909. My cousin Madeline Mahoney, whom I discovered through this blog, told me that her grandfather had given Talywaen as his address on his marriage certificate. The 1911 Census shows that Talywaen was occupied by David and Ellen Davies and their 1 daughter and 3 sons with Madeline's grandfather staying there as a boarder. Ellen was originally Ellen Williams, one of my grandfather's cousins, so he had sold the house to one of his own family.

To enlarge any image, double left click on the image.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 29 March (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Dennis Roberts: "Hedd Wyn, Hywel Dda, Cunedda Wledig a Chwstennin"

Bangor, (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: No meeting

Conwy, 9 April (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Members' Evening

Pwllheli, 20 April (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
John Dilwyn Wiliams: "Gair o brofiad archyddol"

Dolgellau, 12 April (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel:
Dewi Prysor: "Rhyfedd be gewch chi dan garreg"

Llangefni, 19 April (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Amanda Sweet: "The QuarterSessions of Anglesey" In the Archives

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 14 April: 2.00 pm at the International Pavilion, Llangollen, LL20 8SW. AGM followed by:
Ian Hartas: "BDMs on the internet" (A demonstration)

Following his advert in the "Tailor and Cutter" (see Blog No 75) Tom must have moved to Barnoldswick in Lancashire from where he sent postcards dated between June and December 1906. He worked with T S Atkinson, Ladies and Gents Tailors which looks from the postcard to be a rather modest shop.

From early in 1907 the post cards started coming from Colwyn Bay where he had found employment with H R Davies, of Abergele Road, Colwyn Bay. Apart from his time in the war he spent the rest of his working life working in this business in Colwyn Bay. I show a photo of the staff of H R Davies where Tom is standing behind the girl in the white blouse.

I now show two photos which would have been taken during his time in Colwyn Bay before he enlisted with the Liverpool Scottish in November 1915.

The first photo shows 5 young men sitting outside a tent having tea. They are all formally dressed with stiff collars, white shirts and waistcoat. Remarkably formally dressed for a group of campers! They have a table with a cloth and a jam jar with flowers on the table. They have china cups and saucers and a china tea pot. Tom is the second from the right as you look at the photo.

The second photo shows 4 young men in a posed photo with a dog which looks as if it has been taken in a photographer's studio. Tom and his friends certainly look as if they enjoyed dressing up smartly. These photos remind me of P G Wodehouse's "young men about town". Many of P G Wodehouse's numerous books were written about this period and they remind me so much of the Wodehouse characters.

The second Post Card shows the Pier Entrance, Colwyn Bay and was sent to my grandmother before she married on 20 July 1908. My grandmother was at this time the housekeeper in the family home, Talywaen, in Penmachno, my great grandfather having been a widower since 1896 and had engaged various housekeepers since then. The pier looks absolutely splendid and they are advertising the "Rivieres Grand Orchestra". This looks as if was a fairly permanent orchestra in the Pavilion as, in addition to the notice board, the name is up in large letters on the building.

The third Post Card, sent on 24 August 1908, again to my grandmother shows St Pauls Cathedral. This is the first of a number of post cards that show that Tom was taking regular holidays in London during the summer. Not many young men would have been taking holidays like this in those days but Tom must have been saving his money for these trips to expand his experiences.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 29 March (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Dennis Roberts: "Hedd Wyn, Hywel Dda, Cunedda Wledig a Chwstennin"

Bangor, (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: No meeting

Conwy, 12 March (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Stephan ab Owain: "Family History in Stone"

Pwllheli, 16 March (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod: Shirley Ellis: "Perthyn"

Dolgellau, 12 April (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Dewi Prysor: "Rhyfedd be gewch chi dan garreg"

Llangefni, 15 March (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Melvyn Griffiths: "A Policeman's lot, a few gruesome cases"

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 14 April: 2.00 pm at the International Pavilion, Llangollen, LL20 8SW. AGM followed by:
Ian Hartas: "BDMs on the internet" (A demonstration)

Over the past year I've shown a number of postcards sent to my mother by her Uncle Tom during the war and during his time in the POW camp. These postcards have been essential in enabling me to obtain an outline of his experiences during the Great War.

At the beginning of the 19th century it was a requirement that only an address could be put on one side of a postcard with the message being written on the other side but in 1902 the rules changes so that messages could be written on the same side as the address. This led to the development of the picture postcard and the start of the golden age of the postcard. By 1909 800 million postcards had been sent in Britain. My grandmother, and then my mother, started keeping the postcards and thankfully the collection has survived and my sister has spent much time cataloguing them. These postcards, together with family photos, have been an enormous help in building up a picture of my ancestor's lives and I take Uncle Tom before and after the Great War as an example.

.He was born in August 1886 and is recorded as a scholar in the 1891 census. The first photo of him is in a photo taken outside the Penmachno National School during the 1890s. My mother said it was an evening school and my grandfather and his three brothers are all in the photos. My grandfather, Robert Cadwalader, is the first on the left in the back row, his eldest brother William John is the fourth along and his younger brother, Owen, in at the other end of the back row. Tom, the youngest brother, is the third from the right in the second row. There was 11 years between the eldest brother and Tom, so William and Robert at least were of working age at the time of the photo. My great grandfather had clearly encouraged his sons to pursue education.

In the 1901 census Tom is living in the family home at Talywaen, Penmachno, and described as an Apprentice Tailor. He went to Oswestry for his first job. My grandfather had hardly been out of Penmachno and the neighbouring areas but I remember my mother telling me that he'd gone on his bike to take Tom to Oswestry. It seems difficult to imagine them cycling along the A5 all that way with the bikes that were available at that time. However I know that he had a bike as I have the receipt for a new bike that he purchased on 26 October 1899. He needed the bike to take him to work at the quarry. It cost £5-13-2 from the Acme Wheeleries, Leeds, and this seems to be expensive compared to a quarryman's weekly wage at that time.

A number of postcards between November 1904 and December 1905 confirm that he was working in Oswestry but there is no clue to the name of his employer. A card from Oswestry, showing Oswestry School, dated January 1905 indicates that he was looking for a change. He writes in Welsh to say that he has changed lodgings and that he has placed an advertisement in the "Tailor and Cutter". I assume that this meant that he had put an advert in the trade journal to say that he was looking for a new position. You will note that he has addressed this card to his father at the Bugail Slate Quarry. His father a widower since 1896 would have been staying at the barracks at the quarry during the week and this would have been the best address to which to send any correspondence..

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 29 March (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn:
Dennis Roberts: "Hedd Wyn, Hywel Dda, Cunedda Wledig a Chwstennin"

Bangor, 6 March (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street:
Hayden Burns "Researching House History"

Conwy, 12 March (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn:
Stephan ab Owain: "Family History in Stone"

Pwllheli, 16 March (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod:
Shirley Ellis: "Perthyn"

Dolgellau, 8 March (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel:
Awel Jones: "Ddoe yn ôl"

Llangefni, 15 March October (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa:
Melvyn Griffiths: "A Policeman's lot, a few gruesome cases"

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk
The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 10 March: 2.00 pm at St. David's Church Hall, St. David's Lane, MOLD, CH7 1LH
Michael Crumplin: "GUTHRIE'S WAR" (A surgeon who went with Wellington's Army)

Like many of you, I've watched a number of the BBC's "Who do you think you are?" programmes and found them enjoyable and have picked up many tips about researching family history. The only criticism I would have is that they make it look so easy! And it is, if you have professionals doing the research for you, but we all know that it often takes hours, days, weeks, months and even years to discover some facts. However, the programmes are entertaining and have done much to raise interest in researching family history.

A couple of weeks ago I prepared a very short presentation on behalf of the Gwynedd Family History Society to be shown at the "Who do you think you are? Live" Exhibition, which is being held at Olympia on 24/26 February. This prompted me to look at the details and I went to the BBC website, www.bbc.co.uk, to find details on the programme. Once on the website, select "TV" and then go to "Programmes A-Z" to find the programme.

The home page allows you to see clips from shows but to me the most interesting section is headed "Related links" with a number of options. At the bottom of the list there are links to the stories from Series 1-4 and Series 6. When you click on, say Series 1-4 you get a new page with photos of the people who featured in the programmes and if you click on any of these people you get a summary of the individual's family and the programme. At the bottom of this summary is a link, "Find out how we did it" and this gives you a step by step description of the research that was undertaken to establish the story. There are further links specific to the individual story such as, in one case, illegitimacy and, more generally, war records, occupational backgrounds and backgrounds to where the individuals lived. There are numerous links given alongside that are relevant to the story in question. There is some very useful information here and numerous individuals are featured!

Back on the programmes home page, the "Related links" include "Family History Research Timeline" which gives four timeline options, "Family Secrets", "Working Life", "Military" and "Migration" timelines. Click on one of these, "Military" for example, and you get a timeline of the major military conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars onwards. Click on any individual conflict and you get a summary account and details of where you might find records, further details and other sources of information. The other "Related Links" include "Family History: getting started" and "Family History: Next Steps". This is a very valuable website to give guidance to anyone, however experienced, in how to undertake searches and to the various sources of information.

I couldn't find a direct link to the exhibition on the BBC site but I found it using Google, www.whodoyouthinkyouarelive.com. This site gives details of everything that's going on over the 3 days and it looks very interesting. There is a full programme of interesting 45 minute workshops in 4 studios over each of the 3 days. There's a Military Pavilion with stalls and representatives of 15 military museums present. There's a Photography Gallery where experts can help you to date your old photos, improve old photos using digital technology, transfer old videos into digital format etc. There are dozens of exhibitor stands all of which provide assistance and there is an "Ask the expert" area and you can book a 20 minute appointment to get advice on your research problems.

It looks well worth a visit but it's a bit too late for me to consider this year but I'll certainly give it a thought for next year. If any reader does attend I would be very interested in your views on the event.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 23 Chwefror (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Rhys Prytherch "Born and Bred"

Bangor, 6 March (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: Haydn Burns "Researching House History"

Conwy, 13 February (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Hywel Roberts: "My Great Grandfather's Misfortune"

Pwllheli, 17 Chwefror (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod: Ieuan Wyn Williams: "Yma ac acw ac yn ôl "

Dolgellau, 8 Mawrth (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Arwel Jones: "Ddoe yn ôl"

Llangefni, 16 February (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Eric Lander: "Anglesey's Industrial past"

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 10 March: 2.00 pm at St. David's Church Hall, St. David's Lane, MOLD, CH7 1LH
Michael Crumplin: "GUTHRIE'S WAR" (A surgeon who went with Wellington's Army)

The latest edition of "Gwreiddiau Gwynedd" or "Gwynedd Roots" arrived a couple of weeks before Christmas and is, as usual, full of interesting articles and items of information. This is the bi-annual journal of the Gwynedd Family History Society and is a substantial A4 sized 64 page publication.

Each edition has a section on one specific area of Gwynedd and this time it is Anglesey and there are 42 pages devoted to 21 substantial articles on Anglesey family histories together with a number of shorter items of interest. There are 5 other substantial articles together with numerous shorter items in the remainder of the journal. It's impossible to mention them all.

The Anglesey articles include two articles on the famous Bulkeley family, one on the old inns of Anglesey which have now long gone and a number of interesting articles on family histories and how people made their family history discoveries. In addition to being interesting there is always something to learn about how to discover some aspects of family history in these articles. Some articles are written in Welsh and a synopsis is always given in English and, additionally, anyone interested in obtaining a full copy of the article in English can obtain one from the Editorial Board.

As someone who did a mathematics degree over 50 years ago I was amazed to read a short article on "The Anglesey Man who invented pi". He was William Jones, later Sir William Jones, who, because of his mathematical alibies, received financial assistance from the Bulkeley family to pursue his education beyond his village school. He taught mathematics on board navy ships between 1695 and 1702 and published a book on navigation and how to calculate position at sea. It was he who proposed that the Greek letter "π", or "pi", be used to represent the ratio of the circumference of a circle to the diameter and school children over the years have learnt that the area of a circle equals πr². Π is an indeterminate number and an essential mathematical concept. He published a number of books and was a friend of Sir Isaac Newton and Sir Edmund Halley (famous for the Haley comet). There is a portrait of him by William Hogarth in the National Portrait Gallery and I certainly learnt a lot from this short article.

Janice B Edwards from Poultney, Vermont, in the "Slate Valley" is becoming a regular contributor and this time she gave the background the family of Bob Thomas of Missouri who is trying to trace his ancestors, Elias Thomas and Anne Williams. In the early years of their marriage they emigrated to the Slate Valley from the slate town of Blaenau Ffestiniog. She writes an interesting story and gives much information and invites anyone who may have a connection with these families to make contact. There have been many articles like this over the years which have resulted in links been formed with information being exchanged with mutual benefit.

There is always a specific section where new members detail their research interests and there are also numerous letters with members seeking assistance and quite often there are articles where members relate how information received from such enquires have been an enormous help to find those elusive missing links.

One of the short news items is about the research work undertaken by Hefin Thomas on the Welsh language newspaper published in the USA, "Y Drych". He has compiled an index of all the emigrants from Anglesey to the US detailed in "Y Drych" between 1898 and 1935 and a hard copy is available in the Society's library which is open every third Saturday each month. Bangor University Archives holds copies of most of the issues of "Y Drych" during the period 1898-1935. The Society also has publications "A01 Emigrants from Gwynedd, Wales, to the USA, Pt.1: Anglesey, Pt2: Caernarvonshire, Pt3: Merionethshire" compiled from 3 Welsh-American religious publications. Details of all the Society's publications can be found on the website, given below.

William Alexander Madocks completed the Cob in Porthmadog in 1811 so the area which will be featured in the next edition of Gwreiddiau Gwynedd will be the Porthmadog and district.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 23 Chwefror (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Rhys Prytherch "Born and Bred"

Bangor, 7 February (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: Peter Brindley "Welsh Comic Postcards"

Conwy, 13 February (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Hywel Roberts: "My Great Grandfather's Misfortune"

Pwllheli, 17 Chwefror (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod: Ieuan Wyn Williams: "Yma ac acw ac yn ôl "

Dolgellau, 9 Chwefror (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Gweithdy yn yr Archifdy

Llangefni, 16 February (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Eric Lander: "Anglesey's Industrial past"

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 11 February: 2.00 pm at The Community Centre, Ruabon, LL14 6LE
Joy Thomas: "Basic Sources for Family History"

In Blog No 46 in September 2010 I wrote about the "The Welsh Voices in the Great War" Roadshows which were being held in various locations to encourage people to take their photos, letters and artefacts relating to their family's time in the Great War. In Blog No. 47 I wrote about my experiences in attending the Roadshow in Llanberis and about the postcard which I show again. It was this event that got me started on telling the story of my mother's Uncle Tom in these blogs during the months that followed.

Since then the website www.welshvoices.com has been considerably developed and there are 7 sections showing items that were contributed at Roadshows held at Aberystwyth, Blaenavon, Newport, St. Fagan, Swansea, Wrexham and the one I attended in Llanberis. When you click on one of these you see an original photo of a soldier or groups of soldiers (or sailors or airmen), a photo of an object or photos of letters sent home by servicemen. There is no index and you work your way through the items and may see something that is of interest to you. I saw a photo that my wife had submitted at the Llanberis show. There is also a section for items that have been submitted online or by other means. For those who are interested in the Great War it's worth spending some time looking at these items.

Also on this page there is a link "Welsh Voices Project Items". If you click on this you'll find a long, long list of all the items that were handed in at the Road Shows. I found that 8 of the postcards that I submitted, including the "Some Jolly Boys from Wales" postcard.

On the left hand side of the home page there is a list showing other sections including one "Examples". If you click on this you'll see a list of stories about individuals in the Great War. One of these is about Griffith John Owen of Deiniolen who drowned following the sinking of the Transylvania on 4th May 1917. This tells his story and there are numerous photos and copies of documents including a list of all those who were lost in the sinking. There is also a photo of a bronze plaque which was sent to families of servicemen who had been killed in the war. This became known as the "Dead Man's Penny" and thousands of families would have had one of these at the time. There are several references to the "Dead Man's Penny" in other sections of this website.

There are currently 16 of these stories and they include a wide range of experiences including the experience of a conscientious objector. These have been written by members of the family or friends but there is another section on the left hand side headed "Articles" and these are articles written by academics from Cardriff University who have been running this project. There are currently 8 of these articles which take a theme which bring in many aspects.

One of these articles is by Dr Toby Thacker entitiled "A Corner of a Foreign Field which is Forever Wales? Welsh Identities in the Great War". This article examines the identities of the Welsh in the war and he takes as his starting point the above postcard which I had handed in - the postcard shown which had been produced by John Robert Gethin Jones which featured in Blog No 47 back in September 2010. It's an interesting article and I'm pleased that use has been made of this postcard.

Gwynedd Family History Society, www.gwynedd.fhs.org.uk
Meetings for the next four weeks are:

Caernarfon, 29 January (In Welsh, last Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Library, Lôn Pafiliwn: Keith O'Brien: "Hanes Camp Milwrol Traws"

Bangor, 7 February (In English, first Tuesday of each month) 7.00pm at the Quakers Meeting Hall, Dean Street: Peter Brindley "Welsh Comic Postcards"

Conwy, 13 February (In English, second Monday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Ebenezer, Abergele Road, Old Colwyn: Hywel Roberts: "My Great Grandfather's Misfortune"

Pwllheli, 20 January (In Welsh, third Friday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Seion, Lon Dywod: Dr Richard Roberts: "Rhydychaen, Paris a Phwllheli: Golwg ar waith John Gwenogfryn Evans"

Dolgellau, 9 Chwefror (In Welsh, second Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at the Royal Ship Hotel: Gweithdy yn yr Archifdy

Llangefni, 19 January (In English, third Thursday of each month) 7.00pm at Capel Smyrna, Ffordd Glanhwfa: Workshop in the NEW Llangefni Archives

Clwyd Family History Society, www.clwydfhs.org.uk

The meetings are held on the second Saturday of each month (except August) at 2.00 pm at locations that rotate within the former county of Clwyd.

Saturday 11 February: 2.00 pm at The Community Centre, Ruabon, LL14 6LE
Joy Thomas: "Basic Sources for Family History"