I don't know whether anyone else is interested in this, but maybe it's worth mentioning.
Lizzie Holborrow nee Perkins (1889 - 1977) lived in the village of Waunarlwydd (5 miles from Swansea) all her life. In the 1960's she gave a local talk called 'My village of Waunarlwydd' recalling (social) life in the village as a child and teenager around 1895-1905. In preparation for her talk, she wrote everything down in longhand.
Lizzie was an intelligent and perceptive woman and obviously had a good memory for detail. In her writing, she paints a colourful picture of Welsh village life around that time. The details and anecdotes are of course centred on Waunarlwydd and the Swansea area. But her description of village life is probably representative of many similar Welsh villages around that time:
- much of the social life tied to 'chapel' events
- typical children's games and pastimes, having to leave school aged 11 to earn money for the family
- families walking many miles for 'social outings' at the beach (or other scenic location)
- men walking even further afield in search of a day's work
Extracts from Lizzie's 'talk' are included in Norman Lewis Thomas's 1969 book 'THE STORY OF SWANSEA'S DISTRICTS AND VILLAGES'. This book is still available 2nd hand.
Lizzies original (long)handwritten notes, preceded by her daughter's more legible transcription, are available at
http://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/11002/1/BurnettArchive.pdf. These were published locally in book form too. I have a PDF of scanned images of the book. A crappy 'compressed version' that flies under Rootchat's maximum file size limit is attached. If anyone's interested in a readable version, let me know.
I have a special interest in Lizzie's story because I was born and brought up in Waunarlwydd too. But I think her story could also be of interest to others. What I like about it is that it's a structured but personal, first-hand description of village life in that period as she herself experienced it. No analysis or historical perspective, just personal recollections. She also writes with warmth and humour which makes it an enjoyable read. About 15 pages.
Mike
