Mother's Day

Florence Lilian Edith Welsh was born in August 1909 in Swindon, daughter of George Wiiliam Price and Florence Agnes Price. She was second oldest of eleven surviving children. My Mum went to Clarence Street School. As a child she was both clever and adventurous, coming down the steep Victoria Road on a bicycle with no brakes. She left school on a Friday and on the Saturday became the under under Chambermaid in the Gloucester Hotel on the front at Weymouth. In the early 1930's she met my Dad, Arthur James (Jim) Welsh when he was in the Royal Navy in Portland. They married, and after Dad went off to serve in WW11 she eventually moved back to swindon with my brother Jimmy. As the men were absent from many posts in the Great Western Railway, women took over several rail jobs. My Mum became part of a team cleaning engine boilers. At another stage the family took in evacuees. After the War and having had me as part of the baby-boomer generation Mum continued with her career as a Cook with long-term work in Swindon's Isolation Hospital and later The Crown, a Berni Inn. She brought up my niece Carol as my sister from the age of four days old. I remember Mum had beautiful 'copperplate' handwriting. She also enjoyed snooker and darts on the tv having herself been a Swindon Ladies Team Darts Champion. She was a great supporter of Swindon Town Football Club. As a grandmother she loved seeing her grandchildren. Mum died in 1988. She is much missed, but never forgotten. Keep cycling Mum!