Swan letter brought back memories

In answer to Julia Thomson in last week’s letters column about the ‘swan heirloom’, I can’t claim to know about the history of the ornaments, but I seem to remember my uncle, Les Taylor, a glassblower from Cudworth, bringing a couple of swans something like these to my mother that he made for her.

Les worked at Woods Glassworks on Pontefract Road, Hoyle Mill, during the 1950s.

I was quite young then, but I do remember him saying that one of the workers on shift used to go to a local pub for the beer to keep their throats lubricated in the hot conditions they worked in.

I can only imagine that the swans were made commercially for sale.

As for Julia’s grandmother, Grace Bramhall (nee Spenceley), whose biography was written by your mother, her daughter, Phyllis Crossland, she was a wonderful hard-working lady as portrayed eloquently in the book.

I was so proud to meet with Phyllis, thanks to you Julia, when she was in Barnsley Hospital just before she died.

‘Years of Grace’, published in 1985, is probably the best book I have ever read. Phyllis wrote about all the trials and tribulations of Grace’s life living in the Oxspring area, and the unbelievable hardships she had to endure.

Every once in a while, I like to read this book to remind myself how much better off materially we are now. At the same time realising that Grace and her husband, Ernest, were very happy despite all the deprivations.

That is until Ernest died when he was just 48 years old. The book is a mustread if anyone out there can get hold of a copy.

Phyllis Mary Crossland (nee Bramhall) followed this book up with,‘Echoing Hills’, in 1988, a novel about farming families in the Upper Don Valley in the 17th and 18th centuries.

It’s another cracking book about the ancient methods of farming, but sadly, I haven’t got a copy of that. Perhaps a reprint is due for the both of them, Julia.

They are also very important for the local history of the area.