I was born Patricia Mary one of three children, in 1957. I was actually born in the "Police Station" as my late father was a serving Police Officer in the Glamorgan Force.
My father was born in 1926 in in the Rhondda valley. He sadly died in 1989, I miss him more than I can say.
My mother was also born in 1926 in Llwynypia in the Rhondda valley, she was one of seven children.
I spent my whole childhood, well up to the age of 20, moving from town to town within the South West of Wales. Each time my father was promoted within the Police Force we 'moved' house. I was 4 years of age when I moved from Pencoed to Gowerton, from there we moved to Pontygwaith near Ferndale, then to Hengoed, then onto Ystrad Mynach, from there we moved to Caerphilly, then back to Hengoed, we then moved to Bridgend, from there we moved to Neath ( that was the best move of all for me as this was only a few miles from Pontardawe) then on to Barry. Here my father decided to retire and we remained.
All these different towns offered wonderful things nice schools, places to play, and best of all lovely homes, thats one thing my mother never failed to provide for us, no matter how many houses we had to move to, she always made them comfortable, and some of them were huge, cold Police Stations, not an easy task by any means.
At least it wasn't a boring childhood, although I never had any roots, I never failed to make friends, but because I moved so frequently I never sadly retained those friends. So after spending 24 years here in Barry this is where my roots are, not exactly the nicest of places, but not the worst of places, this is where my friends and family are, so I am content. Well reasonably.
I have spent a little time here on these pages, talking about 'my' Wales the places where I have lived, I may only have spent short periods in some of them, but I remember them all with fond memories.
But first a little about Wales the country........
It is in Wales, perhaps, that the cultural separation of the British Isles remains strongest, certainly linguistically. For that, we must look to the mid eighth century, when a long ditch was constructed, flanking a high earthen rampart that divided the Celts$of the West from the Saxons to the East and which, even today marks the boundary between those who consider themselves Welsh from those who consider themselves English. The boundary is known as "Offa's Dyke," in memory of Offa, the king of Mercia (the middle kingdom), who ordered it built. It runs from the northeast coast of Wales to the southeast coast.
The Dyke was originally built only as an attempt by Offa to give his territories a well-defined western boundary. According to Welsh historian John Davies, "Offa's Dyke was perhaps the most striking man-made boundary in the whole of Western Europe." To cross the ramparts, for hundreds of years, meant bloody defiance, even though many Welsh-speaking communities remained to the east of the boundary, and English-speaking communities existed to the west, in Wales itself. Today, you can still see much of the remains of this barrier, consisting of a bank of earth, ditched mostly on the western side. Its average height is six feet, with an average overall width of 60 feet across bank and ditch. It travels 149 miles, from Prestatyn, in Flintshire all the way south to Sedbury on the River Severn.
