The Health Service Over the Years A Personal Report by Sara John
“Daddy, what was that new very big word you just said?” “I asked her what we were going to have for tea.” “No, no, no, I responded, it was a big, long word, you and uncle Bryn were talking about it in Mam-gu’s house on Sunday.” “Was it Nationalisation? ” he asked me. “Yes, yes” I responded and tried to say it myself, “what is it?” “I will tell you when you are older” he said, always to me a very disappointing answer. “Will I be older next week? Will you tell me then?” “Will there be another war?” I recall asking that question daily. It was usually part of the answer to any questions a child asked in the late nineteen - forties. My father found it easier to surrender some of his off-duty time to respond to my endless questions, then he could settle down with his newspaper. And I would be put to bed. Over a period of time, I was told a simplified version of what led up to the Nationalisation. Eventually the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act was passed. My father explained that it gave miners and their colleagues greater control over their own energies. Everything became quieter, more peaceful, the workforce seemed more confident, men and management were fulfilling the same aims. The 22 CARDIFF TIMES
industry was looking to the future, the workforce mattered more. Laws were passed, serious change was in the air. Life for the workforce, the management and all their families would become measurably better. There was a lot more to come. I was very small but felt life was going to be different from now on. I recall visiting Mam-gu’s house on a Sunday evening and staying for supper along with a chapel’s worth of aunts, uncles and cousins. Grace was always said prior to Aunty Morfydd giving permission for everyone to begin their meal. Inevitably the conversation eventually turned to politics, the coal industry and competition from abroad. There was a remembered fear of the bad times following the First World War when Germany by paying réparations to the Allies in the form of cheap coal, upset world coal prices. This affected many joint agreements between the workforce and management that had been agreed and settled in the recent past. Thank Lloyd George for all that. By this time of an evening, small persons such as myself were in the hall looking for their pink bonnet, pink gloves, purses with a little small change, but no sign of sweeties as they were still on ration. I was ready to go home and to bed and greet my almost bald teddy, I had cuddled him to severe baldness, and, as my father explained, there had been a war. An overload of worry for Teddies.
