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Oral history recording in English with Angela Pockley. Recorded as part of the Italian Memories in Wales project (2008-10), delivered by ACLI-ENAIP and funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

00.16 Angela states her full name and date of birth. She talks about her father and describes how he decided to come to Wales. He had a choice of moving to France (considered too close), Argentina (considered too far) and Wales. Within a week he came to Wales with hundreds of other Italian men to work on the tin plates. He had a year’s contract, after which, many Italians went back. He met her mother in Briton Ferry and remained in Wales. She talks about his journey to Wales in detail. She also describes his first impressions. He mixed with mostly Italian people whom he met through work, their hostel and lodgings. Many sent money back to their families in Italy. People would make more money by taking in Italian lodgers so the Italian community was quite close.

05.28 Angela talks about how her mother came over to Wales. She talks about how her mother had to learn English quickly, as she started working in a cafe straight away. She talks about her father’s English never being as good as her mother’s, as he worked with Italian people. Her parents were sociable people, so met Welsh people easily. After her father worked in the Steel works for many years, and her mother in various cafes, they bought their own cafe in 1961 in Ogmore Vale. They mixed with both Italians and Welsh mainly through their cafe.

08.17 Angela talks about her Uncle who lives in Canada. She describes the differences between Welsh- Italians and Canadian-Italians; the community there is very close knit, traditional and not very integrated. In the community, Italian is the main language and people go to an Italian church. She notes that the Canadian-Italians think that Italy is the same as when they left it, and so are very traditional. She describes how her parents upbringing didn’t make her feel Italian at the exclusion of being Welsh, which was a positive thing.

12.20 Interviewer asks how she keeps the Italian culture alive in her life. She explains that her family doesn’t make a conscious effort to be Italian; they accept aspects of both cultures. Her husband embraces the Italian style they eat Italian food, they go on holiday in Italy whether to visit family or not. She states that her father is from Frosinone and her mother is from Piacenza. When asked if she feels at home when she visits Italy she says yes, but as she has never lived there she feels more at home in Wales. Italian was her first language as her parents spoke Italian. From when she was around four years old onwards, her parents started to speak English together in the cafe and she picked it up then. She feels lucky to have parts of Italian and Welsh culture.

15.28 Angela explains that she had always intended to speak Italian to any children she had. However, her own Italian deteriorated and she didn’t want her son Luca to learn incorrect Italian, so instead asked her parents to speak to him in Italian. Often this didn’t happen as it was unnatural for him. Her son loves Italy, and speaks to Italian people over the internet. As an example she explains that for his fourteenth birthday he wanted a big Italian meal with all his friends. The family enjoys having people round for food, as does her son. When asked if she could see her son moving to Italy, she says, though language would be a problem, her son is in contact with a lot of Italian teenagers already so it could be a possibility.

20.21 As for her own view of the Italian side of her culture she was never conscious of it when she was growing up, only that she was always around a lot of Italian people. Angela describes the cafes that her parents owned. They would open at 5 in the morning to and close at 11 at night, to catch workers before morning and after evening shifts. In the early days they would only have Tuesdays off. She talks about the regulars- mine, factory and transport workers. Angela worked there from a very young age, and became frustrated with weekend work in the cafe as a teenager. She recalls how she could map out the day from the sound of the regular clients who came in throughout the day. She also remembers waking up to the sound of the coffee machine in the morning, she remembers the equipment she used from a young age, when working there. She describes the food they cooked and the companies who came into the cafe.

29.20 When she was seventeen her family bought a separate house in which to live. She recalls the positive, sociable aspect of living in the shop, something she misses now in Caerphilly. She still keeps in contact with some people with Italian backgrounds though many have gone their separate ways. She says that the Italian community is dispersing. Some groups try to keep the Italian community alive, she, however, doesn’t like to force the Italian side of her heritage.

33.54 Angela talks of her knowledge of the history of Italian immigration to Wales. She talks about the main influxes of Italians moving to Wales. The main influx was after the First World War, many Italians moved to Wales from Bardi. The first set of people set up cafes, milk bars and temperance bars. She talks about hard times during the war, when sons with British nationality had to take their Italian fathers to be interned. After the Second World War many people came over for jobs, due to poverty in Italy. When asked if emigration from Italy may have been a negative thing, she explains that it may have had a positive effect in the sense that it left more jobs for the Italians living in Italy.

38.11 She talks about the main industries in her father’s hometown. It is mainly agricultural, but now there are some factories. She recalls her parents’ hometowns as being very different. She recounts often looking at a table of food at her aunt’s house in the South, and everything was home produced. She fondly remembers the time she has spent there. Where her mother is from people are less traditionally Italian, and more ‘English’ in their ways. She says if she hadn’t met her husband he would have moved over to Italy. Now she says it’s not a possibility but they wish to spend more time there in retirement.

To finish she says the big thing about Italian influence are family values, and because of that she finds that teenagers in Italy have far more to say than English teenagers. She talks about returning to Italy for Ferr’Agosto and the celebrations there at that time.