These stories have been made by our very own Youth of the Year, Andrew Brimer. They have been given by Geraint and Rosemary Hughes, who both currently live in the Llandrindod Wells area. During the War Rosemary lived in Swansea, very near the docks. Her mother was a nurse in one of the First Aid Posts in Swansea, while her father was an ARP warden. Her stories cover her experience of Air Raids and the First Aid post, where she used to help roll bandages when it wasn’t very busy. Her second story also recounts how this experience inspired her to join St. John Cadets in Swansea and how this eventually led her to pursue a career in Nursing. She still had some of her cadet certificates and part of her original uniform.
Geraint lived in both London, Llampeter and Sennybridge. His stories showcase very different aspects of the war, his flight from London with his mother and sister the day that war was declared, and then childhood memories of the “Mile End Army” , a group of children that he used to play with during the war (one of the images is from the register he took every week), including sneaking past sentry posts as spys and collecting incendiary bombs dropped in the fields by German bombers. It finishes with the somber thought, that at night they could see the red sky as Swansea burnt. Geraint is still activley involved in the Order of St. John and has been the Chaplin for Llandrindod Wells Division, as well as writing on the history of the local area.
Geraint – A Boys War
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Geraint – Getting Home
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Rosemary – The Sand Bucket
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Rosemary – St. John
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