My dad was born, Robert Charles Harper, on March 17^th 1944 in Llanfyllin, North Wales. He was, and obviously still is, the youngest child and only son of my grandparents, Mair and Charles Harper. His older sisters Ellen Elsie, known as Elsie, and Rosalind Zara were also born in Llanfyllin and they lived here until my dad’s early teens.

Dad, as well as my aunties, has told me many stories about their early years here, including the teacher who forbade my dad from going to the local police man and his wife after school, where he was given bourbon biscuits. Rather than obeying his teacher’s orders, dad used to crawl under the hedge and visit the house anyway,

Auntie Rosie also told me about how she used to run home from school, via the train station so that she could get a lift in the engine as far as the bridge near their house, where the driver would stop and let her off. Nain told her off every single day for doing this before coming home, but auntie Rosie did it anyway.

There were also lots of stories about their summer holidays, which were always spent in Aberdyfi, the village where my Nain was born. Dad and auntie Rosie, along with several local children, used to torment the local ‘beach hut attendant’, John Pitts, and once dug a hole and covered it over with a towel before getting him to chase them over it. Luckily he was not hurt, but with hindsight both admitted that it was a stupid thing to do, however funny they found it at the time!