My great grandfather came from Somerset as did many miners at that time to work in the mine in Crumlin. I wasn't born when he was alive but my mother fondly remembers him as 'Daddy Ash'.

My great grandmother died of TB, leaving my grandmother and five other small children who were all shipped off to a TB hospital in Cardiff. I don't know for how long exactly but I know it was for months. They all survived.

In those days if the mother died in the family the children were often split up among relatives and friends. My grandmother is dead now but I remember her talking about her father with so much love, it was heart warming. Her father was advised to split up the children but he refused to do it and he kept the children all together in very difficult circumstances. They were all very close until they died. My great grandfather worked six days a week down the mine and on a Sunday - his only day off - he and his children went to chapel twice, once in the morning and evening.

He never touched a drop of alcohol in his life. In fact, the only time I ever saw my grandmother drink was a glass of champagne at her 60th wedding anniversary. They were tee total, God fearing and extremely hard working.

My grandmother was sent into service in London at 14, as were many young girls from mining villages at that time. She sent almost all her money back home to feed the family. Children were only educated in school up to the age of 13 but they were all encouraged to read and educate themselves.

Even though she was a gentle person my grandmother was extremely vocal about the welfare state and supporting those less well off because of the poverty she had experienced growing up in a mining family.