Bantams, sand and bitumen
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Albert Edwards has long-time family connections in Newborough and Malltraeth
He left school at 14, and sold cabbage, carrots and hay at Ty’n Llidiart. Eventually leaving farming, he worked for Jones Brothers in Bangor.
Even in those early days, Llanddwyn attracted visitors, and Albert recalls Nel (who lived in the coastguard cottages) carrying supplies to Llanddwyn along Lon Llanddwyn with a cart, or pony or donkey with panniers on the new road; his brother would also take over provisions, by horse or donkey. Other houses on Llanddwyn included the pilot’s house, and Gordon Richards from Caernarfon (Caernarfon Harbour Trust) had permission to come across by boat.
Albert’s career in the forest began in 1950 with cutting trees (although he wasn’t that enthusiastic, “but it was work”), with a crew of other men under Assistant Forester Robinson; the men included John Williams, Gwilym Williams, John Thomas, and Hugh T’yn Rhos. The work continued in all weathers: “even in the rain and the worst of it was, there was no shelter at that time.”
Summer work also included weed and grass cutting around the young trees to prevent them being overcome. He recalls how verge cuttings were put around the sand dunes by the shore “to hold the sand down, especially against the winds”, and grass grown near Llangefni on land owned by the forestry was also cut to be placed on the shifting dunes.
When Albert moved to working in the office as a clerk (1952-1960), he rode a Bantam motorbike to the office in Llangefni; local men, including Robert Griffiths from Newborough and Robert Davies, were Foresters.
He later returned to the forest, supervising workers planting young trees (primarily Corsican pine, raised in the local nurseries) and Marram grass to stabilise the area. He remembers one attempt to “spray a bitumen-type across the sand to prevent it from moving – but no-one could walk on it because it broke it up and made it worse. So that was a failed experiment!”
After the nurseries were closed, the young trees were later brought in cartons, ready to be planted. Albert recalls sycamore and chestnut trees being planted, along with some oak and copper beech, and cherry trees whose fruit was picked by the local village children and sold for pocket money.