0:00:06 > 0:00:09The '60s were the dawn of a new age of electricity and
0:00:09 > 0:00:13labour-saving devices which promised a better way of life for all.
0:00:15 > 0:00:20The day came and houses were all wired and the switch came on
0:00:20 > 0:00:23and lights all came up. What a day!
0:00:25 > 0:00:30I had an upright cleaner and then I was grizzling then about carting
0:00:30 > 0:00:33the thing up and down stairs, so Cliff bought me another one.
0:00:35 > 0:00:36I loved driving.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39It opened up the fact that now I could take
0:00:39 > 0:00:42the children down the seaside even after school.
0:00:43 > 0:00:47This is the story of how greater affluence helped transform home
0:00:47 > 0:00:52and family in '60s Wales, beginning a lifestyle revolution.
0:01:02 > 0:01:06Wales began the '60s with some of the worst housing in Britain.
0:01:06 > 0:01:08This was especially so in the valleys,
0:01:08 > 0:01:12where cheap homes had been erected for workers in Victorian times.
0:01:16 > 0:01:19Many young couples were forced to rent places that lacked any
0:01:19 > 0:01:21basic modern conveniences.
0:01:25 > 0:01:29George Evans and his wife Hilary started family life in Merthyr.
0:01:30 > 0:01:36We were fortunate to have secured a dwelling
0:01:36 > 0:01:39in a cellar in a house in Merthyr.
0:01:41 > 0:01:46One room, and we'd two daughters there.
0:01:46 > 0:01:48Times were hard.
0:01:48 > 0:01:51I was earning £3/17/6 a week
0:01:51 > 0:01:55when the average wage was between £15 and £18.
0:01:55 > 0:01:58We used to buy stuff on tick.
0:01:58 > 0:02:02We used to buy our food on the never-never
0:02:02 > 0:02:05and pay at the end of the week but so did a lot of people then.
0:02:05 > 0:02:09Joan Hilditch and her husband Eddie
0:02:09 > 0:02:11set up home in the Rhymney Valley.
0:02:11 > 0:02:16It was a very old house in Rhymney Bridge.
0:02:16 > 0:02:20It was rented. It had roofs like that, you know?
0:02:20 > 0:02:23Right down to the windows. I loved it, I did.
0:02:23 > 0:02:27But there was no...there was no bath there, there was no toilet.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31We used to have a place down the loo where you had to bury the stuff.
0:02:37 > 0:02:43We used to bath once a week, same as all the other families, once a week.
0:02:43 > 0:02:45And we used to have a tin bath.
0:02:45 > 0:02:51We'd boil the water up on the fire or on the cooker, fill the bath
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and my daughters would bath first,
0:02:54 > 0:02:57one after the other.
0:02:57 > 0:02:59Then Hilary would bath
0:02:59 > 0:03:01and by the time I was going to get in the bath
0:03:01 > 0:03:03there was a load of scum around the bath.
0:03:03 > 0:03:05and I had to scrape all that off.
0:03:09 > 0:03:15Then, as time went on, we got a bit more money saved
0:03:15 > 0:03:19and we bought a bungalow bath, which was a tin bath,
0:03:19 > 0:03:24only it was longer, and we thought we were in heaven.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29We used to tell people, "We got a bungalow bath now!"
0:03:29 > 0:03:32"Get away! Yer lucky."
0:03:36 > 0:03:41Harsh living conditions had been made bearable by communal values.
0:03:41 > 0:03:44A problem shared was a problem solved.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48Work, rest and play took place in a collective spirit of respect
0:03:48 > 0:03:52amongst people who lived in communities built on struggle.
0:03:58 > 0:04:02Miner Tyrone O'Sullivan grew up in a coal-mining family in Merthyr.
0:04:04 > 0:04:07The magic of that era was no-one locked their doors,
0:04:07 > 0:04:12wherever you went, even if you went out in the evening, even overnight.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15So your neighbours could always knock the door
0:04:15 > 0:04:17and they would always knock.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20That was a wonderful thing, you never entered anyone's home
0:04:20 > 0:04:23without either knocking or at least opening the door and shouting,
0:04:23 > 0:04:26"Are you there, Dilys?" or "Are you there, Dai?"
0:04:26 > 0:04:30I could go to practically anybody in the street and knock the door,
0:04:30 > 0:04:33open the door and walk in because that was the trust.
0:04:33 > 0:04:36What did we have to pinch, anyway? To be honest with you,
0:04:36 > 0:04:39we all had very much the same.
0:04:39 > 0:04:43So that's the culture of the valleys, of the communities.
0:04:52 > 0:04:56One of the poorest areas in Wales was Tiger Bay, where a mixed-race
0:04:56 > 0:05:00community lived in what was once a model housing estate.
0:05:00 > 0:05:04But a century after it was built by the Marquess of Bute,
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Cardiff City Council set about a major redevelopment.
0:05:08 > 0:05:10Residents were promised a better life
0:05:10 > 0:05:13after they were rehoused into high-rise blocks.
0:05:14 > 0:05:17Writer Neil Sinclair grew up there.
0:05:20 > 0:05:23This was the home of seamen from the four quarters of the world
0:05:23 > 0:05:30and we lived in hardship but in bliss, harmonious bliss.
0:05:37 > 0:05:39There were 26 houses on my street,
0:05:39 > 0:05:42most of the doors would be open first thing in the morning,
0:05:42 > 0:05:45women would come out and bash the mats against the wall and then
0:05:45 > 0:05:50put the mat in the hallway, saying, "Step in, if you will," you know.
0:05:50 > 0:05:54Then you're in a tower block and you're in an internal hallway
0:05:54 > 0:06:00with no sunlight, no daylight, no reason to stand on the door.
0:06:01 > 0:06:06So you started to live a life separate from other
0:06:06 > 0:06:09people in the community.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11But Wales built few high-rise estates.
0:06:14 > 0:06:18Instead, the need for new housing was met by the construction
0:06:18 > 0:06:22of sprawling council estates on the outskirts of many towns and cities.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29It was an opportunity to build houses that incorporated
0:06:29 > 0:06:31all the basics of modern living standards.
0:06:34 > 0:06:37For couples with young children in primitive homes,
0:06:37 > 0:06:39it was a dream come true.
0:06:42 > 0:06:45Barbara Evans and her husband Cliff
0:06:45 > 0:06:48secured a house on the Gurnos Estate in Merthyr.
0:06:48 > 0:06:52There was three bedrooms and the bathroom and the toilet upstairs
0:06:52 > 0:06:56and downstairs there was a huge front room
0:06:56 > 0:07:01and the other room was the kitchen and diner.
0:07:01 > 0:07:03Oh, well, the boys went wild,
0:07:03 > 0:07:10I mean, the engine on rails had all the floor space. Good gracious me,
0:07:10 > 0:07:15toys come out everywhere, all the kids in playing, it was wonderful.
0:07:22 > 0:07:27We had a council house then, which was lovely and I made
0:07:27 > 0:07:32friends with the neighbours down there and we had a dog.
0:07:32 > 0:07:34It was nice. My first bathroom, for God's sake!
0:07:34 > 0:07:37And hot water, would you believe!
0:07:37 > 0:07:39We all used to get in the bath in the night together.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41It was brilliant, I loved it.
0:07:49 > 0:07:53Children benefitted hugely from the better living conditions.
0:07:55 > 0:07:58Annie Haden's family lived on the Portmead estate
0:07:58 > 0:08:00on the outskirts of Swansea.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04I was brought up in a new, brand-new council estate,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08amongst houses being built,
0:08:08 > 0:08:12the smell of sawn wood
0:08:12 > 0:08:15which is absolutely wonderful. Oh, it's a wonderful smell.
0:08:15 > 0:08:20There was such a pulsating feeling of hope. It was tangible.
0:08:25 > 0:08:27But in the '60s, many couples decided
0:08:27 > 0:08:30they wanted to own their own home.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33This was a decade when home ownership began to shape
0:08:33 > 0:08:35the modern ideal of married life.
0:08:35 > 0:08:39Some men took on a second job to help pay the mortgage.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42For George Evans, it was boxing.
0:08:42 > 0:08:49Fighting for me was purely about the money, I needed the money.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54I needed the money to give my family a better life.
0:08:54 > 0:09:00And I won the Welsh Championship, the Welsh Lightweight Championship
0:09:00 > 0:09:05but on my mind all the time was money and I decided to turn professional.
0:09:06 > 0:09:10Boxing provided us with a better life all round
0:09:10 > 0:09:16because it enabled us to have a bigger mortgage to buy
0:09:16 > 0:09:21a better house and we decided to move from the squares,
0:09:21 > 0:09:23our little two-bedroom cottage,
0:09:23 > 0:09:26further down the village to a three-bedroomed property.
0:09:29 > 0:09:33Wales soon enjoyed one of the highest rates of home ownership
0:09:33 > 0:09:36in Britain, as many a young couple took advantage
0:09:36 > 0:09:39of the large quantity of cheap housing available.
0:09:39 > 0:09:41But they often had to wait before they could turn
0:09:41 > 0:09:44it into the modern home of their dreams.
0:09:48 > 0:09:51# The best things in life are free
0:09:51 > 0:09:54# But you can keep them for the birds and bees
0:09:54 > 0:09:57# Now give me money... #
0:09:57 > 0:10:02Broadcaster Roy Noble and his wife Elaine moved to Aberdare.
0:10:02 > 0:10:04We decided to buy a house.
0:10:04 > 0:10:07Now, we couldn't afford a bathroom suite which was coloured
0:10:07 > 0:10:10because it was £25 extra. We couldn't afford central heating
0:10:10 > 0:10:15because it was £275 extra. We were at the top of our limit. We couldn't
0:10:15 > 0:10:19afford sapele doors which were very fashionable. Along with G Plan
0:10:19 > 0:10:23furniture, sapele doors were £7 each extra. Couldn't afford those.
0:10:23 > 0:10:27The only furniture we had in the front bedroom was a net curtain.
0:10:27 > 0:10:32From the outside it looked the part, from the inside there was nothing in it at all, you see.
0:10:33 > 0:10:38Communities often would rally round when a new home was being made.
0:10:38 > 0:10:43Barbara Evans worked at Kayser Bondor, manufacturer of ladieswear.
0:10:43 > 0:10:48Mrs Regan was my supervisor up in Kayser, and she said to me,
0:10:48 > 0:10:50"Barbara, have you bought new curtains?"
0:10:50 > 0:10:52"I'm going for them on the weekend".
0:10:52 > 0:10:55"Get the material, bring it in and we'll sew 'em for you".
0:10:55 > 0:10:59I took all the material in on the Monday morning
0:10:59 > 0:11:02and I was going home Monday, half-past three,
0:11:02 > 0:11:04all my curtains made.
0:11:04 > 0:11:07# Sweetest little baby come and deliver... #
0:11:07 > 0:11:11Electricity still remained a novelty in rural west
0:11:11 > 0:11:13and north Wales into the '60s.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16The cost of extending the national grid into thinly populated
0:11:16 > 0:11:21farming communities was seen by many locals as an unnecessary expense.
0:11:27 > 0:11:30Lyndon Harris remembers family life on a remote dairy farm
0:11:30 > 0:11:33in Carmarthenshire before the age of electricity.
0:11:35 > 0:11:39We'd had diesel engines driving portable generators up till then.
0:11:39 > 0:11:43You'd be watching television and the picture would start diminishing.
0:11:43 > 0:11:46The belt start slipping on the pulley outside!
0:11:46 > 0:11:49You'd have to run out quickly to tighten up the belt again
0:11:49 > 0:11:54so that you could see the rest of the programme before it disappeared off the screen!
0:11:57 > 0:11:59To get the electricity in the first place, of course,
0:11:59 > 0:12:03meant that you had to have a sufficient nucleus of farmers
0:12:03 > 0:12:07and individuals who would be prepared to sign up, that is,
0:12:07 > 0:12:12guarantee a certain amount per year for taking the electricity.
0:12:12 > 0:12:17What a job! Good Lord. It was like going round Noah, you know.
0:12:17 > 0:12:19Nobody was slightly bit interested.
0:12:19 > 0:12:22"No, much too costly, it is. What do we need electricity for?
0:12:22 > 0:12:25"Aladdin lamp's all right. Tilley lamp's OK.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27"What do we want electricity for?"
0:12:30 > 0:12:32But eventually, sufficient numbers were found
0:12:32 > 0:12:35and the Electricity Board got to work.
0:12:35 > 0:12:38The coming of electricity switched everyone on to a new,
0:12:38 > 0:12:40more modern way of life.
0:12:42 > 0:12:46The day arrived when the lorries arrived in the field with big poles.
0:12:46 > 0:12:49The excitement was terrific, you know, you could see them
0:12:49 > 0:12:53boring holes in the field to put these poles up right across the fields.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57And the day came and they all linked up, the wires were put up,
0:12:57 > 0:13:02houses were all wired and the switch came on and lights all came up.
0:13:02 > 0:13:05What a day. Just like VE Day. Marvellous!
0:13:09 > 0:13:13The new home, it was a lot different from the small little house, you see,
0:13:13 > 0:13:18because there was so much electric points there and things like that.
0:13:18 > 0:13:20Well, you didn't have them in the other little house.
0:13:20 > 0:13:23See, I mean, there was two here and two there - they were everywhere!
0:13:27 > 0:13:29Jolly good. We'll have it.
0:13:31 > 0:13:34This was the age of the mod con
0:13:34 > 0:13:36and everyone wanted to be a part of it.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39PHONE RINGS
0:13:39 > 0:13:41Hello? Yes, speaking.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44It was the first time we'd had a phone, a telephone,
0:13:44 > 0:13:46and it was on a party line you had to share with
0:13:46 > 0:13:49someone up the street, and we'd only been in two days
0:13:49 > 0:13:54when the phone rang and a voice said, "Alan here." I said, "Alan?"
0:13:54 > 0:13:56"Yes, Alan next door."
0:13:56 > 0:13:58Now, it had never occurred to me
0:13:58 > 0:14:01that a fella living next door would actually phone you.
0:14:01 > 0:14:06You'd think he'd just walk around, wouldn't you? I thought a phone was for distances.
0:14:17 > 0:14:22We had a natural stone fireplace. We had a dividing wall which only came up to about three feet
0:14:22 > 0:14:26between the dining room, well, the dining section and the lounge.
0:14:26 > 0:14:28We had a white carpet.
0:14:28 > 0:14:31And we had a wonderful red suite
0:14:31 > 0:14:35and we'd bought also the curtains because it went with the suite
0:14:35 > 0:14:38and it went with the dining room chairs which were high-backed
0:14:38 > 0:14:43and on metal supports. They were something else, and a glass table.
0:14:43 > 0:14:47And my mother, when she first opened the door into that room,
0:14:47 > 0:14:52dining room-cum-lounge, she said, "Oh! it's like an hotel."
0:14:57 > 0:15:00Many families felt the benefit of the extra money
0:15:00 > 0:15:03earnt by working mothers, who took advantage of the demand
0:15:03 > 0:15:06for women's skills in the factories.
0:15:06 > 0:15:09A new lifestyle was emerging.
0:15:09 > 0:15:12When you were working as well, that was extra money, you see.
0:15:12 > 0:15:17So there we are, boys had bikes, holidays and all the rest of it.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21I can remember they wanted a snooker table. Cliff came home this day
0:15:21 > 0:15:25and said to me, "Somebody's selling this snooker table",
0:15:25 > 0:15:28"Well, how much do they want for it?" I said. "Oh, £20."
0:15:28 > 0:15:31Oh, well, we bought the snooker table.
0:15:33 > 0:15:37One of the biggest new employers in Wales was Hoover.
0:15:37 > 0:15:42Its labour-saving appliances helped transform family life, reducing much
0:15:42 > 0:15:46of the domestic drudgery that had traditionally been the woman's lot.
0:15:46 > 0:15:49'Have you heard the news that's going round?
0:15:49 > 0:15:51'Hoover, Hoover have gone and found
0:15:51 > 0:15:54'the washing machine that means the end, the end of washday!'
0:15:54 > 0:15:56Washday? Just forget it.
0:15:56 > 0:15:58'Hoover Keymatic is the name.
0:15:58 > 0:16:02'It's automated and that's the same as saying never,
0:16:02 > 0:16:04'ever will you think again about washday.'
0:16:04 > 0:16:07Washday? Just forget it.
0:16:07 > 0:16:11Finally we bought our first washing machine
0:16:11 > 0:16:14and we were over the moon.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16We were inviting people in to see it.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18"Come here, Mrs Jones,
0:16:18 > 0:16:23"come and see what we've got! Hoover washing machine!"
0:16:25 > 0:16:28And, of course, Cliff worked in Hoover so you all bought
0:16:28 > 0:16:32from there, didn't you, you know. That was part of the perks of Hoovers again.
0:16:32 > 0:16:34And your cleaners came from there.
0:16:34 > 0:16:37And I had an upright cleaner
0:16:37 > 0:16:42and then I was grizzling then about carting the thing up and downstairs.
0:16:42 > 0:16:46So Cliff bought me another one, a Constellation, and that was like
0:16:46 > 0:16:48a big ball,
0:16:48 > 0:16:52so that was upstairs and the other one downstairs.
0:16:52 > 0:16:58'Hoover Constellation. The space-age cleaner at the down-to-earth price.'
0:16:59 > 0:17:03George Evans became one of the top Welsh boxers
0:17:03 > 0:17:05and was earning good prize money.
0:17:05 > 0:17:07But he still had not given up his day job,
0:17:07 > 0:17:11such was his passion to give his family the best of everything.
0:17:11 > 0:17:16I fought an eliminator for the British Championship.
0:17:16 > 0:17:19I was third in the British ratings
0:17:19 > 0:17:22and I went out and I determined
0:17:22 > 0:17:27that if I win this fight I would fight for the British title.
0:17:28 > 0:17:31And I was winning the fight at the end of the seventh round.
0:17:31 > 0:17:36And I got up and I went out and I started wading in and, bump!
0:17:36 > 0:17:40Clash of heads and my eyelid split,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43and as soon as the referee saw my eyelid splitting,
0:17:43 > 0:17:44he stopped the fight.
0:17:44 > 0:17:47One minute to go of the fight.
0:17:47 > 0:17:50And after that fight I come back and I said,
0:17:50 > 0:17:53"I've finished, there's no more."
0:17:53 > 0:17:54But...
0:17:55 > 0:17:56..a month later...
0:17:58 > 0:18:00..I was thinking of the money.
0:18:00 > 0:18:04And I rang Mac and I said, "Mac, give me a fight!"
0:18:04 > 0:18:06And I bought a little Ford Anglia car.
0:18:06 > 0:18:08£340...
0:18:08 > 0:18:10second-hand.
0:18:15 > 0:18:18The convenience and glamour of the car
0:18:18 > 0:18:21was now capturing the popular imagination,
0:18:21 > 0:18:25fast replacing buses and trains as the preferred means of travel.
0:18:26 > 0:18:28With growing prosperity,
0:18:28 > 0:18:30mass car ownership would soon revolutionise
0:18:30 > 0:18:32the entire transport system
0:18:32 > 0:18:35and, with it, the Welsh way of life.
0:18:37 > 0:18:41In Wales, of course, the Anglia was a very popular car,
0:18:41 > 0:18:44the Ford Anglia with a sloping back roof.
0:18:44 > 0:18:47My brother had one and a couple of my friends had them.
0:18:47 > 0:18:50And in Wales it was one of the most popular cars going.
0:18:50 > 0:18:53It was nippy. It had a nippy engine, economical
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and it was reasonably priced.
0:18:55 > 0:18:59And the Cortina was the family man car.
0:19:03 > 0:19:05For both men and women,
0:19:05 > 0:19:07the car promised the freedom of the open road.
0:19:13 > 0:19:17Margaret Lloyd brought up her family in Merthyr.
0:19:17 > 0:19:19I loved driving.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21What I loved about driving was the speed.
0:19:21 > 0:19:23It opened up the fact that now
0:19:23 > 0:19:27I could take the children down the seaside, even after school.
0:19:27 > 0:19:29I could meet them if it was a lovely day, and say,
0:19:29 > 0:19:31"Come on, we'll go to Barry for an hour
0:19:31 > 0:19:33"or we could come up the Beacons."
0:19:35 > 0:19:38I went on holidays once with a Morris Minor.
0:19:38 > 0:19:41I had an 18-stone aunt and an 18-stone mother
0:19:41 > 0:19:44and the three children in a Morris Minor.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47Every time I started, I thought sure it was going to rear up
0:19:47 > 0:19:50like a horse, with the weight!
0:19:50 > 0:19:52I had to make sure they sat like that, you know,
0:19:52 > 0:19:55one in the back, one in the front to balance it out!
0:19:55 > 0:19:58But you just went. It was fun, wasn't it?
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Everything was an adventure.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Motoring in Wales came of age
0:20:04 > 0:20:08with the opening of the Severn Bridge in September 1966.
0:20:08 > 0:20:11It seemed the pinnacle of a remarkable decade
0:20:11 > 0:20:13when everything got better and better.
0:20:15 > 0:20:18Then, on the 21st October,
0:20:18 > 0:20:21tragedy struck at Aberfan.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24The huge slag heap that towered above the village
0:20:24 > 0:20:26became unstable from heavy rain.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Thousands of tonnes of coal slurry slipped into an avalanche
0:20:30 > 0:20:32and covered the local school.
0:20:32 > 0:20:37116 children and 28 adults were killed within seconds.
0:20:38 > 0:20:41Many people desperately tried to mount a rescue,
0:20:41 > 0:20:43including broadcaster Owen Money
0:20:43 > 0:20:46who was a singer in a pop group, at the time.
0:20:49 > 0:20:53I was down there about 20 minutes, half an hour after it all happened.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56All the colliery men and boys all came out of the pit.
0:20:56 > 0:20:59They were the, sort of, first on the scene.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02And then you got the police there and then Joe public.
0:21:02 > 0:21:04They came from everywhere.
0:21:06 > 0:21:11I remember women, mothers up to their waist in slurry
0:21:11 > 0:21:14trying to wade through the slurry to get to where the school is
0:21:14 > 0:21:16to see if they can find their children.
0:21:22 > 0:21:23I had people there I knew.
0:21:23 > 0:21:27People there were killed, like my school teacher was killed in it.
0:21:29 > 0:21:31It changed my life a little bit.
0:21:31 > 0:21:33Didn't realise how precious life can be.
0:21:33 > 0:21:36And for me it was...
0:21:36 > 0:21:37it was a learning curve.
0:21:37 > 0:21:40There's more to life than rock'n'roll music,
0:21:40 > 0:21:42more to life than having a good time.
0:21:42 > 0:21:46It did change my life, without a shadow of a doubt.
0:21:46 > 0:21:47It gave me new values in life.
0:21:52 > 0:21:55The tragedy of Aberfan led to profound change
0:21:55 > 0:21:57in the coal industry.
0:21:57 > 0:22:01Many felt in other ways, too, the Wales of old had to go.
0:22:08 > 0:22:12But it was in the home that the biggest changes were taking place.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15And one of them was the desire for a smaller family
0:22:15 > 0:22:17than in previous generations.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21Until the '60s, married life for many women
0:22:21 > 0:22:24had been overshadowed by an exhausting ritual of constant,
0:22:24 > 0:22:27and often unwanted, pregnancy and childbirth.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31Women had no control over their fertility.
0:22:34 > 0:22:38Margaret Lloyd was passionate about the need for change.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42I'd had three children in two and a half years,
0:22:42 > 0:22:44which was quite common, really.
0:22:44 > 0:22:48And so I knew what it was to have one child after the other,
0:22:48 > 0:22:51not be in control of your life.
0:22:51 > 0:22:53Family planning depended on the man.
0:22:53 > 0:22:56You know, it was his responsibility, really.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59So I was passionate
0:22:59 > 0:23:02that women should have this control.
0:23:02 > 0:23:05I had another child nine years later.
0:23:10 > 0:23:14Joan Hilditch was coping with an unhappy marriage
0:23:14 > 0:23:16where she lived in Rhymney.
0:23:16 > 0:23:20Well, Eddie didn't like birth control of any form.
0:23:20 > 0:23:22He thought it was no feeling with it
0:23:22 > 0:23:26and he said a man had to have feeling or he became ill, you see.
0:23:26 > 0:23:29After the birth of her first child,
0:23:29 > 0:23:33Joan suffered six miscarriages before she fell pregnant again.
0:23:34 > 0:23:37I lost six babies, one after the other.
0:23:37 > 0:23:39I don't know why.
0:23:39 > 0:23:44I don't think they knew why either. but...I did, one after the other.
0:23:44 > 0:23:47And then the second child, after she was born,
0:23:47 > 0:23:50I couldn't even touch her to start with.
0:23:50 > 0:23:53I was frightened to pick her up in case I broke her. You know?
0:23:54 > 0:23:57Because she was so fragile, I thought.
0:23:57 > 0:23:59Because I'd lost all the others, you see.
0:23:59 > 0:24:04Joan was in a prolonged state of postnatal depression.
0:24:04 > 0:24:07Yet she felt her husband was dismissive of her plight
0:24:07 > 0:24:10and there was little medical understanding of her condition.
0:24:10 > 0:24:13I was suffering with postnatal depression.
0:24:13 > 0:24:16I was grieving for six children, for God's sake!
0:24:16 > 0:24:19And I couldn't cope, I really couldn't cope.
0:24:19 > 0:24:22And one day my husband was coming home from work
0:24:22 > 0:24:24and I thought, "I'll go round the corner
0:24:24 > 0:24:26"and I'll stand there till he goes in the house
0:24:26 > 0:24:29"so the children won't be on their own."
0:24:29 > 0:24:31And then I went up the mountain then.
0:24:32 > 0:24:35Yeah, up to the deep pools up there.
0:24:35 > 0:24:36They were very deep.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39Goodness knows how deep they were, but they were.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41I went into the pool,
0:24:41 > 0:24:43and I thought, "That's it now.
0:24:43 > 0:24:46"All I've got to do is let myself go, just let myself go
0:24:46 > 0:24:48"and that'll be it."
0:24:48 > 0:24:50And as I went up to my thighs,
0:24:50 > 0:24:52I felt a baby move inside me
0:24:52 > 0:24:54and that was my third child.
0:24:54 > 0:24:59And there was no way could I kill a child and myself.
0:24:59 > 0:25:01I love children far too much.
0:25:01 > 0:25:03So back I went
0:25:03 > 0:25:05to the life.
0:25:08 > 0:25:11Joan's second and third children were born 12 months apart.
0:25:14 > 0:25:15But from the mid '60s,
0:25:15 > 0:25:18the contraceptive pill offered married women
0:25:18 > 0:25:21significant improvement in birth control.
0:25:21 > 0:25:24Margaret Lloyd worked at a family planning clinic.
0:25:25 > 0:25:28I think I was able to empathise with them
0:25:28 > 0:25:32and give women the understanding it is their right
0:25:32 > 0:25:35to control their family.
0:25:35 > 0:25:40So the pill gave women the control on their lives.
0:25:40 > 0:25:43If they were a professional woman,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45they knew they could go back to work.
0:25:45 > 0:25:49Women working in the factories no longer had to worry
0:25:49 > 0:25:52in case they were pregnant.
0:25:52 > 0:25:55A continual worry, you know - "Am I pregnant again?
0:25:55 > 0:25:58"Oh, my God, I hope not because we've got a house,
0:25:58 > 0:26:01"we've got a mortgage." And then the child turns up.
0:26:06 > 0:26:10Tyrone and Elaine O'Sullivan married in 1967
0:26:10 > 0:26:13and set up home in Merthyr.
0:26:13 > 0:26:16Tyrone was part of a new generation of men
0:26:16 > 0:26:19who took advantage of the opportunity for family planning.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23My mum was one of six children,
0:26:23 > 0:26:25my dad was one of five brothers, two sisters.
0:26:25 > 0:26:27So they were big families.
0:26:27 > 0:26:31And while it was nice, we were a different generation.
0:26:31 > 0:26:33We thought we should plan our families
0:26:33 > 0:26:35and perhaps have two children.
0:26:35 > 0:26:37That was our plan from the very beginning
0:26:37 > 0:26:40and I got through using birth control.
0:26:40 > 0:26:41But we were determined,
0:26:41 > 0:26:47Elaine had a job, I had a job, so that's what we should do.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53But Joan Hilditch was not able to use birth control with her husband.
0:26:55 > 0:26:58In desperation, after the birth of her fourth child,
0:26:58 > 0:27:01she took advantage of the 1969 divorce law
0:27:01 > 0:27:02to end her marriage.
0:27:04 > 0:27:06As a divorcee, though,
0:27:06 > 0:27:10she was not looked on favourably by her local community.
0:27:10 > 0:27:13After I was divorced, there was definitely a stigma
0:27:13 > 0:27:15with divorced people.
0:27:15 > 0:27:18The neighbours weren't very pleased for a start, you know?
0:27:18 > 0:27:22They'd been my friends before that, helping me out with the children,
0:27:22 > 0:27:24doing... Brilliant, you know, really nice.
0:27:24 > 0:27:28All of a sudden, I was this, sort of, scarlet woman.
0:27:28 > 0:27:32I mean, I wasn't very good in the home - you know,
0:27:32 > 0:27:35putting washers on and wallpaper and everything
0:27:35 > 0:27:38so I used to have a lot of offers from husbands around
0:27:38 > 0:27:42that if I wanted anything, just let them know and they'd come.
0:27:42 > 0:27:46Well, their wives didn't like the idea of that at all!
0:27:46 > 0:27:49So I learnt how to do these things myself.
0:27:49 > 0:27:52I did. I got different books.
0:27:52 > 0:27:54I changed the washer,
0:27:54 > 0:27:57I did the...I wallpapered the kitchen,
0:27:57 > 0:27:59I did lots of things on my own.
0:28:00 > 0:28:03I loved being a single mum, I really, really did.
0:28:03 > 0:28:07We were very poor. We didn't have much money whatsoever,
0:28:07 > 0:28:08but it didn't matter.
0:28:08 > 0:28:12First time in my life I had been free.
0:28:12 > 0:28:13I was free.
0:28:17 > 0:28:22The prosperity of the '60s revolutionised home and family life.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25Better housing and all mod cons benefitted everyone,
0:28:25 > 0:28:28especially women, who now began to enjoy greater independence
0:28:28 > 0:28:30than ever before.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39The '60s saw profound change in Wales,
0:28:39 > 0:28:43driven by full employment and unparalleled affluence.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45It was the decade when a younger generation
0:28:45 > 0:28:49broke free of the old order to create a more open society,
0:28:49 > 0:28:53proud of its past, yet striving for a new future.
0:28:53 > 0:28:55Wales would never be the same again.
0:29:02 > 0:29:05Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd