2. These are the Swedish twin
grannies!
This is the story of two very special twin sisters.
Their names are Margareta and Svea and they were born
in Llanelli, Wales, on 6th June 1946.
3. Grandma’s Story
Margareta’s and Sveas mother,
Awen Evans was born in an
Industrial town called Llanelli
South Wales, on September 2nd
4. 1897. They were born in a small town house and shared
their bedroom with four younger sisters. Their Dad
worked hard for the Llanelli Steel Works and their
mother was a proud lady who looked after the children
and the family home.
Growing up Awen loved visiting the
local Docks and watched the large
ships that carried coal and steel
around the World. She would often go
swimming in the sea on a hot day and
listen to the magical stories told by
the sailors. She loved watching ships
being built at Neville's Iron
Shipbuilding Yard and the sight made her eager to
travel the world. Llanelli was a busy industrial port
and people moved to the area to find work in coal
mines, mills and stealworks.
Awen also loved
visiting Park
Howard that had
been given to the
people of Llanelli
by Lady Howard. It
was full of
beautiful flowers,
had a large grass
area to play and a
big grand house.
Megan and her
sisters spent many an hour in these gardens. She
loved watching the red squirrels, counting the yellow
daffodils on the field or simply sitting down on the
grass and looking at the sky wondering where all the
birds were flying too or from.
Awen was very lucky because
she got to go to Copperworks
School and learnt how to read
and write. Copperworks School
5. had been opened by Richard Janion Nevill a caring
employer who wanted the children of the area to
receive an education. Her favourite subject was
Science because she loved learning about the world
around her. She was very lucky because her teachers
encouraged her to study and could see she was a
clever girl. Awen had a dream to travel and after a
chance meeting with Amelia Mary Earhart at Burry Port
she knew her life would take her on a journey of
discovery.
In 1923 Awen met a handsome sailor
called Adan Merlin from Carmarthen
and after the Second World War they
would travel across Europe learning
about the culture, history,
traditions, wildlife and environment
of different countries.
Together Awen and
Adan married at
St Peter’s Church
in Llanelli
(people would
traditional marry
in a church at
Wales) and moved into a new home at
Lakefield Road. Adan worked at Copperworks Dock
loading copper and coal onto the ships. Together
they had nine beautiful girls who today can be found
scattered across Europe. Awen loved to share stories
of her life and experiences and her children never
tired of listening to these. She told traditional
Welsh stories from the Mabinogion and read the Bible
every night to her children. She knew of famous Welsh
people such as Mari Jones, King Arthur and St David
and shared the history of Wales with her children.
Her children grew up in a changing society that has
seen the Second World War, the changing face of
landscape and closure of industry at Llanelli,
changes in transportation and the development of
technology to name a few. They understand to achieve
a better future they need to learn from the past.
7. Her Childhood
Margareta’s and Svea’s mum
loved to share stories of
her life and experiences
and they and their sisters
never tired of listening
to these. She told
traditional Welsh stories
from the Mabinogion and
read the Bible every night
8. to her children. She knew of famous Welsh people such
as Mari Jones, King Arthur and St David and shared
the history of Wales with her children.
Margareta and Svea grew
up in a changing society
that has seen the Second
World War, the changing
face of landscape and
closure of industry at
Llanelli, changes in
transportation and the
development of technology
to name a few.
As children they have a
vivid memory of WW2 and
remember having to hold
a gas masks and the use
of black-out blinds
during the hours of
darkness at home.
Identity cards, clothing
coupons and ration books
to ensure the fair
distribution of food
were also to become part of everyday life. Evacuees
from London stayed at the town and lifelong friends
were made such as Alby from Watford.
A visit by the Luftwaffe saw a bomb
being dropped on sand dunes adjacent
to the North Dock. The explosion
broke windows of houses in the
Seaside area and the resulting fire
lit the sky for miles around.
Margareta and Svea vividly remembered
walking with their mother along Queen
Victoria Road in the direction of the
fire in order to join other members
of the family in a local Anderson
shelter. The realization that their
father was one of the fire-fighters
tackling the blaze was a frightening thought.
9. Llanelli beach was used as a practice area for
assault landings. At the appointed time, the troops
embarked at Swansea Docks, bound for Normandy. They
landed on Omaha Beach following D. Day as part of the
invasion, code named Operation Overlord.
The twin sisters also loved the environment and
through their lives they have seen many changes to
the landscape of the area were they live. The
Industry that surrounded Llanelli closed such as the
iron works, coal mines and ship building companies.
10. Her School
Margareta and Svea studied in Copperworks School as
their mum and sisters.
In School Margareta and Svea had many good friends
such as and Amy
who loved
reading and
sports. They
both remembered
their teachers
well such as, Mr
Brown who taught
them to read.
Margareta and
Svea were very
happy to learn
about
traditional
Welsh stories.
Schoolteachers were very strict and the children
learnt spellings and their times table every day.
Margareta also loved singing. Growing up she
remembered taking part in the Eisteddfod where she
would sing and dance with her sisters and friends.
Svea, on the other hand, was very interested in
sports and was very athletic.
11. Where are the sisters?
When Maragareta was a teenager it was difficult to
find work in the area and many people left Llanelli.
Margareta and her sisters moved to find work across
Europe, only Sian stayed in Llanelli as a teacher.
Margareta and her twin sister Svea were in their
early twenties when they settled in Varberg (Sweden).
All the sisters keep in contact through e-mail,
telephone, letters and SKYPE.
12. Her travel to Sweden
In 1973, when Margareta was 27 years old she met a
young man from Träslövsläge (Sweden). They fell in
love and they got married. They had 4 children,
Mikael born in 1975, Sara born in 1977, Sandra born
in 1978 and last but not least Helena.
Margareta´s husband
Martin was a fisherman
and was out fishing
most parts of the
week.
Margareta worked at the bicycle
factory Monark in Varberg thus
the four children were in
daycare. When Margareta started
to work at Monark it was one of
Varbergs largest work places.
However, when she retired the
factory had decreased since
many bikes were now
manufactured outside Sweden.
13. On Sundays they always went
to church which was an
important meeting point in
this small community.
Today, Margaretas
grandchildren play
floorball on Sundays, which
is a popular sport and many
locals go watch them play.
They lived in a small
house in the village
Träslövsläge. In the
summertime they
sublet the house to
tourists while they
themselves lived in
the cellar. This was
very common in
Varberg at that time
because it was an
extra income for poor
fisherman families.
Svea on the other hand settled in the centre of the
city. She worked at the local museum located in the
Fortress of the city. On a beautiful summer day in
1975, when guiding a group, she met a handsome young
man from Varberg, Sven Johansson They married in 1976
and had their first and only child the year after, a
little boy called Oscar. They lived in an apartment
just by the ocean.
Granny and her sisters
14. Margareta and Svea have a good contact with their
sisters who are spread out around the better parts of
Europe. They write each other, send e-mails and
Skype. The students at the different schools have
helped them with this. The Swedish sisters have a
collection of stamps and recipes from their sisters
new home countries.
Eight green grannies- Time Watch
Team
15. All the sisters are very worried about the planet. In some of
their letters and e-mails they talk about environmental
problems.
Here is the letter from the twin grannies from Sweden;
Margareta from Ankarskolan and Svea from Håstensskolan.
Solutions to the Swedish problem –
Spain
Dear sisters!
We the Swedish twin sisters, Svea and
Margareta, want you to think about
energy. How much energy do you use? How
much energy does your school use. If you
like you can make a movie about energy
use in your school or in your town.
Please discuss the following questions in
your class; What is your favourite thing
that uses electric energy? Where does the
energy in your house come from? How much
energy does your school use? How do you
heat your school? What kind of energy did
they use in your city two hundred years
ago? Do we use more energy today? Why? Why
should we save energy? How can you save
energy? What can you do in the future to
get a better environment? Please answer
our questionnaire …
Yours Margareta and Svea
16. In Spain Flora presented the Swedish
problem and the children worked really
hard. They did many activities about
energy. The younger students attended a
workshop about energy held by experts
from the University. The Older ones
answered the questionnaire online and
also made a Science Project about
"Renewable Energies", they wrote a
project and made items of handcraft. Here
you can see some of their Science
Projects.
17. Solutions to the Swedish problem –
Finland
In Finland Annikki presented the Swedish
problem and the children worked
excellently. They did many activities
about energy. They discussed energy in
the world and at their school. They made
posters, interviewed the headmasters and
the janitor. Here you can see some of
their results.
18. Solution to the Swedish problem –
Wales
In Wales Sian presented the Swedish
problem and the children in Wales worked
with energy saving in their own
environment. They discussed how to walk
and cycle more in everyday life.
19. Solution to the Swedish problem –
Poland
In Poland Barbara presented the Swedish
problem and the children worked with
energy in Poland. They made posters and
talked about how to save energy at home.
Here you can see some of their results.
20. Swedish solutions to problems
The Swedish students have worked with
solutions to environmental problems
around Europe.
21. Swedish solutions to the Spanish
problem
The students received a letter from the Spanish
granny Flora. She wanted them to think about and work
with solutions to save endangered animals. The
students worked with endangered animals in Sweden and
went the material to Spain.
Swedish solutions to the Polish
problem
The students received a letter from the Polish granny
Barbara. She wanted them to think about recycling.
The student worked with what, where and how to
recycle.
22. Swedish solutions to the Finnish
problem
The students received a letter from the Finnish
granny Annikki. She wanted them to work with reusing
old material and turning it into something new. This
is also known as up-cycling.
23. Swedish solutions to the Welsh
problem
From Wales the students received a letter from the
Welsh school presenting how they have worked with
water conservation. They asked us to do a water
survey and think about how to save water at our
school or in our homes. Our Swedish students chose to
present it in the form of short animated movies.
24. Swedish solutions to the Italian
problem
Our students received a letter from the Italian
granny Maria. She wanted the students to think about
how we can reduce the amount of things we throw away.
Since the Italian problem, reduce is closely
connected with the Finnish problem, reuse (up-cycle)
and the Polish problem, recycle we chose to start
with group discussions about waste; cause – effect –
solutions. For the concept reduce we have made
posters that encourage people to throw away less
waste.
