The Baynhams

An important item on our To-Do list while in Wales was to visit the crematorium where Byron's Nanny Ponty's ashes are buried. Nanny Ponty was a one of a kind. She was fiercely independent and to the point. What you saw was what you got. I met her during the last decade of her life and she was an amazing woman. The stories I have heard about her life are as colourful as she was. She used to visit Byron's family home every weekend and would climb the steep hill to their house with heavy carrier bags full of magazines and sweets. She wouldn't let anyone help her and God forbid she would be offered a lift!She was independant to the last.

She loved playing Bingo and every time I saw her she would be talking about the big prizes she was close to winning. She always had a lottery ticket ready to check and we would make a very dramatic and false fuss of her telling her how much we loved he over and over. The bigger the jackpot the more we would take her coat and fluff up her seat cushions for her. She would look at me with a wicked glint of humour in her eye and say "Oh ay, you'll keep!"

The girls have memories of her but Gareth was only a toddler when she died. Even so all three kids helped to look up and down the rows of flowers until we found her plaque. They cut roses and put fresh water in the vase and we stood in a circle around her talking of all the funny memories we have of her.

Sian said she heard an expression that people die twice. Once when their heart stops beating and again when someone says their name for the last time.

Nanny Ponty, you will always be spoken about in our home. We will laugh at your stubbornness and feel humbled by your strength. We will never forget you. xo