Trying to trace family members

I AM researching my family history and trying to trace details about my grandmother’s family who lived in around the Porthcawl and Bridgend areas.

The family name was Manley. I wonder if any readers are able to help me identify and locate the whereabouts of these family members today?

My grandmother’s story is an interesting one which I think readers will probably enjoy reading about.

She was Gertrude FD Manley and grew up in Pontycymmer, was a VAD nurse during World War I at Dunraven Castle Auxiliary Hospital, Southerndown, before marrying my grandfather James Cooper and moving north with his job as a railway engine driver to Crewe (one of the most important railway hubs in the country), and to start their family.

We actually think they probably met when James Cooper was being looked after at the hospital at some time during 1917 or 1918, while he was a serving soldier in the King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.

With the recent c centenary of the First World War, readers will understand we want to capture every small h historical fact and family memories to bear testimony to the bravery a and courage of all those w who served.

Several relatives from S South Wales travelled to Crewe to attend my father’s funeral (Tim) in Crewe in 1986. I think my late mother Madge F Friesner (formerly Gertrude Cooper) would have been a cousin to the South Wales relations.

Sadly, I only have their first names: Kath and Jimmy, Joyce, Madge, Tricia, Lynn and Alwyn – hopefully some readers will recognise this group of names and know of the families’ whereabouts.

Readers can contact me by email at dfriesner3@ gmail.com David Friesner via email