PONTARDAWE’s VALENTINE COUPLE

Fancy That, the Wool and Gift shop has been a welcome addition to Pontardawe for eight years now and Linda and Steve have become well known in the town. They have been together since 1997. Linda, who hails from Trebanos, had a close friend that was a speaker in spiritualist churches and she used to accompany her to churches up and down the country.

She first met Steve whilst they were in a church in the midlands. Steve was brought up and lived in the midlands but always felt drawn to Wales, his grandparents even having a caravan in Barmouth. Obviously with a blossoming relationship starting with Linda that draw was intensified.

Linda was born in Craig Road Trebanos, the last house before the farms. Her father was working on the night shift at the Mond when Linda decided to enter the world. She was born just after midnight and there was a power cut, so her mother had to wait for her husband to return from work in the morning before he could summon the district nurse. She went to school locally in Trebanos, enjoyed her childhood and walks by the farms and then started work at the Mond.

She enjoyed a number of jobs all locally before she married and gave birth to two children a boy and a girl. One of her children now lives in Bournemouth and the other in Nottingham and she is the proud grandmother of four grandsons.

Steve was a carer for clients with mental health issues in residential supported accommodation. A major part of his duties involved cooking and ensuring that there were hot, nutritional meals available. The range of abilities that his clients possessed were immense and therefore the amount of care he had to administer varied accordingly.

Steve has three daughters and a son scattered over the Midlands. After their previous marriages Linda and Steve started their long range romance until Steve moved down.  Steve continued to work as a carer whilst Linda was working with food for Debenhams.

They decided to use their knowledge and experience in cooking to rent a Fish and Chip shop in Port Talbot. The shop had been closed for two years but they soon built up a healthy trade and a regular customer base.

However, disaster stuck. Faulty electrics on the range led to a fire that engulfed the building. Their dreams literally went up in smoke!

The owner didn’t have any insurance in place and so, it was, start again, time.

Steve noticed a small shop available in Pontardawe and they wanted to replace something Ponty used to have. So the idea for a wool shop developed. They knew that wool on its own would struggle to generate enough income so they retail a range of gifts as well.

Steve is particularly enthusiastic about the range of WarHammer games they stock that includes model making, painting and gaming. They have built up a regular customer base and it would seem that customers still prefer to see the colours and feel the wool rather than trust to the internet.

I don’t know if Steve or Linda used the term ‘Fancy That’ when they first met but it seems apt and has definitely stuck.

THIS FEATURE WITH MORE PHOTOS WILL BE IN FEBRUARYS ISSUE OF THE PONTY MAG.