Tom here describes the time when, aged five or six, he heard that some child visitors were coming to stay, because the "Jermans" were bombing and burning their homes in Liverpool. There was warning after warning that he was to behave himself.
The big day dawned, and they waited until the end of the afternoon before they heard the shouting and screeching from the cart track that led to their home (Bryniog Ucha in those days). Then a canvas roofed car came into sight, overflowing with children.
The roof of the car was folded out of sight and the Nant y Rhiw schoomaster was at the wheel, namely Arthur H. Edwards. After a little discussion, two girls were left with the family, and on he went, leaving two boys in Bryniog Plas (Billy and Bobby) with the family of Evan Edwards, two others in Fron Wen (Ronnie and Archie) with William Evans and his wife, the father and mother of Hugh Evans, Garth Hebog.
Tom doesn't remember where the others were left. The stay of the two girls was a short one.
The boys stayed, and Tom and they became pretty good friends, and, as they were neighbours, they went to Nant-y-Rhiw school together, using the footpaths every one used in those days to go to school.
Tom lost touch with them in time, as he was moved to the Llanrwst "Central" School. They went back to Liverpool when the day of the end of the war dawned.
Years later he heard that Ronnie and Archie were visiting Fron Wen and walking the old paths talking and singing in Welsh with their companions. He missed the chance to meet them, as he moved from the area for a while.
Archie's wish was to have his ashes scattered on one of the fields of Fron Wen, and that is what happend when he died a few years ago, and the latest news of Ronnie is that he has been confined to a wheelchair.
In the middle of last July a middle aged man and woman came to Tom's door asking for Fron Wen. The woman was Archie's daughter, and she and her husband wanted to see the place where her father's ashes were scattered. As there is only a path to Fron Wen by now, Tom gave them directions, saying he used to go to school with her father, and that the path to the school goes through the field where her father's remains lie. She began to cry, the tears pouring down.
Tom says he would like to think that her father's wishes were a gesture of thanksgiving for receiving sanctuary and kindness from the old Fren Wen family in days the like of which we hope nobody will ever see again.
Above: Archie and Ronnie with Ellen Ann Evans on the way from Fronwen to Bryn Gwynt, with Jewel pulling the cart.
Above: Rowena, Lys Fronwen, Archie and Ronnie in Llandudno, taken by a street photographer - there were quite a few of them in those days.
This will have been after the war, probably about 1948/9
Archie and Ronnie loved Fronwen and used to come and stay during the holidays.
Above: Rowena, Lys Fronwen, Archie, Ronnie on Conway Bridge. About 1948/9
I (Rowena) used to come and stay there with my grandmother, Ellen Ann Evans, and was fascinated with these very important visitors who were also there quite often. They were part of the family, part of the history, part of the scenery, the most natural thing in the world.
Above: Meirion Roberts Bod Wilym, Stanley Roberts Capel Garmon, EL in the rear and Archie, Gilbert Roberts Bod Wilym and Ronnie in front.
Annie Ceridwen told me that Robert and Stanley, Ivor Roberts' sons from Capel Garmon, were used to coming and staying at Fronwen for five weeks every summer. Then suddenly Archie and Ronnie were there every summer as well!
Above: Archie, Stanley Owen, Ronnie Thomson
She also said that Cae'r Ceiliog (Catherine and William Andrew) picked Lily, Archie's sister. She still comes to visit - she still thinks of Cae'r Ceiliog as her home. She used to spend her summer break there, and thinks of Goronwy as her big brother. Her husband took part in the race up Snowdon for 25 years. Now he was 70+, Annie said, his wife was putting her foot down!
The names of the sisters at Bryniog Ucha were May and Doris. Archie's mother had to come and get May and Doris because they didn't settle; the home was Welsh speaking and they didn't know the language. Annie thought they probably spent the rest of the war at home in Liverpool.
One time when I came to visit, my mother and I walked up the rocky path from Garth Hebog to Fronwen, and waved down the hill to Archie, who we could see working in the field at Ty Mawr, and he waved back. He loved the place so much, he had got a job with the farmer at Ty Mawr, but, as he told us in the mid nineties, the pay was so low that he simply could not continue and very reluctantly went to work in England, though his heart was always in farming and he longed for it for the rest of his life.
Another time while I was staying there, a grown up Ronnie came for a visit, dressed in a soldier's uniform. He had been called up for service in the army. He and I stood by the dog's kennel talking, and he pulled out a cigarette and lit it, while I stared wide eyed at this extraordinary behaviour.
Many years later, when I was living in Pentrefoelas, I received a phone call from Auntie Annie (Annie Ceridwen Owen) in Penrhyn Bay saying that Archie and Ronnie had called at our house, Bron Cadnant, but found nobody home.
Above: Archie and Annie in Penrhyn Bay
I got to her house as soon as I could, and there were Archie and Ronnie. Archie was ill with cancer, and he and Ronnie were doing some sentimental touring.
Archie, with Ronnie behind in red.
I recorded much of the conversation on a video camera, and when I find the right tape I will transcribe their tales of being thrown in at the deep end of farming life.
Ronnie told of walking through the woods from Fronwen to chapel in Nant y Rhiw with Lys coaching him on the scripture he had to learn. Ronnie would say it, and Lys would correct him: "Duw cariad YW!"
Whenever possible, the Thomson boys would take a trip to the area and walk around the places they loved without calling on anyone.
Ronnie looking up at Annie Ceridwen
During the conversation, Archie showed me a photo (below), and as I had never seen it he lent it to me to have copied. Not very long after that we left Wales in a hurry because my mother was ill and moved to the other side of the world. Life's complications prevented me getting the photo to be copied very soon, but Auntie Annie told me on the phone one day that Archie had visited again and was missing the photo, as he used to look at it every night to remember the times in Fronwen. I immedately went down to the photographers and had that and a number of old Fronwen photos copied for him. Sadly I didn't have a scanner or Photoshop in those days, so I couldn't repair the damage to a very well-worn photo! I hope the extra photos comforted him somewhat.
Above: Ronnie, Rowena, Archie at Fronwen about 1951.
In time Auntie Annie told me the sad news that Archie had passed away. His wife was badly afflicted with arthritis and used sticks to walk, but she arrived in Garth Hebog one day with Archie's ashes and got herself up to Cae Dwalad to scatter them.
It was very touching to hear what an important part of Archie and Ronnie's lives Fronwen had been, and a significant honour that he loved the place so much he wanted to stay there for ever.
Above: This was our last view of Archie as he and Ronnie drove away in the red car visible at the end of the road.