Sybill’s war memories

Sybill [left] working in the factory, 1940s

To mark Armistice Day and Remembrance Sunday, we have been speaking to our tenants and staff about their family members on how war or serving in the armed forces has affected them.

Mrs Sybill Lovell is 93 years old and grew up in South Wales with her mother, father and five brothers and sisters.

The Second World War broke out when Sybill was 17 years old. Life was tough for her big family but they managed. She grew up in a very small village with only a few streets and everybody helped each other out. The farmer up the road would let everybody have a row of potatoes. People would swap the goods that they have such as sugar and soap to help each other out.

At school she remembered when the Americans would pass on their way up to Brecon. They’d throw sweets and chocolates off their trucks as gifts for the children.

Sybill didn’t want to join the army like her older sister had done and at the age of 18 she went to work for the RAF in Rhiwbina as a factory worker, making machine guns and anti-aircrafts that were used in the Second World War. Her oldest brother was a prisoner of war for four years. He worked in the merchant navy, but luckily for him he could speak German. This benefited him as he could converse with them.

Joining her big family were two evacuees from Liverpool. One morning they went to the train station where all the evacuees were gathered and they selected these two boys. One of them was extremely difficult to live with and was so demanding that her mother couldn’t cope, adding strain to their lives growing up.

Sybill went on to get married and have two daughters, three grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.