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Two great ladies of Eglwysfach

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by The Curious Scribbler

This winter has seen the passing of two remarkable women whose long lives were integral to the the life of Glandyfi and Eglwysfach.  Both created wonderful gardens and also wielded influence far beyond their chosen patch.

Penny Condry, who died aged 102, was the widow of the writer and conservationist Bill Condry, whose Country Dairy appeared in the Guardian for more that 40 years until his death in 1998.  It had been the Manchester Guardian when he started writing for them.  In the 1950s he became warden of the RSPB Glandyfi nature reserve, newly created as such thanks to its former owner W.H. Mappin of the jewellery firm Mappin and Webb.  The Condrys moved into the old stone house on the reserve called Ynys Edwin and remained there all their lives.  Not actually an island but one of those rocky outcrops which rise above the low marshland of the Dyfi Estuary.  Here Penny tended a magical private garden.

Bill and Penny Condry at Ynys Edwin in the 1950s. Her favourite photo, reproduced by Jeremy Moore www.talesfromwildwales.co.uk

At the recent memorial in Tabernacle chapel, Machynlleth, many of her friends and relatives ( great nephews and nieces for the most part) reminisced on the welcome which awaited behind the blue front door, the bookish interior, the tea and cake, and solitary beauty of the garden, half a mile down a muddy track, silent but for the birdsong and the rattle of the passing trains.  Long tailed tit nested there, and many of the shrubs and flowers were fragrant and often white.  But Penny was not only a gardener but a formidable botanist and naturalist whose knowledge could be relied upon, and a person who took a very great interest in all the people she met.  Not entirely rooted to her patch, she was a  long-time member of the Cardiganshire Horticultural Society and an expert, second only to John Corfield at identifying plants in other people’s gardens which they visited.

 

Penny Condry( left) and Joy Neal ( right) at the 100th birthday celebrations of the Eglwysfach WI in 2022, which also corresponded with Penny’s hundredth year. (photo: Alison Swanson)

The other lady in the picture is Joy Neal, granddaughter of a distinguished north Cardiganshire family, the Pughs.  Joy’s grandfather Lewis Pugh Evans Pugh built the handsome Victorian gothic mansion of Abermad near Llanilar to house his large family, and then briefly owned Glandyfi Castle before moving to build a new home on land he owned at Cwmerau, and retaining much of the Glandyfi estate.  Joy grew up at Voelas above the road at Glandyfi and remembered a girlhood swimming her pony across the Dyfi at low tide, and droving the family’ cattle across the mountains.  Her cut-glass accent was ensured by her parents’ policy of only ever hiring English nannies.  She  was married young,  to Stewart Neal scion of Daniel Neal’s, the London children’s outfitter which was later taken over by John Lewis Partnership.  After a busy life in England they retired to what had been her mother’s house, Llwyncelyn,  and the garden which she created became the highlight of the National Garden Scheme Open Days in West Wales.   It also starred on Gardener’s World.  Driving north through Glandyfi in summer one passes the entrance drive with a neat garage just inside the gate, and  a long wall holding back  an overflow of huge Gunnera leaves.  Up the winding drive through woodland one reached the house set in an immaculate garden blending seamlessly into the mossy oak scrub and bluebell wood of the adjoining hillside.  Joy became an expert collector of plants, especially acid-loving shrubs, rare ferns, trilliums, even a collection of eucalyptus.  She was always learning.

Last visitors leaving the NGS Open day at Llwyncelyn in May 2005

She was  a gifted organizer.  In the Cardiganshire Horticultural Society in the 1990s she pioneered and led an annual summer excursion visiting gardens of note.  In the old-fashioned amateur tradition which has since been extinguished by regulation, Joy would organize CHS coach visits as far afield as France, Belgium, Italy and Madeira as well as to Scotland, Ireland and many parts of England.  She would research and select the gardens we visited. Thanks to her Pugh grandfather’s ten offspring she seemed to have a well-heeled cousin wherever we went.  One trip saw her lead her motley society for a slap-up free lunch in the chateau of yet another cousin and a leisurely stroll around their estate.

Eglwsfach has Joy Neal to thank for organizing the restoration of the Iron Room, a listed corrugated church hall and for creating the RS Thomas Festival which has run there every second year since 2008.  Need an archbishop to address the company ( and also call the raffle)?  Joy’s charm and confidence would achieve it effortlessly.  In her eighties she became Vice Chairman of the Welsh Historic Gardens Trust and an indefatigable fundraiser for its charitable objectives.

Joy Neal, ( right) at a fundraiser for WHGT, modelling hats at the Conrah Country Hotel

Only in the last few years did poor health slow her down and she died aged 95 just after Christmas.  Her memorial will be held at St Michael’s Eglwsfach next Saturday.  Neither Penny Condry nor Joy Neal had been to university or held any higher qualifications, but they were two of the most capable and knowledgeable people one could hope to meet.

 

Bridal gowns at Eglwysfach

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by The Curious Scribbler,

I called in at St Michael’s Eglwysfach this afternoon to view their latest exhibition – of historic and recent Bridal and Baptismal Gowns.  The exhibits are provided by people who are local to the area, some who were born in the parish, others who migrated from elsewhere bringing their memorabilia with them.   First impressions are of an airy whitewashed church interior with simple dark brown box pews.  Each pew gives access to a wooden mannequin clothed in wedding gown, and a short description of the gown, its wearer and its day of glory.   Curated by Lynda Thomas, the exhibition casts fascinating light on not just the fluctuations of fashion but on the social history of the last century or so.  Accompanying material include wedding photographs and the wearer’s memories.  It is much more personal than just an exhibition of gowns.

 

St Michael’s Eglwsfach adorned with wedding gowns

 

 

The oldest gown on display went up the aisle in 1928 fashionably exposing  Sue Billingsley’s grandmother’s ankles.  Muriel Mary Richards made the dress herself in fine silk velvet with appliqued velvet flowers and embroidery and beads.  She must have been a talented seamstress.  Possibly age has discoloured it.  In the accompanying photograph is looks to be white.

The oldest gown worn in 1928 in West Bridgford, Nottingham

Next in antiquity was a heavy figured satin gown with long fitted sleeves and a broad divided collar.  Alison Swanson’s auntie wore it to her wedding at St Matthew’s Church, Borth in 1957.   A prestigious dress from Roecliff and Chapman of Grosvenor Street, London, couturiers to Princess Grace Kelly.   Eleven years later Alison wore it to her own wedding at the same church.  Flanking this mighty dress are those of her two daughters-in-law who were married this century.  The contemporary take on the formal white dress involves bare arms and shoulders which would have surprised the great aunt.  The other bride wore a pretty informal floral gown.

Alison Swanson married in 1968 wearing her auntie’s vintage 1957 gown. Her two daughters in laws’ dresses on either side.

Had Alison been buying anew, she might instead have considered a statuesque flowing  dress like the one worn by Mary Andrews when she married Keith Fletcher at St Bride’s Church, Cwmdauddwr Rhayader.  From Marshall and Snelgrove’s grand London store, it was of floaty rayon georgette fabric suspended from a  bodice and sleeves of Guipure lace with pearl droplets.  The groom must have had to take care not to tread on her train.

1967 gown with a long train from up-market department store Marshall and Snelgrove

Another mother and daughter trio was provided by Celia Boorman whose wedding to Russell Davies took place in 1972 at St Petroc’s Church, South Brent, in Devon.  Graduate students at Oxford at the time, they were on their way to buy tyres for his Mini when she spotted this flamboyant dress in a shop window in Cowley.

Celia Boorman married in 1972 in this flamboyant dress, her daughters’ dresses are on either side .

Her daughter Imogen married at Gregynog Hall in 2014 wearing another white bare shouldered  dress, while in 2018 daughter Tamsin had two wedding outfits, one for her wedding at St Michael’s Eglwysfach and the other for her Hindu wedding in Bradford. The sari is displayed like a tent behind the mannequin.

Sheila Cuthbert wore a pale blue Laura Ashley ‘Prairie’ dress when she married Mervyn Lloyd in Wombourne Registry Office in 1979.  Sleeves were long and necks were high in the 1970s.  It put me in mind of a similar dress I wore to my wedding in 1973.  My mother-in-law forbade a white wedding because she knew we had already shared a tent!  These were dresses which could come out on other occasions: Sheila wore hers at a Millenium party.

A blue Laura Ashley gown for Sheila Cuthbert and Mervyn Lloyd’s registry office wedding in 1979

Lynda Warren was married twice in the 1980s, both times wearing a hat.  Her second wedding, to Barry Thomas, was in a Registry Office and a chic Mothercare maternity gown.  It was touch and go whether the nuptuals would precede the baby.

Two 1980s gowns worn by Lynda Warren

The collection of baptismal gowns is less varied that the bridal ones, and also older, with several Victorian or Edwardian gowns which have attended numerous  family christenings.  The main fashion trend seems to have been that they have got a little shorter over the decades.  They are displayed in the enclosure around the font alongside  glowering images of RS Thomas.

Baptism Gowns displayed  around the font

Many families have carefully preserved their baptismal gowns, but Joy Neal must be congratulated on also  retaining the box.

Trouseaux and layettes from Steinmann & Co of Piccadilly

The Exhibition is open till the end of the month 10am-4pm with the option of tea and cake for a modest £2.00 a head.  Donations support local charities   Hospice at Home   ( HAHAV) and Riding for the Disabled (RDA).  I reccommend it.