I was blessed to be brought up in such a lovely part of rural Shropshire sometimes known as ‘Monnerland’ centred around Gobowen, Weston Rhyn and St Martins.

We all tended to speak with the same dialect and with similar vocabularies and in particular we often addressed friends as Mon.

And of course we used to get about by bike. The central hub of it all would be the region’s railway station at Gobowen. We grew up watching the steam trains racing through on this main line from Paddington to Birkenhead and the junction that linked to the Cambrian network through Oswestry to the whole of central Wales.

We had a lovely childhood catching sticklebacks and newts in the station pond, tickling trout in the Derwen brook, fishing in the canal, playing football and cricket, exploring on our bikes and climbing trees.

We all had Saturday jobs or paper rounds, no phones, no computers but lots of mates we still know today. We had a scout hut which took members from all over the area and so friendships were formed with our neighbouring villages.

The biggest employers were and still are the RJAH Orthopaedic Hospital and the Derwen training centre. My family have all worked here and the next generation still do. Specialists come here to teach and train from all over the world. The hospital is a centre of excellence for orthopaedic surgery and treatment. Amazing to have this wonderful place in our town.

Border Counties Advertizer: Pictures by Bob Hardy

Pictures by Bob Hardy.

In the past there was also the junior leader infantry training camp at Park Hall and North Shropshire Farmers seed depot down the Old Whittington Road. Unfortunately, the camp and NSF closed at the same time as Oswestry railway works, station and rail network along with the coal mine at Ifton and Chirk, devastating this area in the 1960s. Something many thought we would never recover from.

We would pop along the back lanes from Gobowen to Weston Rhyn sometimes over Daywell railway crossing gates or along the Old Chirk Road before the new A5 severed both those routes so nowadays we go up the Hengoed road or down to the canal at the Lion Quays.

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My parents are both buried in the grounds of the old St Barnabas Church in Hengoed. Only the font and graveyard remains of this beautiful old sister church to Gobowen where we would go for occasional services with our Sunday School.

Turn down from Hengoed and go down through lower Hengoed into Weston Rhyn. I knew this area very well as it was on my early morning paper round which was seven miles long before school! Weston Rhyn was the terminus for the coal train from the Ifton Colliery and has access to the Ceiriog Valley, the stunning Chirk Aqueduct and the canal network. Selattyn also gets honorary Monner status due to its fine pub. But if you don’t fancy the ride up the hill to get there, you can always call at the Poachers on the way back from the aqueduct, which is lovely on its canal side terrace in the warm sunshine.

Border Counties Advertizer: Pictures by Bob Hardy

Pictures by Bob Hardy.

Next stop is St Martins and there is now a new quality towpath to get you there to Ushers Bridge and then up Moors Banks. St Martins grew on Ifton Colliery. Everyone worked there. Electricians, miners, engineers, railway workers, labourers, managers. But sadly it closed in 1968 as demand for coal plunged as steam trains moved to diesel and the clean air act encouraged gas central heating. Many current residents can remember those days and its history of bringing Bevan boys from the cities to work in wartime. Those families remain to this day.

Today St Martins hosts the region’s secondary school and its independent superstore – Stans shop. Stan started from small beginnings after returning home from a Japanese prisoner of war camp with a small shed selling fish and chips. Before we knew it, it was booming and growing into one of the UK’s biggest independents competing with the multi nationals. I remember Stan’s boys, Rob and Peter who were both in Gobowen Boy’s Scouts group. Fine training for taking the company on!

Of course, something that links all these villages is it rich farming land which is or was predominantly dairy farms. So many of us would help the farmers bring in the hay and get a lesson on how to drive a tractor and then a lesson in blister treatment after lugging bales all day.

Farming is changing though. The fields growing cattle feed have changed from hay to grass silage and then to maize. Interestingly as you return back to Gobowen via the back lane from Ebnal to Hindford you see the new use of green fields for solar panel farms stretching out, acre after acre. Jury is out on that one! Alright Mon?