People

Gwyn Jones baked bread for many years from behind the current Bridge Stores…one of his famous customers was the show jumper David Broome, whom would always call in for a loaf or two when in the area.

Mr Tony Evans and his wife have renovated the old Bakehouse now into a wonderful family home and Tony has kindly allowed us to see some photographs of the former owner..Gwyn Jones the baker

The old Bake house

Two pictures of Mr. Jones by his Welsh dresser

Hard at work in the bake house

During the renovation of the Bakehouse, Tony and his family found a couple of items left in the debris of the building, children had been inside and made a bit of a mess but they left behind some papers including a bank book (over 60 pages) that belonged to Mr Jones’s family from 1888.

Tony also salvaged an old envelope wirh a halfpenny George V  stamp that contained  a receipt from a cotton oil company in Manchester, sent to the Jones family in 1914.

I think they are great finds and Tony has agreed for them to be put on the website.

Page one 1888 £110 in the account

One of the middle pages from 1889 over £1,031 in the account

last page in the book from 1891, and a healthy balance of £1,410

Envelope from 1914, George V half penny stamp

The contents of the envelope

Obviously the Jones family business was a success and John Jones made the Bridge stores very profitable. Gwyn Jones the baker continued to be a success in the village.

Ieuan Owen

Ieuan was born on the 1st June 1920 in Forest House in Edwardsville the youngest of nine children (95 yrs old) . He was educated in the local primary school and Treharris Boys Central School, Quakers Yard Grammar School. Trinity College Carmarthen , Newport Art College, Bristol Art College of Art and Design and Cardiff University.  He served for six years in the wartime R A F and then entered the teaching profession. In 1964 he was appointed one of Her Majesty Inspectors of Schools and retired in 1980. He has devoted much of his time to music and the study and creation of musical instruments. He is author of “Valley Boy – Musical Memoirs” as well as “Recollections and Reflections” – an autobiography and “Our Prefab”. (down in Rodrick’s field where we lived after the War).  and he has been a contributor to musical journals such as the “Strad”.  He has lived in Monmouth since retirement. “

The old Quakers Yard prefabs built in 1946, these were taken shortly before they were demolished to be replaced by Woodlands Avenue, which now houses around 60 homes, which were erected in 1975.

The Next Two pictures show the inside of the Prefabs

RAOB Quakers lodge Quakers Yard