Two firsts in one week

Wow.

So what have I been up to?

I've done my first and second ever interview. Yes armed with dictaphone and a smile I went and had a lovely chat with Harry Collins who lives in the next village to me about his life. Harry and his lovely wife Renee made me very welcome and were happy to share their memories over a cup of tea and a laugh.

The second interview was with Ron Wellings who is literally my neighbour who again was happy to sit and chat and share his memories with me. The memories I was looking for were about the dreadful winter of 1947 and how they affected people living within the Clun Valley.

Harry was a sheep farmer at the time. He told me about twenty foot snow drifts on the hills surrounding the valley. How he had to ride a cart horse to get up onto the hills to look after his sheep and how fortunate he was compared to many, because he had hay ricks that saved his sheep when so many other farmers lost their entire stock.

He also told me how he courted Renee during that winter walking a hour a half each way through thick impacted ice and snow drifts for a hour a half to spend time with her. That was lovely and obviously worked because this coming May they'll have been married for sixty two years.

There is so much I want to ask them and they've both told me I'm welcome any time to chat to them.

My second interview was with Ron Wellings who is literally my neighbour. Again I talked to him about that dreadful winter. He was twelve years old at the time and can remember walking down to the River Clun with a bucket, a small saucepan and a coal hammer where using the hammer he broke the ice and scooped water into a bucket so his mother could do the washing for a family of eight. That put me to shame when I think of the panic I went into when my automatic washing machine broke down.

He also told me that every day during that horrendous snow the school bus managed to get through the country lanes and take them to school in nearby Craven Arms. Well all except one day, he added with a grin. A group of them set off early and decided to clear the drifts at the side of the road by dumping it on the road - that was the day the bus didn't get through.

Another lovely story he told me was the bus driver at the time was called Miss Small and she was tiny. Now we're talking about the days when power steering wasn't even a dream and buses never mind cars were not the easiest of things to handle. Anyway this tiny woman went to the depot one day to collect her bus to take the kids home and found that they were all out, all except one and the bus that was left was old even in 1947. However, determined to get the job done, she took this bus but found it a hell of a struggle. To get the kids home though two of them stood at the front and helped her turn the steering wheel. Rob could remember turning the wheel to get it around the corner by the Craven Arms Hotel and Miss Small commented, she had no idea how she was going to get the bus back to Ludlow once she'd dropped the boys off.

Memories, social history but something I feel that shouldn't be lost so guess who's going to be going around with her dictaphone chatting - oh what a hard life.

The second first is I've written my first article/interview for our new Parish Post based on these two interviews and I've thoroughly enjoyed doing it. Okay it's not for mass production but for me it's a totally new venture.