{"id":37246,"date":"2017-11-27T13:03:13","date_gmt":"2017-11-27T13:03:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jomec.co.uk\/altcardiff\/?p=37246"},"modified":"2021-02-25T09:08:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-25T09:08:27","slug":"valleys-character-mary-mogg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2017\/11\/27\/valleys-character-mary-mogg\/","title":{"rendered":"Valleys Character: Mary Mogg"},"content":{"rendered":"

A valleys\u00a0matriarch won big on the bingo, and tells us more about her extraordinary life; from the the coal pits to\u00a0the wonders of social media<\/b><\/h2>\n

\"\"

Mary Mogg is the first to admit that she\u2019s lived a long and interesting life. But this year has been the best one yet for her. A valleys matriarch who has weathered nine decades, 21 prime ministers and a world war, Mary\u2019s passion for bingo resulted this year in a jackpot win in the National Bingo. <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI won nearly 12 thousand,\u201d Mary tells Alt.Cardiff, \u201cI couldn\u2019t believe it when it happened, I think I was in shock. I was really very calm about it, I didn\u2019t react how I thought I would. My daughter didn\u2019t even believe me, she thought I was having her on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Mary\u2019s big money win enabled her to do the one thing she always wanted to do; treat her family.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cI gave the money away,\u201d she says, \u201cto my family. And I did it gladly. Everyone had a share. My daughter and son, my grandchildren, my great-grandchildren. My family is my greatest achievement in life and they all deserved something.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

91 year old Mary\u2019s win made her something of a local celebrity and opened her eyes to something she\u2019d never experienced before; social media.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cWhen I won, the bingo hall posted a picture up on Facebook,\u201d Mary remembers, \u201cI didn\u2019t even really know what Facebook was! There were people – hundreds and hundreds of them – commenting on this photo and liking it, I think, is that what it\u2019s called? People I\u2019d never met before saying congratulations to me, it was very nice to see.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\/\/subheading\/\/<\/b><\/p>\n

The most beautiful place in the world<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

But, admittedly, her win is not the only thing that\u2019s interesting about Mary or her life. Moving to the village of Gilfach Goch when she was just seven years old, Mary\u2019s upbringing was marred by difficulty.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother was nearly blind,\u201d she remembers, \u201cand she had to bring three children up by herself. All the money we had was one pound and six shillings a week [around about \u00a322 today]. That\u2019s all. Could you imagine trying to survive on that today?\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"

Gilfach Goch has been Mary\u2019s home for more than 80 years, but she\u2019s also experienced life outside the valleys; travelling all over the world, including Australia. But Mary says she has always returned to the place she calls \u201cthe most beautiful place on earth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The area of the South Wales valleys has also experienced seismic changes throughout the years. The biggest change by far is the closure of the coal pits in the 1980s. The pits were the very heart and soul of the valleys, providing employment and even housing for most residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The pits were the lifeline of the valleys, when they closed a part of the valleys died”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

The repercussions of these closures is still felt today, with Mary’s home of Gilfach Goch being classed as a severely deprived area due to the raft of unemployment.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u201cThe pits were the lifeline of the valleys,\u201d Mary says, \u201cwhen they closed, a part of the valleys died with them. I honestly believe that. But they were a horrible place too; there were so many deaths.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

For Mary, the many changes that have occurred throughout her lifetime are only now starting to resonate with her, about how much has truly changed. It’s offered her, she says, the chance to reminisce about her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cI keep thinking back to the olden days,\u201d she remembers, \u201cwhen the only form of transport in this valley was a horse and cart. And now we have god knows what. So much has changed, but so much as stayed the same. That\u2019s like me, don\u2019t you think? Sturdy as a rock.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A valleys\u00a0matriarch won big on the bingo, and tells us more about her extraordinary life; from the the coal pits to\u00a0the wonders of social media<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":280,"featured_media":39479,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,19,36,207,10],"tags":[6067,179,74,1795],"coauthors":[],"class_list":["post-37246","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-culture","category-culture-home","category-no-logo","category-no-logo-home","category-uncategorized","tag-bingo","tag-character","tag-south-wales","tag-valleys"],"yoast_head":"\nValleys Character: Mary Mogg - alt.cardiff<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/altcardiff\/2017\/11\/27\/valleys-character-mary-mogg\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Valleys Character: Mary Mogg - 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