Should we go, there we go. That's OK. How are you, Les? Are you, are you all right? Yes, well, not too bad, really.

Um, managing to get over this stroke, which, which has affected my eyes and my hearing and a few other things as well.

But anyway, we're getting there slowly. Yes, yes, I can't see very well, but, uh, you know, it, uh, anyway, yeah. We're still here anyway, yeah, yeah, so I just wanna ask first of all a little bit about, um, Because you're, you're from around here, aren't you? Peter Church is where I was, um.

Reared for which is only what, 10 miles from you, but I've been around here.

99% of my time.

Oh, thank you very much, yeah.

So, um, yeah, I've been around hay, well.

My parents marketed in hay with the farm and then when I took it on, I was here, always marketed here as well.

But uh Because I was too young to know to.

there.

Ellis, is it? No, no, I don't think it's um.

too young to know too much about what happened during the war.

But uh, All I know is Being brought up and reared on the farm with my parents, which was We had to grow. At least 10 acres of potatoes, and if you didn't.

Do it.

The government would summons you, so you had to do it.

And but and the thing was the German. Prisoners and Italians.

came to help to harvest the potatoes and we used to have to fetch them.

Go down to Peter Church where the camp was and Fetch them to work.

And we had to take them home.

Um, When they finished during the day. And they used to dig out, help to dig out the potatoes.

And in they was put into sacks and then loaded onto Our big trailer, which was taken up to the farm, and the neighbours helped to unload them into a big shed. And that had to happen.

To feed, to help to feed the country.

So, and any other things that we could grow as well, i.e., like swedes and green crops and all that, all helped.

So that, that was great. And when the potatoes finished 2. Prisoners of war stayed back, who was a German prisoner and an Italian and um They stayed back and worked on the farm, and.

And they worked hard and they, they wasn't paid, um, but the government obviously. Well, they had nothing to spend their money on, did they, because they wasn't allowed out and they were, we got to like them and they were called Reno and Frank.

I'd often like to know what happened to them because they, they were lovely and they didn't want.

War or fighting, but they was just thrown into it like our man was.

But they had a quite a good time here. Um, my mother used to cook them. Lunch and when it came tea time they would have tea and whatever she'd made and then they were taken back.

They wasn't allowed to walk the 1 mile and a half mile to the camp because just in case they'd done a runner, but they they they were very lovely people and the one German prisoner asked my father. If he'd got any wheels or a wheel that size, so he hunted round and found an old wheel off a pram and gave him, and he didn't say what he wanted it for.

Then in about a week he came back to work and he brought me as a small boy of 7 years old, a wheelbarrow he'd made, and he made this wheelbarrow so lovely.

And that's what he wanted the wheel for, yeah, and When they finally went back.

It was, it was lovely, really.

Uh, they just said, we'll see you again sometime perhaps. But they meant it and they came back, they did, yeah, they came back and To see my mother and my father and probably me and my brother and sister and Then they went and they said, we'll come back again, and they did.

And this time they come back and they brought the biggest box of chocolates you've ever seen. It was about that size, and he'd give it to my mom. And when they went, they said, We will be back. But they didn't come back so I don't know what happened to them.

I'd have liked to have known. Some of them stayed around Peter Church and married local people, local people, yes, yeah, on, on, and this one, I think this, this photo, that's an Italian prisoner of war who stayed, um, he was in Leinster, um. Yeah, so that was, yeah, and it was so lovely because, um, My father had a, it was an old car, but it was so old that there wasn't much tractors around in those days, but he converted it to a, a farm vehicle.

And these two German prisoners used to like driving this thing around, and they'd be driving it around the fields looking at the stock and doing anything that my father asked them to do, and they were only too willing to help.

And when my mom I was cooking lunch for them. Reno was so interested in cooking, and he used to say, say he'd call my mom by her name, Doris.

I help you cook. And and he used to be peeling the potatoes.

So did you have German and Italian? Yes, I had a German and an Italian, Reno and Frank, and they were all at the same camp, at the same camp at Peter Church. And the other thing is, I'd love to find it sometime. I have found it many times, but I've forgotten where it is now, but I could find it in the wood. I.e., like if our farm was here right across towards the north, there was a forestry wood and um in that wood.

There's a massive big stone, and it is a big one.

And there's a bird carved on it.

And it says, Their name prisoner of war. Oh wow, and he did, yeah, he, he carved this, um, bird that belongs to the duchy now, doesn't it? It belongs to the duchy now, is it over by Moccus or yeah, yeah, this site, the Peter Church site, yes, it would take a lot of finding now because I'm going back 70 years very nearly, um, but I know somewhere near where it is, but it's grown up now and you'd get. Horribly lost, really looking for it, but there is this stone. I can't, it's at least as big as that door, and there's a bird carved on it, and it says her name. Prisoner of war because they worked in that woods, say, falling timber and all in it out and manually they would be carrying.

These logs out of the wood up steep banks and parking them right on the top of the field, and they'd done that for 8 hours and they found time to carve this bird.

Well, it wasn't really a bird, it was a dove and it got the. The leaf in his mouth and yeah, and it said underneath it his initials and his name, prisoner of war, but how he done it. I don't know because he had no tools much to, to do all I was issued with was, um, a small penknife for helping to cut briars and not to get around these trees, but they did have an axe for falling the trees.

But how he carved this, I don't know, but how he weighed this wheelbarrow, nobody knows because they had no tools and they wasn't allowed to have any because, um, Well, like our boys in prison camp in Germany, they wasn't allowed anything because they'd break out and go, and, but they didn't really want to go back, did they, because they were having too good a time.

Yeah, they didn't want to go back. They used to, a lot of them didn't want to fight. No, they used to plead with my father to go to the high ups. To see if they could stay, but they didn't stay, but they promised they'd they'd been back twice and they said they'd come again, but they was, well, I don't know what age they would be 30, 40 years of age then, so they, they mightn't have made it back.

He didn't, they didn't come back and they used to, the cows in the cow shed was in a line and they had to be cleaned out every day and they used to go in with a wheelbarrow and clean these cows out. And Willie worked as a, as a farm labourer and they were really, really good.

And you could, um, they spoke English very well. And I often wondered as a small boy. Um, whether they would come back because At that time my mother used to be a good singer and My mum would sing to me and Reno or Frank would bounced me on his knee as a 6 or 7 year old boy, and I can remember that real well, and they were so lovely and I know when they went. I got so attached to them I cried terrible because I looked upon them as somebody very special.

I was too young to realise they was captured and it was a war and they'd been, you know, and I didn't want to know too much about it, but it was so lovely and I often wonder they, they must, if they're alive, they've got children. And that, but uh It was the same as with um Val's father.

He was captured.

And he was on the The television film The Longest March, and he was taken across France and into Germany and he was a prisoner of war for 7 years, for 4 years, and He got to like.

Some of the People what was looking after them, or the Germans what was looking after them.

Like he said, some of the ones who did break out and try to pro. Never returned because they were shot.

So he thought the best way out if you can't beat them, join them. So he used to Built up a relationship with with them and they were very good too. Bell's father, and they used to be allowed one bar of chocolate a week. So he would break his chocolate up and give to these Germans and it was lovely. He wasn't brought up in Herefordshire.

That was Essex. Yeah, that was Essex. Yeah, but you know it's all connected, it all happened, but in Peter Church, this house is built on the on the campsite now, which is a rather shame. Where was the camp, right, um. Well, if you come from Well, let's take it.

You come down through the village, you've got the crossroads. You turn left for Stockley Hill, and you go up there for approximately 30 or 400 yards, and it was there on the left-hand side. Crossways is above Crossways, yes. Or if you come down Stockley Hill, it was on the right, on the right-hand side, and it was a big camp. of the I don't know whether you know the old Nissan huts, which was oval shaped and there were some concrete ones or built of brick, but not many. And I can remember. The fence all the way around it.

It was horrible really, but that's how it had to be was barbed wire and whatever because 99% of them.

didn't want to go back.

They wanted to stay around like Val said, a lot of them did and stay and they married.

Uh, English ladies here and so did the pole the chap that the farm we looked at at um.

Yes, brought down near, um, Kinnersley.

Kinnersley, he, he married, uh, he was a prisoner of war and he married the farmer's daughter. He obviously worked on that farm. He did, wow, what was his name? Gering or Ger Gering, wasn't it? I think he's died now, but they've got their farm for sale and we.

Went to look at it and he, he, so he was one, he was a German who stayed and the farmer's daughter wow. And some of them, make no mistake, they come from very wealthy.

Parents, I mean they were thrown into the war the same as ours and uh the.

The neighbouring farm, um, there was some on there and there was a couple of, uh, of priests or vicars, and they were captured and they were lovely, you know, they wouldn't do nothing to nobody or, or anything they didn't want.

won't trouble.

But the ones what was we had was so lovely that there was about 8 or 10 when we were picking potatoes coming to work all the time and they used to around lunchtime they'd all get together and sing.

We couldn't understand what they were singing, but just a way to go and there was tin buckets and the one would play the drums on the You know, anything to boost their morale really, and they used to, I can remember this. Madly aerodrome where the runway was, there was Um, the planes used to land and take off from there.

And of course our farm was right up on the bank. 600 ft above sea level.

And where the aeroplanes used to take off was only the way the crow flies 1 mile away.

And they would narrowly take the chimney off our farmhouse when they come up, they were so low, and these prisoners of war, I can remember them when they'd be waving at them.

You know, and, and all that, and, uh, and, uh, it was good.

So, uh, At the end of the day, they were all very lovely and they worked very, very hard with, in those days, we didn't have much tractors or anything. It was horses and carts and whatever, but, uh, and they, All got used to The animals and they used to come and they'd be saying to my dad, how long now is it before we get the cows in? And I used to remember this one Italian, he'd be helping mom to peel the potatoes and and everything and You know, and on the more funnier side of the way, my father wasn't very far away, and he'd be popping in every now and again just to see what's going on, you know, you know, he didn't want, in other words, he didn't want. Helping her to peel the potatoes, but he was such a lovely chap. But what did you grow during the war? What food on the farm? What did you grow for your use on the farm? Oh well, it was potatoes and swedes and green crops and and stuff like that. Your mom used to make butter. My mom used to make butter and cheese. On the farm and eggs and eggs, of course, and she would sneak.

To these two boys.

Uh, some, when they, she made some butter and some cheese, she would, uh, wrap up, uh, some bits and pieces for them, and they would put down in there there and they, they would have that because their, their food was pretty restricted really to what they, they had.

It was, but they, they'd come up to some of the officers would come up to the farm. And have a bag of potatoes to go back. And poultry as well.

That was another thing. And because the farmers. Such as my parents done very well, I dare I say it, out of it because they supplied.

Eggs, cheese, butter, and all those things to the camp, and they were paid for it. I mean, it would be chicken feed today, but in those days it was quite a lot of money and the farmers done quite well out of it and So, so the camp was, I don't know how many was there, but for sure, but it was a lot. It would be over 100 anyway, 50 to 100 would be there. Somebody in Peter Church would know that, wouldn't they? Yes, there must be.

There would be, yeah, there would be, but the old camps and they, after it was all over and they all went back or whoever stayed.

The camp stayed exactly how it was for many, many years, and Some of the people wasn't very well off and hadn't got any homes to go to much. Um, I was allowed to live in some of these Nissanhus.

OK, and I as a small Boy, my friend and his mother and father lived in one of those. So I used to go and stay with Alan sometimes and so I I've slept in those n nuts and then When it came To wanting building done, um, they were all demolished and uh They know it's all houses there and it's all, in other words, forgotten. But at the end of the day, what an experience, but I was Probably too young to realise what was going on. What, what year were you born, if you don't mind me asking? 1940. 1940. So yeah, you would have been very small. So I was only at the end of the war, I was around about 147, wasn't it, when I was 7 years old.

Well, it probably was about 99 before they went because they didn't go back immediately. The war was, you know, it took a while for it all to be sorted out. So some went into garage work. 90% of them stayed on farms and which ours did stay I suppose they had to go back to be discharged, really, and yes, yes, you know, all the paperwork, but they used to say to my father, he'd say, well, it'd be nice for you to go back home.

No, because if we went back home. So there was between the devil and the deep blue sea. So which was the best one, this one to stay, and they were, as I say, they were lovely, lovely, um. Chaps and they were hardworking and their clothes was, um, They had like a, a tunic, something the same size as us, but on the back of it was cut out and if it was a, the colour was, say, green, they had a big red, um, Sort of thing as round as that plate on the back of their their so to know that they were they were prisoners, but uh and they were they used to say, I don't want this.

I don't want this on you know they didn't want it but they They were really lovely and they were very good to us children, but my brother and sister was older than me and they were, um, Been had football games with them at lunchtime and all that and uh yeah, it was lovely. And you said that a lot of people from South Wales came up to buy the produce. Yes, because down in South Wales, um, During the war years was quite hard hit, you know, as you know, so they used to come up and they used to call it, as you'd know again, black market in. They would come up to the farm. They got to know Mom would used to make it about 8 pounds of In pounds and ounces, no. Butter a week and she'd have about 100 head of poultry, so they'd have a lot of eggs and milk and um she'd make cheese and they used to come and buy that and take it back down to South Wales and that would happen all the time.

Um, but she'd got left over, but she used to have to keep a lot for The family would be come here into hay on a Thursday and sell it, and she had her customers, and that was Her housekeeping money, as she used to say, the money that she got, she would that would go to buy something else.

So it's a shame it's not, it's not like that today in a way because it was like they said, living from hand to mouth. It was all done. And on the farm, that's why the farmers were so important during the war, yeah, that's why the farmers done well because they were all doing it, not just my parents, but they was all doing it because it was a, it was a great source of money and obviously you had your own meat.

Oh yes, and that's why I won't eat lamb or anything because I see so much of it. During the war where.

They were killed and And dressed and and whatever pigs as well and poultry and all that and it was sold.

Um, Really.

It wasn't illegal, but the country didn't like or the government didn't like you doing it, but they used to turn a blind eye to it.

But and, and so the farmers was well fed and they had more money than anybody else because it was all there. It was like a mini shop. Yeah, they're really valuable for the community, and of course the prisoners had to be fed.

So they would Come to the farm and buy your sheep.

And then it was butchered and taken away and used at the camp in Peter Church.

That's probably why they, you know, they, they like to come back and visit and things because they could see that you were hardworking people and that, and that you were providing for them in a way. Well, that's right, it was, and that's why they. They'd like to come back and and a lot of them like to stay.

Well, Dave Timasik, his, his father married, um, I mean just, just us know quite a few people that stayed around. Oh yes, there must have been hundreds, thousands of them across the country, that's just you. I mean, his name was Ted Ted Damask and um.

The Polish lady from the hill. I didn't know her. I lived above where your house was, and her husband, but he stayed back and he was a very good cabinetmaker and made furniture again.

In the old Um, what was remaining wouldn't have been a prisoner if he was Polish, would he? Yes, he was Polish, like a refugee wouldn't have been a prisoner.

He'd have been fighting against them, yeah, but he used to have one of these sheds, what was a prisoner of war place, and he used to make all, um, well, anything to do with wood, but uh. So there was Polish, Italians, and Germans.

It was all mixed up sort of thing, but the, the, the, most of the Germans and the Italians did stay by here be scary not knowing what you're going back to at home. Well, that's right, but hopefully, as I say, presumably they had to go back or do something to be discharged, yeah, yeah. But some of them was, I know it didn't happen immediately, did it? I mean, it took a couple of years.

Oh yeah, it was schoolmasters. I could have a glass of water.

Is that OK? Thanks, sparkling or out the tap? Just out of the tap is fine, yeah, thank you. But no, it was very, very interesting. And it's nice that people can Live with this and take it on at another stage for people.

You know, like you, if you was married with your children and grandchildren, let them go on knowing what it was like.

But as I say, I was too young to know.

Well, you've remembered a lot, a lot of it, but um. We Built up a relationship between some of the pilots, what was at Madley, and they used to fly over and when they came over, They would dip their wings like this, and Uh, Dougie Hater, he stayed for many years and he went on to be a bank manager and got had children, Robert and Jean.

That's right. And But of course Age beat them to it and we lost them. But Robert and Jean is around somewhere. I haven't seen them in 70 years or whatever. So, but they, Dougie was a pilot there and He used to come over and he'd take the blooming top off the chimney and these Germans would be waving and it was because it was only just down the bank so they could only the runway wasn't that long and of course A mile or air miles they hardly had enough time to get up over our house before, you know, we were always wondering. Would the day come when they'd miss it, you know, and you know, could you, uh, could you explain to me where exactly was the farm? Was it that your farm top of Stockley Hill? OK, Stockley Hill, yeah, right, on the top is right on.

So go to the cross, go through Peter Church as if you're going towards Hereford. Turn left up Stockley Hill. Turn left, OK, yeah, and it's right at the top there. Yeah, yeah, you, you, yes, right, right on the top. It was the highest point, um, before you dropped down into Madley or dropped down to Peter Church, and it had been in the family for 120 years. And it was, uh, one of the nearest farms to the, to the camp, but they wasn't allowed to walk out, um, for the fear in case, well, what did it matter if they got back, but they didn't want to go back because if they did they'd got shot so they might want to get away and they were better off they can never be sent back, yeah, but, uh, basically, uh, um.

All the, the farms and that done very well out of it and as I say, I can remember bits and pieces.

I can remember them making me this wheelbarrow and do you know what happened to the wheelbarrow? Is it? Well, time went on and when I Sort of left home. I don't know what happened to it, but it was made of wood.

It probably Broke up or I don't know because they had so little materials to, to make it or glue it together or nail it together because he asked my father once said he could they have a few nails and he was a bit reluctant to give him a few nails because he didn't know what he might be doing with them. But anyway, he did, and it was really to tack this wheelbarrow together and You can tell how honest they was. They asked my father, um, Could they borrow an hammer? And again, he was, didn't want to do it because in case they used it to hit somebody with it. But anyway, he did. And do you know what? He brought the hammer back. He didn't keep it. He said he when he finished with it, he brought it back, but it was wonderful, wasn't it? Yeah, and I'm sure your father kind of trusting him made him feel a lot more normal and like everyone somewhere in the workshop of here I've got that hammer. Because I had it.

My father gave it to me. I know it's down there somewhere and I use it myself and uh. My father lent him his hammer and he used it to make this there, but he brought it back and then when I left home, my father gave me this hammer and I've got it.

It's down there now in the workshop. That's fantastic. But yeah, it was. Some happy moments, wasn't there, and there were some very sad ones. I know when they went as a small boy, I couldn't hide back the tears when he he used to come and give me a hug and he'd tell me that he was coming back. But he didn't come back.

Yeah, well, it's nice that they came back a couple of times. They come back a couple of times, but the 3rd time. He didn't.

They didn't come back, but, uh, you say we don't know what happened. We don't know what happened. So when they came back, was that Frank and Reno Reno, yeah. So did they, because I'm assuming it was Frank German and then Reno Italian, they spoke it both, but they learned one another, their languages.

And it was marvellous, wasn't it? Um, we got to, as I say, I was too small, but my father and mother got to understand them.

They knew exactly what they were and they could speak quite good English. And I don't know, we used to they said what do you want me to do now? And my father would Find jobs for them to do. And it put it, it's horrible, but it was cheap labour because it wasn't allowed to give them any money and to think that they'd work on the farm for 5 or 8 hours and um My father used to have to take them. We did have one old tractor which would have been modern in those days and a trailer, and he used to Put some um Wood in there for him to sit on and they'd take him back to camp and then you'd have to go and fetch him the next day. Uh, but it was quite wonderful and, uh, um, they used to have a A row between themselves. Because some of them used to say, no, I want to go to work for my father and the other and and Reno and Frank wouldn't have it, so we broke out in a fight club because they, they, they wouldn't have it.

No way they would, wouldn't, they wanted to go to, to Henry and Doris Price. That's where they wanted to be and ever help anybody would try to. To snivel in it. So, uh, it was wonderful, but they said they'd come back and they did come back and they'd sit and have a cup of tea and some piece of cake or whatever, Mom and dad, and then they went and did they bring their family.

No, but the one Reno brought a brother back, but he was much, much younger.

He was only Wasn't even in the war, so he was too young, but he couldn't speak no English at all, but he brought him back. And, uh, eventually they, um, they went and they, I can remember it to this day, we, uh, caught hold of my arm and led me outside and he said I'll be back but he didn't come back but I was wondering, could you tell me a bit more about your family, about your parents and your, yeah, well they, uh, so it's Henry and Doris, yes, Price, and they We had, you had an older brother and an older sister. I did, yes. Uh, Leo was the eldest, um. And Bill was older than me again, and they originated from Up here at uh Pines Castle because my, um, relations, um, grandfather.

Had um honed You might have heard of it.

Um, it's a massive big place up in Wales, Langoed Hall.

They own that.

And my grandfather was always a go-ahead chap. He wanted to To get bigger all the time, so they sold it and he bought in Payne's Castle. Another estate and my father Um At Wellbrook, what was here at Peter Church.

And he divided up between some other brothers, and so they were. There, but my the interesting bit was at Glangoed all.

Where my father lived, my sister and brother was born there.

Now my mother was taken seriously ill.

When I was She was expecting me, but there were in those days there was no much cars or anything, but they did have just an old.

Austin 7 car took Mum to hospital to have me, but the laugh was she was in Canada.

For most of her life.

And when she came home, she wanted a job.

So anyway, She's seen an advertisement for a person.

To live, to work at Llangoedol.

They called them in them days chambermaids, didn't they? So she applied and she got the job. Anyway, The other lady workers rebelled against it, and they were very not very nice to her and give her all the horrible jobs. And they didn't like it because she was come from from Canada Hover and so was she born in Canada no she wasn't, no, no, but she came over and they didn't like it.

So anyway, they gave her all the horrible jobs, but the laugh was and the moral of the story was.

My father came through the back door and sort of, oh, I quite fancy her, you know.

Anyway. As time went on, he married her, and of course then she became the boss of these other ladies.

And so she was said, now you do this and you do that now. Yes, miss, yes, miss, yes, I'll do that. So she had the upper hand of them in the end. So when I was, she was born, they had the farm here at Wellbrook. My father decided to stay and I was born and lived there and Bill and Leah came down later on because they didn't really want to go from up here, but anyway they did and they were all schooled at Peter Church and so was I.

I never learned anything, mind, but I was. I, I, I, I, I was there, but anyway, uh, so my mum was then.

had this big operation.

And I, I was born and Mum had to stay in there for 6 weeks.

So, well, my father and, and Leah was the eldest.

A lot of weight was put on her because she was quite a bit older to help to get some food and whatever and help on the farm and whatever they could. But so they it was there and it was in possession for All the years. And till I moved out.

And eventually when My father.

And we had a disagreement and it it just didn't work and I forgot what exactly happened, but I know I was.

Young and foolish then and a bit flighty and said, all right, I'm off and he said well that's probably the best thing so I never returned to the farm but uh um Then, of course, I met Val, which lived half a mile away from me. And that was it.

So really I sort of come through the back door after a while and made it up with my father and We got on not too bad, but I think it all reflected back to when we had an upset because um He left it all to my brother and not to me, so That was a bit, uh, below the bill, but anyway, that these things do happen and, uh, yeah, I'm just, I'm just wondering, did you have any other like uncles or anything, anyone who did go to, you know, were in the war? Oh yes, yes, very much so. I had a cousin. Um He was shot down.

With his aircraft and he land, he was shot down on your mom's side, wasn't on mom's side. Yes. Um, he was shot down and the plane come down in a bog in Scotland and he's still there to this day. My brother, before he died, went to visit it and he, they wasn't allowed to take the aircraft or him. Out of the plane and to this day, I don't know where it is.

Bill knew where it was. He went to see him and he was shot down and it's still there to this day. And Owen, my other cousin, was in the 8th Army.

As a tank driver and he was blown up.

And he managed to be alive, but he crawled out of the tank and Rested underneath what was the remaining of the tank until help came. So he, he lay under the tank and the His colleagues and all that knew that he'd been hit, so they found him lay under his tank.

So it was, it was funny and Is my uncle. And Hoen both father and son, was in the war together.

Wow. Was that, is that on your mother's side? That was, no, this was on father's side. Oh no, yes, but what was your uncle's name? Um, Jim. Yeah. Yeah, Jim. Yeah. And John was the one what was shot down with his plane.

John Stokes, that that was mum's side. And his father, my uncle, where mum used to stay was for many years in Canada, um. He used to come over at least once a year to visit his son John.

But again, age beat him to it, and he was well into his 90s when he last came over, but he's gone now. But yes, there was quite a bit. My father wasn't in it because he was exempt because of the farm. Yeah, they all farmers and people like that was exempt.

From the wars shame the photographs there. Faded, haven't they.

Um, what was your grandfather's name at Llangoed Hall? Oh dear, yeah, he was William, William, William Price, yes, yeah.

Yeah.

And uh But he, he lived.

Yeah, this photo was your mom when she was in Canada, wasn't it? That one? Yeah, you can't see much of it. It's a shame it's faded. Yeah, she was a great photo, yeah, but she was a great clay pigeon shooter. So she's got, she's got her, yeah, no, she, yeah, she won that clay pigeon shooting in Canada. She shot 4 of them, and this is, this is Les with his mom and dad. Oh look at that.

That's a brilliant photo.

Well that looks like you're at a wedding or something, or yeah, probably, yes, it was my sister's wedding, yeah, in 19. 50.

When was the coronation? 53.

Yeah, 53. Yeah, yeah. Yeah, oh, a shame that one's, that one's, yes, it is.

I don't know why you can't do nothing about it, can you? But, um, there might be someone who's good at, she was a great clay pigeon. Uh, shooter and she then shot for Canada and she won the prize was a Koe gun, which was valued in those days, and that's a long, long time ago at 300 pounds.

And she won it.

And that's all we've got. But uh, yeah, so really it was in a nutshell, it all happened. In and around here, um, where we could, uh, we grew up and I, when my sister lived here at QSOP and I used to come and stay with her on the weekends.

Uh, catch the buzz at Peter Church and, and come down and stay with her, but sadly she died. And um I think she was.

43 or 44 when she died.

Oh dear.

Yeah, she had diabetes very bad. And, uh, of course, Bill, my brother Ian, it must be about 4 years since he's gone, isn't it? Yeah, at least. Yeah, yes. But a lot of, um, Um, my uncles and aunties was in the, in the police force because again they, they couldn't get. Police people in those days much.

But, um, Uncle Jim, who I just mentioned, um, when he came out, he, he went into the police force when he came out of the army. Yes, when he came out he was um In the police my father was and his brother was Uh, specials because they have to. Get as many police as they could or how they could get them because there was a lot of problems and were they policed locally? Yes, yeah, so.

That that was quite amazing really because Um, When Uncle Jim was in In the army, he took up boxing.

And he turned out to be very, very good.

And he fought for the British title, heavyweight title. And he, he fought this chap called Don Cockle, which was a present champion.

And Uncle Jim was losing on points, and but in the very last round, my uncle knocked him down and E Beat the count, but my uncle lost the title and he didn't get the title because the other chap was so far ahead on.

Points.

That's amazing though, as he would have been the British champion and it was something they'd done in the war years and in that because they had to take, they used to take up some sort of sport and to keep fit and that was one thing he'd done.

And it was it was quite good, but his both his sons, Eric and Owen didn't want to know. They they they when Eric was too young to go into the army, but Owen was much older and was taken when he was about Excuse me, 15 or 16, and he was the one under the tank, yeah, and he was the one that was, uh, lay under the tank. Where was that in France? Yes, yeah, yeah, yeah, it was, yeah, but, um. Um, but John, my cousin, he was, he was in the plane, and, uh, gosh, your family, Les, you've got great stories.

Yes, well, it's interesting, uh, um, my, my great grandfather. It goes back many years of being in. In the farming line, but It, it was a, a, well, your grandfather, you've got a photo somewhere of him opening Hay Bridge, haven't you? Yes.

Oh yes, I, yeah, no, I've lost it. I can't find him photographs here. My grandfather because I think you put it, you put it in a folder to show Mandy.

I think it was a postcard. It's not a photo. It's a postcard. Um, my grandfather, he Bridge, as you know, there, it, it used to be, um, a toll bridge. Now when they done away with it and, uh, opened up as it is now, my grandfather, uh, opened it.

He cut the tape. Why, what, what, why was, why him? Was it because I'm not, don't think that I'm not boasting and I'm not that I want. I want to be this size. I don't want to be up there. I never wanted to be. I'm the one asking, but, uh, my grandfather was, um.

In those days they called him the man of the district, you know, OK, and that's William Price, is it, yes, yeah, and he, I'm sure we can find, probably find it somewhere, and he was in and on most things in those days, and he was the founder member of the great big Hay and Brecken farmers in Hay.

He was the one who started it off by At a little tiny little building in hay, and they used to come down from Payne's Castle with two horses and a, and a cart and he would bring Wheat. Oats and barley, and he had a little Grinding machine there and they left school when he was about 11.

Boy turning his handle, grinding this corn, and he used to add another couple of young ones bagging it up and he used to sell it and that's how the Ian Brecken Farmers started and it got bigger and bigger and bigger and Then it become shareholders which my father. was at that time was one of the largest shareholders because it was passed down to him.

And then some land came up for sale.

Near uh Wellbrook, so he cashed in.

A lot of his shares to buy this land to save buying it on a mortgage or overdraft.

Yeah, so then the remaining ones was left to me, wasn't it? I've got some in there now. So, uh, it was, uh, it was good. So that was the start of it, and when I go past the They call it county store now or something, don't they? Yeah, the big there. My grandfather started it off and it went from strength to strength to what it is today. Um, it was, it was good, but he was quite a well-known chap.

He was in and on everything. Oh, and another thing, my grandmother. And him, they were big in the chapel at Pen Castle. And uh during the years where there were so many, not so many cars about, they had a horse and trap and they used to go off on a Sunday and to um The chapel, but when they died, there's a plaque.

One either side, they never sat together.

He sat that side of the chapel, Granny sat this side and there's a plaque for him and Plaque from my grandmother.

What was your grandmother's name? Mary. Mary, Mary, yeah, Mary.

And uh yes, so, uh, which Leo inherited, Leah Mary, that's how she got her name.

And that was um the the chapel is still there to this day and the plaques is still there. Well, then as the years rolled by and they got more modern. Um, neither of them could drive, but they bought a, a lovely Humberhaw car. And they had this chauffeur driven, so where they wanted to go. This chap would, uh, used to help on the farm as well, but drive them around wherever they wanted to go so the photographs that Mandy did you went, didn't she? Yeah, uh, I don't know.

Mandy to put those up for you.

Who have we got here.

You don't mind me getting a bit closer.

That was my grandmother and grandmother and grandfather.

This was a big house outside. They were, yes, yeah, they were quite old then, um, that's uh. We had our own.

We had our own nurse, which she lived in.

Nurse nanny and but she was a qualified nurse as well but she was nurse Williams and that's me and that is an uncle uh yeah.

Oh yeah, there was, uh, that was one of the, my father's brothers.

That was Owen what was under the tank, yeah. Yeah. What else have we got? And those are some more.

I never knew them, but those were, um, that, that was my grandmother.

I can't quite say that, yeah, yeah, um, on their 5th generation child that was. Oh, and this was Mum's.

Um, My, uh, sister, and her husband. These people, I don't know who they are.

Mandy Mandy would, would, would, would know them.

Oh, Oh, that's a lot, yeah, yeah. Um Oh yeah, this was um Let me get my glasses. I was blind as a bat.

Yeah, no, and then that's my father.

That was Herbert, his brother.

That was Jim, the boxer, yeah, he was 6'4. That's Huey, the other son, and that's John.

And this is the sister, uh, they're sisters, which was Auntie Leah, which Leah got her name from her, and this is Frieda, the other one, the daughter.

Um The the Auntie Leah there is her there yeah there at the wedding of um One of the, I don't quite remember.hol might know.

Oh, that, that was, um, Mum's. Mother, um, no.

Sister and and her and her husband.

Yeah, yeah. And uh the the the these she has died.

These two twin girls are still going. Now they were. That would be she would be a second cousin to my father.

Oh, here's the old car that they made in, and that was me in there as well.

That was it.

It, it turned it into a farm vehicle.

That's amazing, yeah, so. Mandy, is that a relative? Yes, she's my niece's niece's daughter, yeah. I'm wondering if you could put me in touch with her about these photos because I don't know. They're, if she's got the original ones she might have, might be able to send them to me. No, this is Leah. Oh really. This is Leah, my sister.

At Llangoed all, that's part of it there.

Um, that's my, my cousin Elsie, which was on her wedding day. I don't remember much about that, but anyway, um. Oh, and this is, uh, was Desi, a friend of ours, what he's died now would lived next door to Leah.

Yeah, these are great photos.

Well, that's something. Oh wow, they look like a load of grandchildren or something altogether.

Now then, what was the school photo? Yeah, I can't remember Val, can you, oh yes, hang on, this was my school photograph. Yeah. Oh, here we go. Is that you? Yeah, what a, what a smart boy. You're happy to be there.

Yes, yeah, that that was not looking very happy there. Uh, I think that's, uh, I don't know, is that you there? Yes, that's me there. That's right, yeah. Now most of these, dare I say it, and that's at the school in Peter Church, Peter Church. Now they're pretty well all gone. This girl here, um, Kath, where is she? Cath Cath, there she is. She died now a couple of weeks ago, yeah, but mainly. They're very near.

Most of them is, as far as I know, is not with us anymore. This chap here, he was a naughty little bugger. But there's another one on there of me, dear, and there, yeah, the, the photos with the like the military uniforms and things and, and, and that lovely that truck from the farm.

That's amazing. Yeah, now that was, um, where is it? Oh, very smart and handsome. Um Let's see, can I find it that when it, it, it came in, it was taken off the road, um, father turned it, took the back off it and made it into a, a, you know, a farm vehicle and, uh, it was used on the farm for, um, Well, everything he used to do grass arrowing with it and I used to have hay bales on there, not bales, they went around then, excuse me, and that, but that's fantastic.

Yeah. I wonder who these two are. I can barely see them. Yeah, that was Bill and myself, I think that was me. But uh yeah, so it was um it was a Again, a warrior, a singer, but you can say that I couldn't remember a lot because I, yeah, yeah, yeah, but wow, those are lovely.

Yeah, yeah, I don't know if Mandy would be happy to talk to me about some of the photos she has. Oh yeah, I she would be, I expect so. Yeah, she lives in Hereford down by Tesco's. Oh wow, that's, yeah, well, I live in Hereford, um, yeah, I do, um, so maybe if, I don't know if you could put me in contact with her if you ask her tomorrow sometime after that, are you here tomorrow, um. I was going to head back to Hereford in the morning, but, um, well, I can, I can ask her, and you can, OK, yeah, that would be great, thank you. You know the roundabout as you come in from, um, in Belmont, the big Tesco, yeah, go round it, so 1, there's a 3rd exit down side to Tesco, yeah, going off to the right, and then she goes off down, down there, she's down there, but, uh. And her name's Mandy, is it? I'll write that down so I remember.

But um I've got some more if I can find them of my grandfather opening the bridge.

I don't know where they are don't don't, yeah, don't worry yourself too much about it.

It's OK but uh that was um. That he was I think quite a, quite a big chap for, you know, in the, in and around the community and that and he used to, they all used to go to, to William Price sort of thing.

And, uh, but we, we can, and now we've come down all the years. To what you can see, to say, that's it. Yeah, I don't know who they are in uniform. Was that, I think, did you say one was Owen? Who was that in the uniform? Uh, they were cousins to my father, yeah, yeah, but I mean they're all we're very interested. That's right. Oh, there's quite a few soldiers here, yeah, but that one photograph, um.

Will, I think he was.

Yeah, that's right. No, he was another go-ahead chap. He'd got it off my grandfather, I expect, down in South Wales where the, the, the mining was. He, um, he bought how he bought it, I don't know. I can't tell you, but he did. He bought a mine, an open cast mine. And he had a lot of people working for him, and he got on very well, and he got Quite a lot of money and he bought properties about and actually, uh, then tragedy struck. He got pneumonia. And it went to double pneumonia and he died you outside Lagoid Hall, isn't it? That's right, yes, Elsie's wedding.

That's Elsie's, yeah, it's a very healthy baby. That's right, yes, yeah, yeah, but it was um. It's still going.

We do go up there occasionally. No, I think Nick and Sean went there recently for a meal that's Llangoed Hall as well, isn't it? Yes, that was outside Llangoed Hall, your aunties and uncles, yeah, yeah, but they owned, um.

About 3 miles of salmon fishing on the River Wye and there was a couple of fishing lodges we owned.

I've been in those when I was quite a young boy, but of course when the estate got sold it all went. But um, no, that's what you see, one of, um, so one of the, the ladies who, who helps, um, run. Kind of Herefordshire law in our age. She's recently written a book called River Voices Extraordinary Stories from the Wye, and she's been, she's been interviewing people about the River Wye and things on it. I don't know if you might be interested in that. I could probably pick you up a copy somewhere. I'd be fine.

Yeah, so, uh, um, actually, um. It went almost from From Langoed all all the way into Builth very nearly the grounded but might might be interested in.

At, um, Nutterwood, um, Leswen there was, um, my grandfather mother gave out of her own pocket the land to build.

A village hall.

And she had the hall built and she paid for that as well, so that hall, which is there, my grandmother gave the land and had the The whole built to this day for the, the local communities very active in the community.

Yes, she was, she would do a lot to, to help and we had a lot of people working for us.

Um, and when we had the, the farm, my, um, grandparents, I used to go there. She had, um, We used to have a great big table down in the kitchen where the men used to come in to work from work and they'd be cooked. She used to employ a cook and they'd have all the meals cooked for the men and then there was this. They were name everybody was called by either Mrs.

or whatever, you know, or Miss. And we had this one lady. Mrs.

Williams and she was about 30 years of age, I suppose, and I have to say you're losing this language, he was an absolute bugger because my my cousin and me, Ken, she used to play us at September terrible so so I can demonstrate what what happened is one day she played us up and Kenneth gave me the word, so she got her back to the table. And her apron strings.

was hanging down, so Ken tied the apron strings to the chair. So when she moved she had pulled the chair and dragged it along and my grandma, Mrs.

Williams, what are you doing? And she said I don't know what's happening but she was dragging this chair behind how old were you doing you know so how we could do that to her, I don't know. But how old were you doing that? Oh, I was about 11 and um and again um. We all sat at the table in the dining room.

My grandfather had sat at the top and my grandmother at the bottom and this Mrs. Williams was waiting on us and, um, I was itching to go. And of course they always knew me.

They never shortened my name at all. And after a while my grandmother would say, Master Leslie, if you want to leave the table you can go. And I was up and gone pretty sharpish out from there. So it was all very regimental really in a way, but very, very interesting growing up. With them, that kind of people because they were, they wasn't, as we would use the term big knobs, but they made their money.

Quite the hard way by gambling into property because you could buy a house for 50 pounds in those days and my grandfather, what he used to do, all the men who used to work for him, he'd supply them with a house which he'd bought.

And they'd live in that rent-free and they'd come back and work for him and that's what what happened there so and in the The front, there was a big, big brook going.

It was almost a river rather than a brook, and they used to, used to let the fish into two, doctors from Arley Street in London. And one of the bungalows on the farm, he used to let them out, and they used to come down every now and again and do fishing on the, on the, the brook and live, stop in the bungalow. And uh Many times. as a goodwill present when my grandfather wasn't very well, they would come down and Tell him he was all right, like, you know, that sort of thing.

But yeah, there was all sorts of things going on. But uh and then it died away when um What happened was in the end, My brother, father and one of the brothers, Herbert, wanted my grandfather to turn the business over to him, he, yeah, but he wouldn't do it. But in the end, Whether they wore him down or not, I don't know.

He decided that he would turn the business over, but he had to live 7 years. But he lived 6. And of course, here comes Mr.

Government and they took nearly all of it.

They crucified those people and we were able to salvage the one at Peter Church and Lebohoe and um.

What was the name of the Coombe was another one, farmer was 3, what was salvaged out of all what he'd got.

So all he he made from a young chap. Right up to the end, it was for nothing.

He lost it. But if he'd have only had turned it over, um, but he wouldn't. So he just wanted to be. In command all the time and they worked for him and he was the boss, but in the end he wasn't because he blooming lost it, didn't he? It's a shame and most of it went to the crown.

That's why me and the crown don't get on very well because I think that they, they've got so much money and they're so wealthy and they They had On today's value of close to a couple of million of, of our estate.

And so I, I don't. That's fair enough.

No, she didn't didn't like it very much, you know, I'd like to go back to Prince Charles or the King and say, could I have a little bit back? But there we are.

So, uh, if there's anything else you want to, honestly, Les, you've been, it's so interesting, and you've remembered, I think, more than you thought you might. Well, yes, that's right. It, it does come, uh, back. As, as I talk about it and there'll be something I'll remember eventually, and you know, I'll probably end up looking some of these things up, kind of the names and things, and if there's anything I find, I'll let you know. But yeah, thank you so much.

It's been, that's Fran, isn't it? Fran, yeah, yeah, that's right, yeah, but we did meet a long time ago because we we shared something, didn't we? Around Pay didn't we when you always mention it didn't you live round there um so I grew up up over kind of near Grossmont and attic Lingo it was that way Pen Biddle Lane. I'm not sure in Pandy would you just a small road or whatever I went up onto the top because I, I stayed for.

About 12 months with some people when I got ill and I was getting better and I stayed with them on the farm and I was only supposed to be there a couple of weeks and ended up there 12 months.

So I used to go down to Pandy, um, In those days I used to do quite a lot of running and I used to run from Great Camston Farm to Pandy to pick up the papers for for Mr. Prosser. His name was Bill, but he was never, I never called him Bill. I could have done, but I wouldn't, so he was always Mr. So yeah, there's a lot of Prosser in that area, yeah, yes, yes, right, there is, yes, so.

That that was so I spent a lot of time there, well, 12 months anyway, and every Friday I would set off running and fetch the paper which was about 1.5 miles there and 1.5 miles back I sort a 3 mile journey for you yeah it was it was good. So I'm gonna, I'm just going to stop the recording now because I think we're wrapped up.