Hafodyrynys: Introduction
In December 2007 when I interviewed my Grandmother about her childhood, she talked about the mountain around which she'd grown up in the village of Hafodyrynys, South Wales, not far from Pontypool. Her words about this mountain, which is in fact more of a hill, were very moving, for it was on this hill she played as a child and where she would watch her father as he walked to work in the mine at Llanhilleth. Below is part of that conversation:
"I can see him now because he went up our garden over the road and the mountain started from there up... and he'd go so far up and he'd turn back and wave to us, and if we went out to play, our Mam would say, "you can go up the mountain to play..." but every now and then our Mam would come out in the garden and we had to wave to her to know that we were alright you know... always remember going up the mountain..."
One of my main objectives for visiting Hafodyrynys (which I did in May 2008) was to see this mountain and to walk from the back of my Grandmother's old garden in Rectory Road, up the side of the mountain, and to turn and look down at the house, just as her father had done on his way to the mines, and as she had done when playing. My Grandmother passed away in November 2008.
