TRIBUTES have been paid to a former landlady of a Cwmbran pub who went on to run a family farm.

Newport born Winifred Gillard and her late husband Edward ran the Three Blackbirds Inn, Llantarnam, for 18 years.

Tributes have been paid to the former landlady after she died at her Upper Cwmbran home on May 8, aged 104.

Her daughter, Doreen, explained that previously, Mrs Gillard’s grandfather, Edward James, had ran the pub for 15 years, and Mrs Gillard had helped him to run it after leaving education despite gaining a qualification in shorthand, typing and book keeping from college.

Mrs Gillard met her husband through working in the pub as he was a coal man in the area.

The couple had nine children in the house above the bar, and Miss Gillard said that her and her siblings’ had fond memories of growing up there and recalls the regulars having a sing song around the piano.

But the family left when Miss Gillard, the eldest, was 14 years old, as they moved to a Cwmbran farm in 1947 and grew crops and kept cows, sheep, pigs and horses.

She said: “My father was badly injured during the first world war so he didn’t want his son’s to do national service and he always wanted a farm so this is what they decided to do.”

Mrs Gillard’s son, Gordon, added: “We all did jobs on the farm. My mother could drive a tractor and would move hay with a fork.

“She always said people would call her a tom boy when she was growing up. She wasn’t afraid of hard work.”

At home, Mrs Gillard would cook for the family and enjoyed knitting, sewing and crocheting and would make soft household furnishings and clothes for the family.

She remained active right up until her 90’s and still drove a car until she was 94 years old.

In July 2007, Mrs Gillard, then age 96, and her family went back to mark 60 years since they left the pub.

The surprise family gathering saw 15 of Mrs Gillard's closest relatives meet at the pub and pub staff even let her behind the bar, where she pulled a nostalgic pint.

The funeral of the beloved nan of nine grandchildren, nine great-grandchildren and five great-great-grandchildren will take place on Thursday, May 21 at St Peters Church, Henllys at 2.30pm followed by interment in the churchyard.