available from the bell

skenfrith's lady of letters is a little book of poetry that tells the very moving story of ada pratlett who lived in skenfrith in the 1930s. the book went out of print a couple of years ago but we have re-published it and it is available for sale. the book is available from the bell and is £4.99 plus £1.00 postage and packing. proceeds go to skenfrith enterprises which raises funds to benefit the village, parish and community. to purchase a copy, please email enquiries@skenfrith.com

this collection of poetry tells the very moving story of ada pratlett who was the post mistress in skenfrith in the 1930s. it gives the reader a rare insight into her life and the courage and fortitude with which she faced it. ada's poetry comes from the heart, and was written with no thought of recognition or recompense, only the sheer joy of creative expression. her poems speak of the unspoiled beauty of the skenfrith countryside which, miraculously, remains much the same as when it was the spring of inspiration for her over sixty years ago.

in the 1930s, everyone in the village of the welsh village of skenfrith knew ada pratlett. She was a welcome visitor to their homes, for she was the local post woman: a daunting and challenging job, given the scattered community of farms and cottages that were on her round. before her day started, ada first had a pre-dawn, two-mile walk to take from her cottage to collect her load. a widow with six children to feed and with no regular income at all, ada's post round was vital to her, without any welfare cushion it kept her family together.

when kath hesketh and her husband retired to wern cottage, skenfrith little did they know that a chance visit from three ladies, one all the way from australia, would result in the publication of a book of poetry. one of the ladies peeping through kath's window that day was ada pratlett's daughter gladys, who had come to visit the place where she had been born and had grown up. gladys related the story of her mother's harsh life and spoke of her outstanding talent for writing poetry. tucked away in a drawer on the other side of the world, where gladys had emigrated as a 'ten-pound pom', were ada's poems. within a couple of months, gladys had delivered all the poetry to wern cottage and kath hesketh, rediscovering her talents as a script writer for pathé news, got her typewriter out.