Amman Valley Buzz

Well I thought our Ammanford family, The Griffiths did very well in the first episode of The Coal House at War from BBC Wales.

Even Keiran (11) took the daily dose of Cod Liver Oil and Malt Extract and subsequent throwing out of the classroom really well, poor lad, I was heaving with him, as was my son Jonathan who is in the same year as Keiran at Amman Valley School in Ammanford.

My son also said, "well I would starve on that kind of food!!" LOL

Mind you, they did get told off good and proper by the air raid warden, ok well a warning and then he left leaving them with a nice line from Terminator, "I'll be back"

I didn't realise that families who didn't get the daily black out done correctly could be fined, if you didn't catch the list of fines, here it is:

15 Shillings for a light showing
20 shillings for an uncovered window
Up to a £100 for other offences with possibly 3 months prison sentence
Oh and no credit!

I then had to explain to my son that 1 shilling is equivalent to about 5 pence in today's money (I feel old because I remember getting pocket money in shillings as decimalisation happened when I was 12 in 1972).

My mother was 7 years old when World Ward Two ended and so I find this fascinating as well from that point of view, seeing what it was like for a child in the war years. My mother tells me that she would walk to school on her own at age five and I was reminded of that watching sweet little Euan Paisey (5) as he was sent home from school to change because he wet himself and then walked back again, he seemed so tiny but bless his little woolen socks, he did it - we do molly coddle our kids today but then some would argue that we have to, still, that's a whole other post.

Watching it made me realise how accustomed most of us are to comforts that we often think of as essentials and in fact they are comforts, like walking to school and work - those men had to walk 4 and half miles before their day at work even started and then the same back again - most of us would complain if we had to walk more than five minutes to the bus stop.

And did you all catch the figures quoted for people killed or injured in Wales during 1940 to 1943 by air raids, wow!! over 1000 killed and 1200 seriously injured.

So all in all, the families all did well(I am sure better than I could have done) and I will await with eager anticipation the next installment, due this coming Wednesday 15th at 8.30pm.

I would love to hear your thoughts on tonights episode, especially anyone who knows any of the families.