Mabel Williams

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Summary

Born in 1918 at Lucksall, Mabel Williams (née Powell) grew up as one of seven children in a busy riverside household. Her father Arthur Powell ran a timber business, later expanding into coal and haulage. Mabel vividly recalls the old toll bridge near Lucksall, a penny to cross on foot and more for horses and carts, with tolls collected by a local war widow.

She attended Mordiford School, walking there daily, and later studied shorthand, typing and bookkeeping in Hereford, cycling to lessons. Though she helped at home, Mabel’s heart lay outdoors—supporting the family’s milk round by pony and trap, delivering to Fownhope, Mordiford, and beyond.

Her social life blossomed through church and dances at Fownhope, where she met her future husband from Tump Farm. Married at 19, she first lived at Parker’s Pitch before moving to the Tump in 1947. The farmhouse was large and basic—cold rooms, open stoves, wind-powered water, and washdays with wood-fired boilers. Nonetheless, she thrived outside, working with livestock and later hosting German PoWs who helped with farm maintenance.

Mabel describes the gradual arrival of modern conveniences—mains electricity, gas, and water replacing wind-reliant and hand-pumped systems. She also remembers the 1976 drought and RAF jets roaring low over the Tump, believed to be a flight marker.

Throughout, Mabel remained deeply rooted in the land and community, hiring local women as household help and attending village clinics and dances. Her recollections capture a world of hard work, warm friendships, and resilient spirit—life before modern comfort but rich in resourcefulness and community ties.