Smaller stomachs after Coal House

By Sian Harris
BBC News website

Neighbours decorated the Griffiths' home in welcome Catch up with the Cartwrights

How have three families transported to a 1927 mining community for BBC Wales series Coal House readjusted to life? Meet the Griffiths family back in 2007.

Life has changed considerably in the Griffiths home since they returned from the Coal House.

Today, shopping bills are lower and you are more likely to hear the sound of the children playing cards or singing than the television.

Only sibling rows over the computer have resumed.

The impact of experiencing 1927 life had on the family was evident from the day they travelled home and called to see Debra's mother.

Debra said: "We had a chat and our first supper: sausage, mash and peas. But I was not really hungry. I'd adapted to a limited food intake.

"There was this plateful of food in front of you and I thought 'oh my gosh, I'm not going to eat all of this'."

I really miss looking out of my little window on Stack Square, watching the sun and the children playing with the animals. Debra Griffiths

After four weeks of living on what food they could afford from the grocer and butcher carts, the Welsh-speaking Griffiths family from Ceredigion have reduced their weekly shop to avoid throwing away uneaten food.

Like fellow Coal House family the Cartwrights, another effect has been the flood of people approaching the family wanting to talk about the series.

'Chance in a lifetime'

Cerdin, 46, who lost a stone (6.4kg) during his time in the Coal House, is stopped daily, including while at work as a fuel lorry driver.

"I don't mind it, I like it. We had one chance in a lifetime to do the programme, we might as well make the most of it," he said.

Some viewers, including his own sister, were convinced the families had not had it as tough as it appeared.

He said: "She thought we were going to a B&B every night: a lot of people thought that. They thought they were giving us food and we had electricity once the cameras stopped rolling."

Once he explains this was not the case, he usually gets a stunned reaction.

Missing the cottages

Three days after leaving Stack Square in Blaenavon, Cerdin returned to work and while delivering fuel got a reminder of how popular the programme had been.

He recalled: "I was knocking on a woman's door and she came out. It was like she was screaming.

Making a cup of tea in 2007 is a much quicker process for Debra

"There I was in yellow coat pouring with rain, covered in oil and she took my photo. She phoned her husband in work and I had to talk to him."

Although Cerdin misses the friendly chat of the daily walk to the mine, as a claustrophobe, he is glad to be working outdoors instead of underground.

By contrast, housewife Debra, 40, is very much missing life as it was 80 years ago.

She said: "I miss my house, I do miss it. I've got a lump in my throat talking about it. I miss it every day. The peacefulness and calmness.

"I really miss looking out of my little window on Stack Square, watching the sun and the children playing with the animals. It was peaceful and safe."

Not that Debra has not got plenty to keep her busy, with several engagements thanks to her new-found fame.

She has been invited to events such as Christmas fayres, and three speeches are penned in for March at a charity and for the Women's Institute.

The couple's children, Steffan, 13, Angharad, 12 and eight-year-old Gethin say they have really missed the other children from Coal House, but the families have kept in touch.

On Friday we catch up with the Phillips family. Coal House At Christmas is on 21 December, on BBC One Wales, at 2100 GMT and will be repeated on Christmas Day on BBC Two Wales/2W at 1015 GMT.