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Hi
I am trying to find old photos of Cribb's Row, Neath, Rectory Road and Union Road too.

The first addresses relate to my grandmother's family who lived in Neath from about 1898 to some point before 1907/8. Grandmother was born in Pembrokeshire but her brother and sister were both born in Neath.

I also have a postcard addressed to Mr Reggie Johns at 59? Union Road, Neath - it is from their nephew Reggie but I don't know who they are and it was never sent and has no date. It is a mystery and was amongst my late father's possessions but not found until after he died. The postcard is of 6 young men in their Rugby outfits but no name of a club is visible. I tried to attach copies of the front and back but without success.

Any help or advice will be very gratefully received. I don't know the are as I live in Sussex, where I grew up and only have some slight knowledge of the St Athan area and a little bit of Cardiff - apart from a holiday in Pembrokeshire way back in the late 70s.

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Helen Shipley nee CLIFFORD

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My ex Husband's Great Uncle was very special to him. Known as Uncle Jim (another story) Sidney Richard Ormond Watts was quite a character. He enlisted in the Royal Flying Corps in WWI but the powers that be felt he would be more use elsewhere, as he was a skilled motor engineer, So, he was transferred into the newly formed Tank Corps. He served in that unit until he was badly burned in his tank and sustained quite serious injuries, which needed plastic surgery and other treatments, some of which met with more success than others.

I've managed to find his service records but many of the pages are too damaged to make much sense of them. I'm trying to put together a picture of his service for my mother-in-law, who is getting on in years now, as well as for my ex husband. They were both very close to Uncle Jim and he was very much a hero and role model to my ex husband.

If anyone can suggest a way of finding out more about his service and how to go about that, I will be very grateful. I can post copies of the more legible records I have, if that would help. Some of it refers to more personal matters, as his wife died while he was in service.

He was in the 5th Battalion Tank Corps as a Tank Driver. His Regimental No was 307661. He seems to have been injured in the summer of 1918, having arrived in France in April that year, I think. After August he seems to have been hospitalized, possibly more than once, subsequently and was receiving treatment well into 1919. I was told that he had a number of operations.

Thank you in advance for any help and guidance offered.

Helen

I'm being extra cheeky today and asking for another restore, if possible.

This photo is my paternal Great Grandmother, Mary Ann EVANS nee MATHIAS, in costume and posing with her Granddaughter Eileen FREECE.

Mary Ann and her husband, George EVANS, were both from Pembrokeshire but gradually moved to the Cardiff area, where George became the farm Bailiff of a farm in Llaneshen. They had three children; Alice Mary (my Grandmother), Ethel and William John/Jack, known as Billy. Billy was killed in WWI. My grandmother married David CLIFFORD, an ex soldier of the South Wales Borderers and they had 5 sons. David was recalled to the SWB in 1914, then transferred to the Northumberland Fusiliers during his service in Mesopotamia, we think he saw service in Gallipoli too. David was gassed and although he initially survived he died, from the damage to his lungs, in July 1920. Grandmother had another son in her second relationship and the family moved to Southampton.

Ethel met Frank Freece, an American soldier, during WWI and they married and had one daughter, the Eileen in the photo. They all went to America to live in Frank's hometown in Ohio. Ethel and Eileen may have visited Wales more than once but I only have the information for the one in 1930, when the photo was taken.

I love this photo.

Any help, will, as always, be greatly appreciated.

Helen

This is my favourite photo of my Great Uncle William (Billy) J EVANS. Taken during his servie in WWI. Sadly he was killed in August 1917, aged 21.

If anyone can improve this I will be very grateful

Helen