Landladies

From Festipedia, hosted by the FR Heritage Group

In the early days of the FR revival, landladies had a significant role in providing accommodation for FR volunteers. The FR Company kept an up to date list of landladies in Porthmadog. Minffordd, Penrhyndeudraeth, Llnafrothen etc. A letter with stamped addressed envelope despatched to the FR General Manager would soon result in one of these duplicated landladies lists arriving in the post.

To be a bed and breakfast landlady to FR volunteers was not for the faint hearted. Volunteers were liable to arrive home dirty, (according to the weather) wet and very hungry. Most landladies would also provide an evening meal. Mrs Elizabeth Davies of Bron Madoc, wife of engine driver Tom Davies, was one of the well known ones. The landladies list included many addresses in Snowdon Street and Madoc Street in Porthmadog. No. 78 Madoc Street almost became a second home to many FR volunteers between the 1950's through to the 1980's and for a few such as Jim Fraser from the Bristol Area Group into the 1990's. Gladys Owen provided a warm welcome to her 'boys' as well as supporting charities in Portmadoc (she never got the hang of Porthmadog despite being a Welsh speaker). In 1993 she was given the Ffestiniog Railway Society's Vice Presidents' Award by Allan Garraway. Her obituary appeared in a 2008 edition of the FR Magazine and at least 10 of her 'boys' attended her funeral.

Porthmadog landladies and their husbands at Tan y Bwlch on 22/7/1966 when the FR invited them to ride on the train. Source Adrian Gray via iBase Festiniog No. 2802.


The landladies tradition, strong in the 1950s and 60s, gradually fell away as hostels at Penrhyn and Minffordd from the early seventies onwards provided less expensive self-catering accommodation which most volunteers opted for.

What generations of FR volunteers woke up to - the view from the landlady's window (in this case 78 Madoc Street in June 1967). Photo: John Ryan.


FR Bristol Group member John Ryan and Gladys Owen.


References

Post by Tim Maynard on Andrew Stephen Thomas's Facebook page on 24/3/2016.