From time to time, I have mentioned that my Welsh-born mother and I moved from Liverpool (where I was born) to a small hamlet in Snowdonia soon after WW2 started. At the time, the company my father worked for had been requisitioned by The War Department to manufacture parachutes and, for a while, he was exempted from conscription and remained in Liverpool whilst helping to set up the manufacturing process.
He was, however, able to join us at weekends; but, eventually, was called-up and his departure meant that a situation arose where I spoke virtually no English at all. Having arrived in Wales as an infant, I spoke Welsh quite fluently and there was a fear that I might experience problems when we returned to Liverpool after the war. So, taking advantage of the fact that some schools from English cities had been evacuated to Wales to escape the bombing, a few weeks before my fifth birthday, I became a boarder in one of them.
Shown below are photos (taken during a recent motor-cycling trip down Memory Lane) of (1) The farmhouse we lived in. (2) My favourite lake - which was a few few hundred yards for the cottage. (3) The hotel which had been used as the boarding school during WW2............
Photos can be enlarged by "clicking" on them.
He was, however, able to join us at weekends; but, eventually, was called-up and his departure meant that a situation arose where I spoke virtually no English at all. Having arrived in Wales as an infant, I spoke Welsh quite fluently and there was a fear that I might experience problems when we returned to Liverpool after the war. So, taking advantage of the fact that some schools from English cities had been evacuated to Wales to escape the bombing, a few weeks before my fifth birthday, I became a boarder in one of them.
Shown below are photos (taken during a recent motor-cycling trip down Memory Lane) of (1) The farmhouse we lived in. (2) My favourite lake - which was a few few hundred yards for the cottage. (3) The hotel which had been used as the boarding school during WW2............
Photos can be enlarged by "clicking" on them.
As is happened, the school was actually a girls' school; but, brothers of pupils were allowed to attend. I'm not quite sure why an exception was made in my case because, at that time, I didn't have a sister. Furthermore, I don't remember meeting another boy when I was there and I have often wondered if I developed a little too much interest in the little girls - or the bigger girls were too interested in me; but, or whatever reason, after about a year, I was moved to a boys' school a little further down the valley.
I'm not sure exactly how long I stayed at that school; but, it must have been decided that my English was adequate for whenever we might return to Liverpool and, for the last eighteen months of the war, we went to live at my grandparent's farm on the Llyn Peninsular. During that time, I went to the local, Welsh-speaking, village school and became immersed (as much as a child could) in Welsh culture; contributing, for example, to the local annual eisteddfod. Even now, I can clearly remember spending hours perfecting a pencil drawing of a kettle and, during the eisteddfod itself, winning half-a-crown in a singing contest; thus, by the way (it has just occurred to me) becoming the first member of my family to be paid for singing in front of an audience.
I'm not sure exactly how long I stayed at that school; but, it must have been decided that my English was adequate for whenever we might return to Liverpool and, for the last eighteen months of the war, we went to live at my grandparent's farm on the Llyn Peninsular. During that time, I went to the local, Welsh-speaking, village school and became immersed (as much as a child could) in Welsh culture; contributing, for example, to the local annual eisteddfod. Even now, I can clearly remember spending hours perfecting a pencil drawing of a kettle and, during the eisteddfod itself, winning half-a-crown in a singing contest; thus, by the way (it has just occurred to me) becoming the first member of my family to be paid for singing in front of an audience.