Ruth's Memories of her Childhood
Annette , my mother, with David and Ruth in Wales c.1920 Ros y Gilwen / Morgenau – First World War {1} It was a cold bright spring day when the children arrived with nanny –Alice Saunders – at Ros y Gilwen. Rooks were cawing & wood pigeons cooing. Sheep were in the big field under the ha-ha & a few early lambs bleated plaintively. Griffith had ridden all the way from Shrewsbury sitting up * beside the chauffeur in front. He was very thin with round blue eyes & fiery red hair. As soon as the car drew up by the shallow wide slate steps he was out running about on spindly legs – he was a child who was into everything. His little sister Ruth, Baby as she was called, the youngest of the family was a sad sight. She was “delicate” so was bundled up into sheepskin coat, fleece outwards, on which she had been sick several times. Her red hair was hanging in bedraggled rats tails & her little face was pinched with misery. William & Margaret the butler & house parlour maid ...