Portmeirion Children's ABC by Sarah Nachamkin

Portmeirion Children's ABC by Sarah Nachamkin (Hardback)

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Portmeirion Children's ABC by Sarah Nachamkin (Hardback)

An alphabet for Anwyl from Sarah

Anwyl is the eldest daughter of Susan-Williams-Ellis and Euan Cooper-Willis. Susan and I were students just before the Second World War at Chelsea School of Art. We met, and so began a friendship which has lasted throughout our lives.

In 1950 when Anwyl was four years old I decided to make an alphabet book for her. By that time Susan and Euan's second daughter Siân was two and a half years old, so she also appears in the book. Their two younger children Menna and Robin were born a few years later (in 1957 and 1958). They all learned the alphabet from this book, which I had hand painted and bound with ribbons, and it is quite surprising that it has survived in such good condition.

The family had special names for certain people, animals and objects. The children's grandparents, Amabel and Clough Williams-Ellis (the architect of Portmeirion) who lived at Plas Brondanw were called 'Mouse' and 'Pluto' within the family. When they were small, Anwyl and Siân called ducks 'quackingers', cats 'pussingers' and hot water bottles were always called 'hotties'. 'Emily', whose portrait appears in the alphabet, was Anwyl's rag doll, an important element in her life, and a great traveller.

Now I live in Spain with my Spanish husband Pepe, but we have not lost our contact with Anwyl, her parents and her sisters and brother. Siân is my god-daughter and they are our family.