Abergarwed Twins Reach 75
Our wonderful RDN photographer Mike Davies and his twin brother Pat are 75 years old this week.
Happy Birthday to both of you!
Here is Mike’s account of that day, 75 years ago, (as told to him later of course! ) But it was certainly a day to remember.
We were born in the front room of our house in the village of Abergarwed on April 5th, 1944. Our mum Maud asked the midwife a week before we were born, “am I having twins, as my father was a twin?” “Certainly not”, replied the midwife,” there is just the one heart beat”. So on the day itself, after I was born, no one was expecting another and our grandfather Joe was putting on his overalls to go to work, when the midwife said “you can take those off , there’s another one coming”. Ten minutes later my brother Pat appeared -a shock for Joe, the midwife, our mother and most of all for my dad Vernon, who was in Karachi serving in the RAF!
A single pram had been purchased in Cardiff a few weeks before we arrived. The single would have been far too small for twins, so a large twin pram was ordered, but before the pram shop went ahead, they wanted to see the twins’ birth certificates to verify that there were indeed twins before the pram was ordered. There was a steel shortage due to the war.
The pram was sent by rail and our grandmother and mother walked to Resolven station waiting for the new pram, which arrived at Resolven station by 9pm. They pushed the pram home to Abergarwed, but the following morning there was a lot of talk in the village. “What do you think that young girl from Abergarwed has just given birth to twins and was walking them in the evening air-they will catch their death” Needless to say, there was no twins in the pram as our grandad looked after us safe and sound!
We started attending Resolven school in 1947
Later on,we both played in the Glamorgan Youth Orchestra, . Then, for many years, we played in our father Vernon’s dance band and it was there we met our wives Both of us worked in the retail sector.
Pat and I ring each other every evening, I will go to the phone and Pat is on and the same with Pat. I think we have done remarkably well to survive to this special date. Let’s pray we can both go on for many years to come
The Abergarwed twins
