Grandmas’

memories

These are the Swedish twin

grannies!

This is the story of two very special twin sisters.

Their names are Margareta and Svea and they were born

in Llanelli, Wales, on 6th June 1946.

Grandma’s Story Margareta’s and Sveas mother,

Awen Evans was born in an

Industrial town called Llanelli

South Wales, on September 2nd

1897. They were born in a small

town house and shared their

bedroom with four younger

sisters. Their Dad worked hard

for the Llanelli Steel Works and

their mother was a proud lady who

looked after the children and the

family home.

Growing up Awen loved visiting the

local Docks and watched the large

ships that carried coal and steel

around the World. She would often go

swimming in the sea on a hot day and

listen to the magical stories told by

the sailors. She loved watching ships

being built at Neville's Iron Shipbuilding Yard and the sight made her eager to

travel the world. Llanelli was a busy industrial port

and people moved to the area to find work in coal

mines, mills and stealworks.

Awen also loved

visiting Park

Howard that had

been given to the

people of Llanelli

by Lady Howard. It

was full of

beautiful flowers,

had a large grass

area to play and a

big grand house.

Megan and her sisters spent many an hour in these

gardens. She loved watching the red squirrels,

counting the yellow daffodils on the field or simply

sitting down on the grass and looking at the sky

wondering where all the birds were flying too or

from.

Awen was very lucky because

she got to go to Copperworks

School and learnt how to read

and write. Copperworks School

had been opened by Richard

Janion Nevill a caring

employer who wanted the

children of the area to

receive an education. Her

favourite subject was Science because she loved

learning about the world around her. She was very

lucky because her teachers encouraged her to study

and could see she was a clever girl. Awen had a dream

to travel and after a chance meeting with Amelia Mary

Earhart at Burry Port she knew her life would take

her on a journey of discovery.

In 1923 Awen met a handsome sailor

called Adan Merlin from Carmarthen

and after the Second World War they

would travel across Europe learning

about the culture, history,

traditions, wildlife and environment

of different countries.

Together Awen and

Adan married at

St Peter’s Church

in Llanelli

(people would

traditional marry

in a church at

Wales) and moved into a new home at

Lakefield Road. Adan worked at Copperworks Dock

loading copper and coal onto the ships. Together

they had nine beautiful girls who today can be found

scattered across Europe. Awen loved to share stories

of her life and experiences and her children never

tired of listening to these. She told traditional

Welsh stories from the Mabinogion and read the Bible

every night to her children. She knew of famous Welsh

people such as Mari Jones, King Arthur and St David

and shared the history of Wales with her children.

Her children grew up in a changing society that has

seen the Second World War, the changing face of

landscape and closure of industry at Llanelli,

changes in transportation and the development of

technology to name a few. They understand to achieve

a better future they need to learn from the past.

GRANNY’S FAMILY

Her Childhood

Margareta’s and Svea’s mum

loved to share stories of

her life and experiences

and they and their sisters

never tired of listening

to these. She told

traditional Welsh stories

from the Mabinogion and

read the Bible every night

to her children. She knew

of famous Welsh people

such as Mari Jones, King

Arthur and St David and

shared the history of

Wales with her children.

Margareta and Svea grew

up in a changing society

that has seen the Second

World War, the changing

face of landscape and

closure of industry at

Llanelli, changes in

transportation and the

development of technology

to name a few.

As children they have a

vivid memory of WW2 and

remember having to hold

a gas masks and the use

of black-out blinds

during the hours of

darkness at home.

Identity cards, clothing

coupons and ration books

to ensure the fair

distribution of food

were also to become part of everyday life. Evacuees

from London stayed at the town and lifelong friends

were made such as Alby from Watford.

A visit by the Luftwaffe saw a bomb

being dropped on sand dunes adjacent

to the North Dock. The explosion

broke windows of houses in the

Seaside area and the resulting fire

lit the sky for miles around.

Margareta and Svea vividly remembered

walking with their mother along Queen

Victoria Road in the direction of the

fire in order to join other members

of the family in a local Anderson

shelter. The realization that their

father was one of the fire-fighters

tackling the blaze was a frightening thought.

Llanelli beach was used as a practice area for

assault landings. At the appointed time, the troops

embarked at Swansea Docks, bound for Normandy. They

landed on Omaha Beach following D. Day as part of the

invasion, code named Operation Overlord.

The twin sisters also loved the environment and

through their lives they have seen many changes to

the landscape of the area were they live. The

Industry that surrounded Llanelli closed such as the

iron works, coal mines and ship building companies.

Her School

Margareta and Svea studied in Copperworks School as

their mum and sisters.

In School Margareta and Svea had many good friends

such as and Amy

who loved

reading and

sports. They

both remembered

their teachers

well such as, Mr

Brown who taught

them to read.

Margareta and

Svea were very

happy to learn

about

traditional

Welsh stories.

Schoolteachers were very strict and the children

learnt spellings and their times table every day.

Margareta also loved singing. Growing up she

remembered taking part in the Eisteddfod where she

would sing and dance with her sisters and friends.

Svea, on the other hand, was very interested in

sports and was very athletic.

Where are the sisters?

When Maragareta was a teenager it was difficult to

find work in the area and many people left Llanelli.

Margareta and her sisters moved to find work across

Europe, only Sian stayed in Llanelli as a teacher.

Margareta and her twin sister Svea were in their

early twenties when they settled in Varberg (Sweden).

All the sisters keep in contact through e-mail,

telephone, letters and SKYPE.

Her travel to Sweden

In 1973, when Margareta was 27 years old she met a

young man from Träslövsläge (Sweden). They fell in

love and they got married. They had 4 children,

Mikael born in 1975, Sara born in 1977, Sandra born

in 1978 and last but not least Helena.

Margareta´s husband

Martin was a fisherman

and was out fishing

most parts of the

week.

Margareta worked at the bicycle

factory Monark in Varberg thus

the four children were in

daycare. When Margareta started

to work at Monark it was one of

Varbergs largest work places.

However, when she retired the

factory had decreased since

many bikes were now

manufactured outside Sweden.

On Sundays they always went

to church which was an

important meeting point in

this small community. Today, Margaretas grandchildren

play floorball on Sundays, which is a popular sport

and many locals go watch them play.

They lived in a small

house in the village

Träslövsläge. In the

summertime they

sublet the house to

tourists while they

themselves lived in

the cellar. This was

very common in

Varberg at that time

because it was an

extra income for poor

fisherman families.

Svea on the other hand settled in the centre of the

city. She worked at the local museum located in the

Fortress of the city. On a beautiful summer day in

1975, when guiding a group, she met a handsome young

man from Varberg, Sven Johansson They married in 1976

and had their first and only child the year after, a

little boy called Oscar. They lived in an apartment

just by the ocean.

Granny and her sisters

Margareta and Svea have a good contact with their

sisters who are spread out around the better parts of

Europe. They write each other, send e-mails and

Skype. The students at the different schools have

helped them with this. The Swedish sisters have a

collection of stamps and recipes from their sisters

new home countries.

Eight green grannies- Time Watch

Team

All the sisters are very worried about the planet. In some of

their letters and e-mails they talk about environmental

problems.

Here is the letter from the twin grannies from Sweden;

Margareta from Ankarskolan and Svea from Håstensskolan.

Dear sisters!

We the Swedish twin sisters, Svea and

Margareta, want you to think about

energy. How much energy do you use? How

much energy does your school use. If you

like you can make a movie about energy

use in your school or in your town.

Please discuss the following questions in

your class; What is your favourite thing that uses electric energy? Where does the

energy in your house come from? How much

energy does your school use? How do you heat your school? What kind of energy did

they use in your city two hundred years

ago? Do we use more energy today? Why? Why should we save energy? How can you save energy? What can you do in the future to

get a better environment? Please answer

our questionnaire …

Yours Margareta and Svea

Solutions to the Swedish problem –

Spain

In Spain Flora presented the Swedish

problem and the children worked really

hard. They did many activities about

energy. The younger students attended a

workshop about energy held by experts

from the University. The Older ones

answered the questionnaire online and

also made a Science Project about

"Renewable Energies", they wrote a

project and made items of handcraft. Here

you can see some of their Science

Projects.

Solutions to the Swedish problem –

Finland

In Finland Annikki presented the Swedish

problem and the children worked

excellently. They did many activities

about energy. They discussed energy in

the world and at their school. They made

posters, interviewed the headmasters and

the janitor. Here you can see some of

their results.

Solution to the Swedish problem –

Wales

In Wales Sian presented the Swedish

problem and the children in Wales worked

with energy saving in their own

environment. They discussed how to walk

and cycle more in everyday life.

Solution to the Swedish problem –

Poland

In Poland Barbara presented the Swedish

problem and the children worked with

energy in Poland. They made posters and

talked about how to save energy at home.

Here you can see some of their results.

Swedish solutions to problems

The Swedish students have worked with

solutions to environmental problems

around Europe.

Swedish solutions to the Spanish

problem

The students received a letter from the Spanish

granny Flora. She wanted them to think about and work

with solutions to save endangered animals. The

students worked with endangered animals in Sweden and

went the material to Spain.

Swedish solutions to the Polish

problem

The students received a letter from the Polish granny

Barbara. She wanted them to think about recycling.

The student worked with what, where and how to

recycle.

Swedish solutions to the Finnish

problem

The students received a letter from the Finnish

granny Annikki. She wanted them to work with reusing

old material and turning it into something new. This

is also known as up-cycling.

Swedish solutions to the Welsh

problem

From Wales the students received a letter from the

Welsh school presenting how they have worked with

water conservation. They asked us to do a water

survey and think about how to save water at our

school or in our homes. Our Swedish students chose to

present it in the form of short animated movies.

Swedish solutions to the Italian

problem

Our students received a letter from the Italian

granny Maria. She wanted the students to think about

how we can reduce the amount of things we throw away.

Since the Italian problem, reduce is closely

connected with the Finnish problem, reuse (up-cycle)

and the Polish problem, recycle we chose to start

with group discussions about waste; cause – effect –

solutions. For the concept reduce we have made

posters that encourage people to throw away less

waste.