House clearance find sparks a Barry mystery
A history enthusiast from Barry who was given photographs and documents after a house clearance is asking local residents to help her trace the descendants of the people they belonged to.
Sheree Conibear returned home to Barry during the pandemic after spending two decades living overseas where she worked as a humanitarian aid worker in a number of different countries, including Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
Shortly after coming home, Sheree was made an administrator of the Old Barry Facebook group, which has been renamed Barry and Wales at Heart and now has nearly 10,000 members.
The group brings together people with links to Barry, helps to reconnect old friends around the world, and is a platform for sharing information and memorabilia connected to the town.
The photos and documents were handed to Sheree by staff from Nina Estate Agents who retrieved them from a house clearance in Barry.
The property has since been sold, and due to client confidentiality, the precise location cannot be revealed. Sheree said: “Since I took over as the admin of the Facebook group, interest has grown massively – we now have readers and contributors from all over the world who have a connection to Barry.
“These photos and documents are fascinating. It would be lovely to find out more about the people involved, but we haven’t had any luck so far on the Facebook group.”
The recovered documents were found in a folder with the initials S.B. Evans on the top, followed by a label from the former Urban District Council of Barry which is dated 23 November 1938.
Inside the folder are a range of documents and photos, including a certificate of employment from shortly after World War I in the name of Thomas Morris Evans, a teacher who served as a private in the Royal Artillery regiment between 21 October 1916 and 09 January 1919. Further documents show his address to be 2, Harbour Road, Barry.
There is photo of a young adult female dated 1945, and another, who appears to be the same person, sat on some steps outside a house. Notes on the back of the photo reveal it was taken in 1948 outside a property called ‘Preswylfa’, where ‘Derek’ lived.
A Christmas card from 1947 with a picture of a different woman inside reads ‘Best wishes from Barbara’.
The folder also contained a copy of the B&D news from 1980, though it is unclear why the owner kept it.
Thomas Morris Evans will inevitably have died, but the younger women in the photos could still be alive, and Sheree is urging people to get in touch if they are able to provide more information on any of the people involved: “These documents and photos belonged to people who would have lived through some of the defining events of the 20th century, and they would have seen huge changes in Barry during their lifetimes.
“Some of the people in the pictures may still be with us, but there must be children, grandchildren, neighbours or friends who could identify them and tell us more about their lives.”
Anyone able to help can send Sheree a private message via the Barry and Wales at Heart Facebook page.
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