| Description | Track 1 [00:26:48] [Session One: 22 March 2017] Mary Morgan [MM] born in Cwmavon,1929.MM mentions Cwmavon village and surrounding area during The Depression. MM mentions Grandfather, who worked in a tin works. MM talks about coal miners coming back from work. MM mentions going to school in Aberavon, and describes the town and port. [00:02:39] talks about how her childhood influenced her career in media and politics. MM discusses the prejudices against the English in Wales, and mentions anti-Churchill sentiment after the Tonypandy riots. [00:04:50] MM describes her experience studying her Cwmavon elementary school and mentions her teachers the Lewis sisters. MM mentions passing the scholarship exam and proceeding onto the grammar school in Aberavon. Describes going to school at Aberavon, and the strict teaching practices. [0:08:44] MM talks about her parents. MM talks about her father’s death from Tuberculosis, after which MM lived with her grandparents. MM comments on how her mother’s widow pension being insufficient to support MM. [0:09:18] MM discusses her knowledge of Welsh. MM tells an anecdote of neighbour Mrs Pew speaking welsh to her. [10:41] Discusses the various churches in the area. MM remarks on the presence of Methodist and Baptist churches . MM describes the impact of religion in her life, and on the welsh villages. [11:49] MM comments on the depression affected life. MM talks about her mothers job as a dress maker who specialised in mourning clothes. MM talks about her grandfather being part of a workers union. (00:15:09) MM describes her grandfather’s job as a furnace man in the tin works. MM talks about the locomotive engine that ran through the tin works. [00:16:48] MM discusses the environmental effect of an 18th century copper works on Cwmavon. Comments on a squat stack being exploded because of the Luftwaffe. Refers to Swansea being bombed. [00:18:36] MM describes on listening to the declaration of war against Germany on September the third. Mm Discusses the tin works being taken over by the military. MM refers to the rationing and school dinners. [21:22] MM comments on Port Talbot and the population of the area. [00:21:58] MM discusses her motivation to go to Swansea University. MM comments on her school life in sixth form. MM returns to her decision to go to university, commenting on how common it was to go to university. MM talks about her limited options of which University she could go to. MM discusses Welsh men going to Jesus College in Oxford, possibly due to scholarships. [00:26:10] MM discusses trips she had taken to Swansea, and references the bombing of Swansea.
Track 2 [00:44:31] [Session One: 22 March 2017] MM continues to discuss her experiences during World War Two, including being evacuated from school. MM says an anecdote on a teacher who was very enthusiastic about discussing the war. [00:02:26] MM references a number of dances she went to at the YM in Aberavon. [0:03:24] MM describes the centre of Swansea after it was bombed. [00:05:10] MM describes her an interview with Warden Elsie Griffiths at Beck Hall in which to assess her suitability to live there MM describes the living conditions in Beck Hall MM talks about food in Beck Hall. [13:08] MM returns to the topic of rationing. [00:14:25.5] MM talks about the layout of Swansea University during her time studying. [00:17:11] MM talks about the trips she used to take around Swansea. [00:19:21] MM describes going to mumbles on the mumbles train. [00:20:50] MM mentions the working class nature of Swansea University and the number of day pupils. [00:21:56] MM discusses the grant scheme to get to university and how it was dictated by the county you lived. [00:22:51] mentions her future husband having an insufficient grant. (00:23:24) MM talks about the levels autonomy local county boroughs had. [00:23:49] MM discusses the ex-servicemen enrolled at the university mentions Peter Hellings. [00:25:44] MM returns to the topic of day pupils and the working class nature of the university and the amount of welsh speaking pupils. [00:27:01} MM mentions the labour government in power at the time. MM returns to the subject of ex-servicemen enrolled at the university and at the same time describes the student union near Beck Hall. [00:29:13] MM talks about the lack of English and Jewish people attending the university. [00:31:42] MM describes friendships with Kingsley Amis [KA] and David Sims, baby sitting for the former in Norton. MM describes KA in depth. MM talks about parties hosted by KA, describes meeting Philip Larkin. MM talks about KA’s literary influences. Returns to the topic of KA parties and the people she met such as Esmond Cleary, Peter Winch and his wife. [00:40:13] MM Talks about various tutors at the time such as Professor Quinn. MM returns to the topic of KA and the arguments between on difference on opinion and how he became more right-wing. |