'Val'
This website, though only launched in January 2022, has been a long cherished ambition for us, as a group of friends sharing a common passion. We had long wanted to produce a method of sharing local history gems with others, near and far. When the pipedream became a reality, our celebrations were a little subdued because, by that time, we had lost Val. We have always wanted to include a post about Val, as she was such a close friend, interesting character and completely central to our shared vision. With the help of Teresa, her daughter, here is our tribute to ‘Val’.
‘Although extremely knowledgeable about the towns of Fishguard, Goodwick and the surrounding area, Val wasn’t, in fact, born here. She was born in November 1934 at Porth Hospital in the Rhondda. When her father, Caradog Shepherd, contracted pneumoconiosis after working in the Lewis Merthyr Pit (now the Rhondda Heritage Park), Val’s mother, Magwen Shepherd, (nee Griffiths), suggested the family come back to her original home of Llanychaer to benefit her husband’s health. Val was fourteen or fifteen at the time and it must have been a huge upheaval for her. She lived with her mother and father in Mount Pleasant, Llanychaer – at that time, a small holding on the road from Fishguard to Llanychaer. You can still see the red roof of the house as you look over from Trebover Hill.
Earlier in her life, when a little girl, Val had lived with her parents in a variety of public houses in the Rhondda, – ‘The Globe’ in Pontypridd being one of them. This pub was in The Graig, a rough area of Pontypridd, cut off from the town centre by the railway track to Cardiff. The railway track went over a bridge with a tunnel underneath, through which people could walk back and forth. The local police would never, apparently, come through the tunnel under the bridge up to The Graig of an evening, particularly on a Saturday evening!
Both Val’s parents’ jobs changed but subsequently her father broke his back in a pit accident. A stone fell on his back, he had a compound fracture of the spine and spent 3 years in a ‘plaster of Paris’ cast and could therefore not work while his backbone mended. His average wage at that time was about £2-8-0 a week plus yardage which was a sort of productivity bonus. After the accident, all the income they had was compensation which amounted to 30 shillings a week which in today’s money is £1.50. Val’s mother had to walk down to the colliery offices every Friday to collect this pittance. The man who distributed the compensation had been given his ‘office job’ after losing an arm in an accident underground. This man, she recalled, had a most unpleasant attitude and made Magwen feel as if she was receiving charity and was lucky to be given anything at all!
Because of their reduced financial circumstances, Val’s mother decided to swallow her pride and ask her landlady, Mrs Owen, if she would accept 10 shillings a week rent instead of 12/6d. The half-crown would buy them a dinner. Unfortunately, although she owned the whole street of houses, Mrs Owen told Magwen that she couldn’t possibly manage without that half-crown. So, there was nothing for it but for Val’s mother to earn whatever she could wherever she could. She would do a Bank manager’s wife’s washing and ironing for £2/6d; wallpaper and paint a room for another £2/6d, and all the time, taking Val with her. Every Thursday morning, Magwen would get up at 2am and make dozens and dozens of faggots and by 12 noon there would be a queue outside the side door, heaps of people with white pudding basins ready to buy faggots. A portion of faggots and peas was 1½d. All this, Val remembered, her mother cooked on their own gas stove.
During the three years Val’s father was waiting for his back to recover, he studied to become what they called a Deputy or Fireman thus being recognised as an official. He passed his exams and in doing so was allowed to use explosives underground.
Then came the pneumoconiosis and the move to Pembrokeshire. The Griffiths family of Llanychaer were no strangers to the trials and tribulations associated with colliery employment (see the post about ‘Jack y Bance’ – Jac y Bance – Llanychaer). However, Val settled very well into Fishguard Grammar School and excelled in her subjects. She was also very good at sport, particularly hockey. She played for the school in many matches until a shot from someone else’s hockey stick hit her in the middle of her forehead and knocked her out! Her mother soon put an end to her playing any more games, and hockey was no more. Quite understandably.
After school, Val went to work for VJG Johns the solicitors in Fishguard. This was the time when very few women went on to further education and one can’t help thinking that Val would have loved to go to university or college. She was certainly intelligent enough to pass the entrance exam. She enjoyed her time in the solicitors office and was the conveyancing clerk for all the houses in the whole of Penyraber. She met her husband James in the cinema in Fishguard, now Theatr Gwaun. They were married in January 1960 and Teresa came along in June 1961.
Val worked for many years as a manager of a betting shop, – ‘Johnsons’ in Hamilton Street. When that was bought up by ‘Corals’, she worked as a betting clerk, travelling all over the county, even as far as Aberystwyth and Swansea! She retired in 1994 and enjoyed her time travelling with James to the east coast of America in autumn 1994 (she always wanted to visit), New York and a particular favourite,- Cyprus.
Val loved quizzes, (she played on the Fishguard Bay Hotel team), reading, crosswords (a passion) and black and white films. Well, all classic films really. Her knowledge and memory of who was in what, who was married to who, and every piece of trivia about a film star you’d ever want to know was phenomenal. She was like our very own Oracle. She was more Google than Google was when it originated! Her knowledge of her family history was immense and she was the one we all went to when we needed to know information about a person or place. She also prided herself on knowing the dates and names of every King and Queen in history from Edward the Confessor!
Val was diagnosed with cancer in July 2018. She was experiencing pain, but, for almost a year and a half, we had the best times. Going for walks, travelling up and down the Pembrokeshire coast, eating, drinking and getting to know each other even better than we did before. She faced death as she faced life, with courage, determination and the most amazing bravery, often manifesting in humour, selflessness and an insatiable appetite to meet people and spend time with friends, old and new. I’m so proud of my mother the way she faced her disease and the battle she fought. There will never be another like Ma Hennessy.’
Mrs Val Hennessy Fishguard. Peacefully at her home on Sunday 9th February, Val of Vergam Terrace, Fishguard. Beloved wife of the late James, loving mother of Teresa and will be sadly missed by her family and friends. Val will be received into the Church of the Holy Name, Fishguard on Thursday 20th February at 5pm prior to a Funeral Mass on Friday at 10am, followed by cremation at Parc Gwyn, Narberth at 12:15pm. No flowers by request. Donations, if desired, made payable to the ‘Paul Sartori Foundation’
(Western Telegraph – 12th February 2020)
Comments about this page
What a wonderful tribute to Val. Her history was troubled but she pulled through. I met Val and James many times. Though quite different people, they gelled and were beautiful people. I remember on visits to Vergam doing crosswords with Val. She was certainly competitive. Teresa is a credit to them.
Cathy from Cork City
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