Transcript: 
My name is Kath Williams and I live in Bagillt. I came to live here with my husband and family 28 years ago. After we'd lived here a couple of years my husband started his own business, a milk round, delivering milk in the old bottles to all the village and the surrounding areas. It was at the time when really milk was a goer. You got everything on the doorstep and only the odd pint in the supermarkets but this was in the late seventies so that's the time milk was really popular. And we started off delivering, well, my husband started off delivering to the village.
He was called Peter Williams, but, from then on until the very present day, he was known as Pete the Milk and we can never get away from that! Anyway we started off delivering to the village in the very early morning, Pete would go off very early delivering, and he always had a band of willing lads, the milk lads, and they would follow him around in the van delivering to doorsteps here and there, up and down, and were good, willing lads and a bit of fun and games was had by all.
Peter would go in the deepest snow of winter and at the time we lived in an outlying farm and even in bad snow he would still get through where nobody else could and go to outlying farms and districts. It was a seven day a week job and he delivered milk every day and most about five out of the seven days we collected the money so we were always up and around, or people even came to the house. I remember one Christmas we were sitting down to the dinner and somebody came and asked for some cream and we thought crikey, there's no peace even on Christmas Day!
During this time Peter used his van to help in the school carnivals. The van was all decorated up and the little fairy queen would sit in there with her elves and pixies. We'd been doing the milk round for about ten years and we were both, well, getting slightly older, so we decided that we would give it up. But we did enjoy our milk round and we'd have lots of chatting - Peter could chat for England and stand and talk to people for hours on end on doorsteps while I collected the milk money!
After we'd finished the milk Peter finished his working life up in the Pant quarry in Halkyn. Unfortunately, just after the Millennium, he contracted cancer and unfortunately at the end of 2002 he died. Before this, I had written a poem and the poem really is an epitaph to Peter. 
Kath poem: A Round Remembered
Bounding down to bungalows,
Leaping up the lane,
Pete the Milk and his lusty lads
Were on the round again.
Windows rattled by clothes props,
Woken out of bed,
Mugs of tea and toast in the van,
'Three pints there!' he said.
'Number four wants one more,
Six eggs for number ten,
Shut the gate at number eight
Or the dog'll be out again!'
In deepest snow up Sandy Lane,
The milk would still get through,
Along the Wern at Christmas time,
Fresh cream, and whisky too!
Good will to men and milk for all,
Hard work in early morn,
But, will the milkman still be there
Beyond Millennium's dawn?
your comments
Matthew Robertson
I remember Pete the Milk. I'm still living up Sandy Lane. Pete always used to do our house because I think the lads were scared of my dog who sometimes slept in the car. As soon as he heard the milk bottle clanging he would be out down the drive. Pete had the dog sussed out. He would have a fistful of bottles and he used to shove them in the dog's face. The dog was really nasty sometimes but often in the morning I'd hear him tell the dog to shut its trap and a few other comments. He would always be in our kitchen talking, and I remember xmas time he had a whiskey or two in our kitchen. I did the round with him a few times, many years ago for a few weeks. Pete had the biggest hands known to man, almost as thick as the bottle tops. He always had a smile. He would smile when he gave me a dead arm when I used to be cheeky to him. I always remember you and him coming up to our bonfire night in Alwen Drive many many years ago. It was a good gathering in them days and what a shame they have all gone now. As a child I used to go up the farm you lived in and we would mess around in the bales diving off them, I think you owned the farm then. My how that little blue van has a thousand stories. I recall one time it rolled off the wall at the bottom of Pen y Glyn. I wish all those days were still here, riding on the back of that van was great not that it would happen now I don't know. Pete always made sure we had a thrilling ride. I guess we were all big kids, including Pete, but it was a good crack. There used to be all sorts on the back of that van: pop, eggs, spuds, but always a welcoming smile. I'm really sorry to hear of your loss love. Anyway you will always be remembered very well in our street and in our house. Some mornings were worse than others for Pete I guess as when the weather was bad the dog would get called many names and often get a telling off. I used to laugh in my bedroom when the dog was snarling. It was really funny when I was a kid but well, kids are kids. It's good to remember the atmosphere of the community and the spirit in them days it was a different place. Life was all a wonder then. Thanks so much for the trip down memory lane and God bless you.
Fri Oct 31 10:12:22 2008
Lee Marvin Williams, Christchurch, NZ
Kath. Sorry to hear about Pete. He was indeed a lovely fella. I remember him delivering to my mam's on the Wern, no. 91. Always a great smile and something positive to say. I was only a kid but remember him well. I was sometimes sent down Stony Road for some extra milk from your big fridge outside. I also remember Pete doing the door at the Bagillt disco at the community centre. He stopped me from getting a beating one night many moons ago. The last time I saw Pete was in the White Horse at Christmas 2000; I was singing Bohemian Rhapsody by myself and Pete thought it was a great laugh as I was that bad. Great fella and a great man who will always be one of Bagillt's great characters.
Wed Oct 10 08:48:20 2007
Dave Lea, Holywell
I remember my bro Andy Lea doin that round with Mark and Pete etc. Hope you're keeping well and might see you soon when we pop down to mum and dad's. PS. Hasn't the village and way of life changed so much since then? Not for the better in most cases. I'll get in touch with Andy and get him to look at this site. Keep well - David, Helen, Jacob.
Mon Mar 5 08:00:33 2007
Ann, Flint
Does anyone know of a man in the early 1900s who used to go on the stage every summer and tell jokes and sing and dance? He was from Bagillt and very talented, so I have been told, but do not know his name!
Thu Feb 15 10:44:54 2007
Mark Woodyatt
Wow! What a blast from the past.. lovely to hear from you Kath, sorry to hear about Pete 'the milk'. I worked for you for a few years and had some of the best memories of my life working with your husband. Going across the dual carriageway to Harry's Pies at 6 a.m. half way through the round whilst Pete and Geoff or Ped loaded up for the second half of the round. Also having Spring time water fights with the water caught in empties overnight. Jumping up and down on the back bar of the pick up after moving all the full crates to the back axel, just to try to reach the far out customers up the back lanes of Bagillt. Hanging onto the back of the van whilst Pete would execute his 90 degree handbrake turns in the snow was huge fun, as was hanging over the front of the windscreen (with feet hooked around the bulkhead) to which Pete would respond with windscreen washers and wipers. Such happy days.. One final memory I will leave with you was Pete's (100% guaranteed never to fail) way to wake up his lads in the morning.. I would be sat opposite him in his kitchen with my head on his table half asleep and he would quietly stir the tea in his pot then take out the spoon and put the back of it onto the back of my hand. Worked a treat EVERYTIME. My love and best wishes to Kath, and I think, if my memory serves me correctly, Alice and Thomas.
Wed Feb 14 17:55:34 2007
Jo Wilson, formerly Woodyatt
Mark Woodyatt, my son and one of your willing busy young helpers, has fond memories of Pete and your family, he is still delivering (but beer, wines and spirits with his own company in the Midlands). A bit of hard work never did him any harm.
Fri Jan 5 16:37:02 2007
Christine and Steve in Stafford
A lovely narration to a touching story, well done
Fri Aug 11 07:48:36 2006
Rob Callow
Absolutely touching and a lovely pice of history and remembrance. Well done - narrator was amazing, clear, concise and witty!
Fri Aug 4 08:11:16 2006
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