Hugh, I have read the book "How Green Was My Valley" and seen the movie. My grandmother who lived in Aberdare until she was 13, told my Mother that the movie was pretty close to what she remembered as a young girl in Wales except for the scene where the Mother sits with her apron open to collect everyone's pay on pay day! I love neat the end of the movie, where Hugh brings out a world map and shows his mother the different country's that all her children have got to. South Africa, Australia, the USA and more that I can't remember. This to me was extremely moving because, I know that my grandmother's extended Lloyd family did scatter around the world. These are collateral ancestors of mine that I would have know if we had all been able to stay in the same area. Now, I will never get to know them. My Grandmother said that when you got up in the morning in (Rhondda Valley) Wales, if it wasn't raining, it was going to! I have also read the "The Citadel" by A. J. Cronin many years ago and was very moved by it I don't know how the mine owners treated my family in the USA but I know they must have been pretty bad to some people because the "Molly Maquire's" were quite active in our area. They bombed my grandmother's family church (Welsh Congregational in Edwardsville,PA) just because the mine owner's also went to that church. All things considered, I would rather harvest fruit than work in the Iron Works or the coal mines! Janet ************************************** AOL now offers free email to everyone. Find out more about what's free from AOL at http://www.aol.com.