Fred Gammon and his Holidays as an Orphan 

Under Development 

Fred Gammon
and his Holidays as an Orphan

As told to Jill Forwood, in 'The Way We Were,'  South Wales Evening Post 

MOST of us have fond memories of August school holidays, but it is an especially poignant time for Swansea exile Fred Gammon. Fred, 79, and a member of the well-known Mumbles sea-faring family, was one of the estimated 2,000 local children orphaned when their fathers were killed during the First World War.

"Parties of 40 boys at a time were taken to the summer homes at Llangennith for a holiday every year,' Fred told me from his home near Dover.

"For the first two years we went by taxi. After that it was by bus. And we had a wonderful time collecting seagulls' eggs and riding wild ponies!

"I think we must figure quite largely in the coastguards' logbook because I remember five of us going to Rhossili beach and putting to sea in an old lifeboat that been lying on the beach for years.

"We'd only gone a few yards when the boat sank under us! We scrambled out, dried off on the way back and went into lunch. Next minute, the telephone rang and Mrs Thomas, the matron, came out in a real temper, demanding to know which boys had just come back from the beach.

"Apparently the coastguards were very worried about this boat drifting out into the shipping lanes and causing an accident.

"We had to put up out hands and con-fess, although the boat was no threat. 'Right,' said Mrs Thomas. You five pack and you can catch the first Vanguard bus home in the morning!' Needless to say, it didn't happen. We were always being threatened, but Mrs Thomas had a heart of gold. But with 40 boys to look after, she had to appear to be strict."

Certain episodes stand out clearly in Fred's memory. One was a visit by Major Bernard Freyburg, the legendary New Zealander hero. Wounded eight times in the first war and the first ashore at Galipoli, he had won the Victoria Cross. And although he was in a wheelchair and attended by a nurse when he came to Gower, he took an active part in the second war, commanding a New Zealand expeditionary force on Crete after the fall of Greece.

"He was obviously a very important man," said Fred. "He was accompanied by some of the councillors and British Legion officials from Swansea.

"Some of the boys sang and some recited poetry for him. I sang The Miner's Song. Afterwards we lined up and marched past the major. He shook hands with each boy and gave him a shilling."

Another vivid memory is of the customary stop on the way home.

"Before we left on Monday morning, matron always gave us permission to pick the wild flowers, such as daisies, honey-suckle and roses," he said. "We always stopped at the Cenotaph and put our flow-ers there in our fathers' memories. I always put mine where my father's name was, on the side facing Swansea."

Fred's father, Thomas Samuel Gammon, was killed on July 10, 1916, at Mametz Wood. Thomas Samuel's widow, Gladys,

was left to bring up three boys, Thomas Samuel, Richard and Fred.

"My grandfather, who was also Thomas Samuel Gammon, had a fishing boat and my brothers Tom and Dick used to scrub oysters to help out. And my mother used to make oyster teas for holidaymakers, such as miners from the valleys," said Fred.

Although money was tight, the family enjoyed genteel pursuits. Once a week they would visit the Crockers of Walter Road-a family which Fred has been trying to locate for the past 12 years for an evening of music on piano, violin, viola and cello. "They were lovely people," said Fred. "They had two daughters who might still be around. If so, I would dearly like to hear from them."

Fred's own taste was for the mouth organ. "I remember buying them in Snell's in the old Arcade," he said. "My first one cost 6d."

With his mouth organ in his pocket, he often cut through Cwmdonkin Park when the family moved from George Bank, Mumbles, to Graiglwyd Road, Townhill. And in the park he frequently passed the time of day with a pensive young man who was always either reading or writing. "He was Dylan Thomas," said Fred.

The family moved to England when the two elder boys grew up. Tragically, Tom was killed at the age of 23, knocked off his bike by a bus.

Fred remembers his last visit to Swansea in 1946. "Mother and I got on the Mumbles Train and met my uncle Billy going home from Swansea docks," he said.

Uncle Billy was the William Gammon of lifeboat fame. It was the last time Fred ever

saw him. The following year, William and seven other heroes from Mumbles lost their lives when the Edward, Prince of Wales, capsized in a vain attempt to save the crew of the stricken Samtampa off Sker Point. Swansea's next lifeboat was named after William Gammon and is now a floating exhibit at the city's Maritime Museum.

It's nearly half a century since Fred saw Swansea, but renewing contact with a few local people has given him so much plea-sure that he plans a return journey to see the places that he cherishes in his memory.

Many people contacted me after this fea-ture appeared in August, 1994. All of them had spent memorable holidays as children in the Summer Homes. And there was the delightful discovery that the place still existed, as Burrows Hall Nursing Home.

At the invitation of the owner, Mrs Eve Pettifor, a small party of former holiday-makers enjoyed a return visit for the reunion they thought could never happen. Margaret John, Doreen Farley, Flo Evans, Lilla Carthew and May McArthur were thrilled to see that basically, Burrows Hall was still the Summer Homes of their fond memories. While the former dormitories had been replaced by bed-sitting rooms, the dining room retained most of its original features, with the improvement of a large picture window looking out over the sand dunes and the splendour of Worm's Head.

The big question for them, and for another Summer Homes boy, Lieutenant Colonel Tom Pryor, president of the Swansea City branch of the Royal British Legion, was who paid for their holidays?

That has still to be answered, but it seems there was a local trust which died out with the trustees.

Mrs Pettifor and her family came across the Summer Homes when the place was falling into decay. She bought it from the former Gower Rural District Council which had assumed squatters' rights after failing to trace an owner. And finally, in July 1995, Fred Gammon's dream came true. Accompanied by his daughter, Mrs June Robertson, he came back to Swansea for a brief visit.

Thanks to research by Oystermouth Historical Association and the South West Wales branch of the Western Front Association, Fred's knowledge of his

father's war was now as complete as it could be. But Fred still had a sadly ironical postscript to the story. His father had been a member of the Mumbles lifeboat crew. At a time when nobody knew the bloodbath that lay ahead, his father had thought dry land a safer bet than the sea. He was the only member of the crew to be killed. The rest, who had joined the navy, came home safely.

Fred's nostalgic visit to the Summer Homes-Burrows Hall nursing home ended with an emotional echo of his tribute all those years before. He picked another posy of wild flowers and placed them near his father's name on Swansea Cenotaph.

The Great War left some 2000 Swansea children without fathers. Groups of such children were given an unforgettable two-week holiday, at The Children’s Summer Home at Llangennith on the Gower and on their way home, each child was allowed to pick a bunch of wild flowers. 

The coach was then stopped at the Swansea Cenotaph to allow them to place the flowers near their father's name. This was a act of remembrance, which Fred Gammon (the baby shown in the family photo above) was to repeat in 1995, by now as an elderly man.