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It is a cold frosty sparkle of a night here and the gritter has passed by andmy mind has turned tothe Victorian 'tramp', or vagrant.

Haverfordwest had about eightlime kilns at least during the C19th. On clear nights, sparks from the kilns blistered the skies, making them beacons forhomeless tramps. Many could be found huddled around a kiln and the more daring often slept on top of a kiln.

In 'Chiaroscuro' Augustus John recalls that tramps had been known to fall in and become asphyxiated by the fumes. By the morning, all that remained was a pile of ashes.

Vagrancy was a social problem. In Quay Street, Mrs Powers kept a lodging house where tramps could spend the night.The alternative was the workhouse, whichallowed a night's lodging and breakfast in return for chopping wood or breaking stones.

These tasks weremeant as a discouragement. Treffgarne stone was usually supplied to the Workhouse but when the Haverfordwest Board of Guardians met in 1913, the Clerk reported that the vagrants had complained this stone was very difficult to split and too hard for them.

The 'Pembroke County Guardian' was sympathetic, writingthat 'the poor vagrants said that the (Workhouse) Guardians did it deliberately'.

It was decided that the Guardians should approach firms in Bolton Hill and Porthgain with a view to supplying softer stones in future.

A popular song of the time was:

'Mr Rees of Cartlett Mill

Burnt himself upon the kiln,

Gave the girls a penny a piece

To rub him over with candle grease.

Did you ever see, did you ever see,

Did you ever see such a funny thing before?'

On February 13, 1907, the Haverfordwest local paper reported that a meeting of the Women'sSocial and Political Union had taken place in London.The aims of the union were to extend the Parliamentary franchise and make it equal for men and women, regardless ofmarital status.

The following year, in 1908,the suffragette movement decided to campaignin Haverfordwest.

Mrs Massy and Miss Elsie Gye were the first to arrive, staying at the Mariners' Hotel.They wanted to publicise their campaign and gainlocal support.

News of the arrival spread like wild fire and there was great excitement.

On the evening of July 1st, a large crowd gathered in Castle Square to hear Miss Gye speak.

She introduced herself by saying she was one of the most militant members of the suffrage movement and was proud of having been to Holloway for her beliefs.

Aweek later, Emmeline Pankhurst, the most famous of the suffragettes, arrived. On the Saturday afternoon she made an eloquent speech from the balcony of the Mariners' Hotel.

When asked if she was in favour of votes for married women she replied that she wanted the vote for women on the same conditions that men had it. If Asquith's government pledged it's support for women's suffrage on the same terms as men had it,she would cease her campaign.

The demands of the suffragettes were moderate, merely asking for equalityregarding voting rights.Well received in Haverfordwest, these women were mocked by many and fought a bitter fight against enormous prejudice from men and their own sex.

A memorial bench to Helen Thomas, a peace campaigner killed while taking part in the Greenham Common Womens Peace Protest, has been unveiled in the centre of Newcastle Emlyn by the town clock. Helen was born and went to school in Newcastle Emlyn and her family still have a business there. Aged only 22, Helen died after being struck by a police vehicle in 1989. Folk singer Dafydd Iwan wrote a song about Helen, Cn i Helen and took part in the ceremony honouring Helen where Mayor Hazel Evans said the town council honoured her memory and her commitment to peace and her fight against nuclear weapons.

The Occupy movement has filled our media who struggle to understand the nature of protest which is not accompanied by a list of demands. Thirty years ago Wales kicked off another protest which lasted for 19 years. The Greenham Common Peace Camp, where Helen Thomas sadly lost her life, was started in September 1981 by a Welsh group, Women for Life on Earth, who travelled to RAF Greenham Common in Berkshire to protest against the decision of the British government to allow Cruise missiles (nuclear weapons) to be sited there. The Women for Life on Earth group walked 120 miles from Cardiff to Greenham Common and on reaching their destination they chained themselves to the perimeter fence. They were joined by women from across the UK and during the height of the protests, thousands of women blocked the entrances to the base, cut through perimeter fences and formed human chains around the site.

There were some huge demonstrations during the tenure of the Peace Camp. In December 1982, 30,000 women joined hands around the base at the Embrace the Base event. On 1 April 1983, some 70,000 protesters formed a 14 mile human chain from Greenham to Aldermaston and the ordnance factory at Burghfield. Another encircling of the base occurred in Dec 1983, with 50,000 women attending. Sections of the fence were cut and there were hundreds of arrests.

The women were ultimately successful as the Cruise missiles were removed in March 1991. The airbase was closed in 1993 but the peace camp remained until 2000. The attention they received prompted the creation of other peace camps at more than a dozen sites in Britain and elsewhere in Europe so the Occupy movement is not breaking new ground. There are two clear lessons for Occupy from the Greenham Peace Camp.

• You have to be prepared to be there for the long haul
• Despite all the Police, the Media, the Courts and Local Authorities throw at you peaceful protest is the way to succeed

Occupy is beginning to succeed. It has caused the St Pauls authorities to (finally) take a principled stand and Ed Milliband to (finally) come off the fence. Thoughtful people are starting to think the issues through and Im optimistic that the most powerful force for change, public opinion, will gradually start to bring about the changes our society needs.

Near the bottom of Barn Street, Haverfordwest, stands an elegant group of houses with iron balustrades, known as 'Spring Gardens'.

In the middle of the nineteenth centurySir William Davies, a solicitor,lived in one of these houses.

Born into a humble family in Prendergast, Haverfordwest, William's father died while he was still young, leaving him andhis motherin extreme poverty.

William was educated in Parson Brown's School in Haverfordwest, leaving when he was fourteen to become articled to his uncle, William Rees, a local solicitor.

When William Davies qualified as a solicitor hemoved to Bristol, where a wealthy relative had left him a legacy.

In 1849, he married his cousin, Miss Martha Morganand they settled in Haverfordwest.They had seven children but, in 1872, Mrs Davies died. Two years later, when he was fifty three, William marriedher sister.

The laws of this country forbade a brother-in-law and sister-in-law from marrying, sothe wedding took placeabroad.

Eventually,a son, Hillard, was born. William Davies'slaw firm prospered and he was said to draw an annual salary of 4,000 a year. Thirty legal clerks were employed by the business and its activities expanded to money-lending and banking.

Master Mariners, farmers, ministers of religion, even servant girls deposited money with the 'Lawyer Banker' of Spring gardens, who was reputed to be fabulously wealthy. Apart from his Barn Street home he owned property in Scoveston and Broad Haven,wielding considerableinfluence and power in the area.

Twice William Davies was Mayor of Haverfordwest, three times he defeated Sir Charles Phillips of Picton Castle, becoming Liberal Member of Parliament for Pembrokeshire, a tremendous victory at a time when birth and privilege held sway.

A Deputy Lieutenant of the county and a trustee of the Sir John Perrot Charity, William Davies never forgot the plight of the poor, giving generously from his own coffers to the poor of the town each New Year's Day.

In 1893, William Davies, the son of a poor thatcher, was knighted. Endearingly he erected a cottage on the site of his childhood home.

Disaster appeared in 1895, in the form of bankruptcy, just at the moment when Sir William should have been enjoying his achievements. Within a few months he was dead, a broken man, though the cause of death was given as an abscess on the kidneys.

Sir Williamwas buried in Machpelah Cemetery, Haverfordwest.

The local paper voiced the sentiments of many when it saidSir Williamhad been an honourable man: the greatest charge that could be laid against him was misfortune.

Time mellowed the feelings of those who had lost their moneyand Sir William was remembered in the town as a good man.

'Mrs Morgan' was the author of 'A Tour to Milford Haven'.The wife of the Vicar of Ely, she visited Haverfordwest during the C19th.

Her book casts light on the state of the roads at this time. Although the roads in Haverfordwest are deemed good, not many townspeople kept carriages, because the roads leading out of town were 'deplorable'.

Mrs Morgan singles out the turnpike road from Haverfordwest to Honeyborough as being particularly bad.

Ladies often road side-saddle, but Mrs Morgan decides not to. Shefears her mount might stumbleon the many loose stones,throwing her, but she concedes the horses are used to the hazard for: 'It is surprising how the horses lift up their feet over them'.

On her journey to Honeyborough, south of Haverfordwest, Mrs Morgan meets drovers taking large numbers of bullocks to market in England. It couldnot have been apleasant experience, because she writes: 'The journey was attended with many alarms to me'.

Mrs Morgan sympathiseswith thejudges who cameto Pembrokeshire for the Assizes and had to put up with the discomforts of travelling on poor roads.

Local people are not deterred from travelling, however.

In 1851, theomnibus for Carmarthen left Salutation Square on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at eight o'clock in the morning. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdys it departed from 'The Old Swan' at half past elevenin the morning.

Each day an omnibus left 'The King's Arms', bound for Milford Haven.On Tuesday and Saturdays passengers for St. David's gathered at 'The Mariners Hotel' to board the four o'clock omnibus.

Three carriers left for Cardigan on a Thursday, driven by John Thomas, James Williams and Henry Hanson. Evidently, Haverfordwest was not an isolated town.

I've been researching my ancestry for several years and, fortunately, have relatives who have archives of a number of people on my mother's side of the family.

The reason I first started my ancestry tree was that I knew nothing about my paternal grandfather but, inevitably, I've done a great deal of research on my maternal ancestors and relatives too. Amongst my maternal associations are Lewis Thomas and Sir Thomas Herbert Parry-Williams, though I should stress that neither of them is a blood relation as they both married into the family, as it were.

While Parry-Williams will no doubt be familiar to you, Lewis Thomas may be less so. He married my first cousin (twice removed), Mary Emiah Jones; she was born in Llanon, Carmarthenshire, and became a teacher in Pontyberem. Lewis Thomas was, according to the BBC website where I got this information, a pioneer of the art of Cerdd Dant (singing to harp accompaniment) in the first half of the 20th century. He was born in Pontyberem, the eldest of a collier's nine sons. He went down the mines himself until he became a shoemaker. He married and opened a shop in Pontyberem where he had shoemaking apprentices. He won prizes at three National Eisteddfodau: Caerphilly (1950), Aberystwyth (1952) and Ystradgynlais (1954). He was also made a member of the Gorsedd at the Llanelli National Eisteddfod in 1930.

Sir Thomas Herbert Parry-Williams, the illustrious poet, married my second cousin (once removed), Emiah Jane Thomas (plenty of Emiahs in the family, you'll notice!) who became known as Lady Amy. As you will know, he too was very successful at National Eisteddfodau, winning both chair and crown on two separate occasions.

What impresses me about Wales is that those who have entered (and won) competitions in local and national Eisteddfodau are not necessarily highly-educated or even the offspring of parents who are highly educated (Parry-Williams was, of course). It says much that the son (or daughter) of a collier or, for that matter, a farmer, shoemaker or anyone, can achieve so much in the arts of music, poetry and prose. It's very egalitarian and all the more to be applauded for that reason.

A project that may interest a number of our readers and members:-

After Coal: Welsh and Appalachian Mining Communities

" I am working to raise $5000 to support After Coal: Welsh and Appalachian Mining Communities. This documentary film that explores how two mining cultures face the challenge of their dependence on fossil fuels. Currently the Appalachian coalfields are struggling with chronic unemployment and environmental degradation, while Wales has experimented with strategies to rebuild their communities after the mines closed. As the Appalachian coalfields enter their last generation of mining, this documentary project will help map directions to a sustainable future after coal ." .... more .

"As y'all may recall, this summer I took a class on Postindustrial Wales as my first graduate course at Appalachian State. For our final assignment, we were instructed by Billy Schumann to propose three sites for a proposed Appalachia/Wales documentary. I'd love to share my proposal with y'all (it is quite humorously cinematic), but it was handwritten when I submitted it this summer. I've become quite interested in Wales and am trying to find ways to incorporate what I've seen into my thesis.".... more .

Forthcoming events at The Ashburnham Golf Club in Pembrey include the following
Race Night on Friday, November 11, first race at 7.30pm. Tickets (3) available at the bar. Proceeds to the Ladies Centenary Fund.
The series of Themed dining evenings continues, following the success of the Mediterranean and Asian/Oriental evenings. On Friday November 18, British Isles Menu; Friday December 9, French menu.

Haverfordwest's High Street was once grand and elegant, boasting a variety of architectural styles. Near the top of the street stood tall Georgian houses, built forwealthy merchantsof the town during the C18th.

Traditionally, the country gentry left their mansions and took up residence in their town houses during the winter months,continuing to do this into the nineteenth century. Families like the Pictons, the Laugharnes and the Lort-Phillips' added to the gaiety of the social scene.

Parties were given and balls attended, sometimes in the Assembly Rooms near Saint Mary's Church at the top of the town. Haverfordwestrivalled Bath for entertainment.

Ladies prepared for thefestivities bychanging into evening gowns inbedroomswarmed byfires their maids had lit. Dressedelaborately inshimmering dressesthey rouged their cheeksandfixed diamond clips to sparkle in their hair. Beaded bags, feather fans and boascompleted their ensembles.

The sedan chair, or even a carriage was the usual form of transport, to convey the ladies over the steep cobbled streets.

At these soirees, old social contacts were renewed, friendships ignitedand mothers with eligible daughters hopedgood matches wouldbe made.

On August 12, 1780, Jones Llwyd, a Carmarthenshire barrister, sent a letter tohis 'Ever Dear Alicia' from Haverfordwest. Things were very quiet inCourt and he was scarce making enough money to powderhis wig. A bright spot occurred when he attended a Ball given by Sir Cornwallis Maude where he met Mr and Mrs John Vaughan and Miss Price of Cilgwyn.

In 'A Tour of Milford Haven', Mrs Morgan, wife of the Vicarof Ely, says she attended some dances in Haverfordwest andwas enchanted by the gentlemen whose acquaintance she made, remarking that 'they have a softness of manner that is perfectly pleasing'.

So the drabness of the winter months wereeased by the social life of the town.