The AGM was followed by a “Show and Tell” with contributions from Group members. On this occasion, there were only two volunteers, the poorest turn out for a decade.

The first presenter was Gavin Davies, who gave a short talk on two WWI poets. Robert Service, although born in the UK, was known as the “Bard of the Yukon”. Gavin read two of his poems out, the first incorporating the words to the song “It’s a Long Way to Tipperary”. The second concerned a poignant encounter between a blind, armless soldier and a senior French general.

Mary Wadderburn Cannan was an auxiliary nurse before becoming a secretary in the Paris office of MI5. Her poem concerned the end of the war, a bitter-sweet moment for those who had lost loved ones. Cannan’s own fiancé was to die of influenza in 1919.

John Andrew gave the second presentation, which compared maps of Cowbridge and Llanblethian from 1887 and 2019. Although Cowbridge High Street was well-developed in the 19th Century, the surrounding countryside was mainly devoid of housing. For example, Verlands House had not been replaced by the Verlands estate. In Llanblethian, there were no buildings on Love Lane between Porth –y-Green House (at the top of Constitution Hill) until its junction with Broadway. Some in the audience had memories of pre-development Cowbridge.

Steve Monaghan