I have lived all my life within a few miles of the Severn Arms. I spent my childhood at Blaenycwm and Nantleach attending school at Llanddewi and my first visits to Penybont were with my father coming to the Cattle Market. I also have vivid memories of Penybont Fair which we attended every year without fail. There were then stalls all the way from the bridge to the cattle market, crockery by the Iron Room, coconut stalls, roll-a-penny, dodgems, a shooting gallery and stalls selling all sorts of things. I remember especially the skill of the crockery salesman, throwing the plates up in the air and banging them down hard on the counter and then throwing them in bundles to his assistant. No wonder the women bought them from him.

 
As I grew up I came more often to the cattle and sheep markets. All these were held close to the Severn Arms and the hotel made a roaring trade on those days. The big store cattle auctions were in March, August and October. There were sometimes over 600 cattle sold. They were driven to market from as far away as Llanbister, Abbey Cwmhir and Hundred House and then after the sale taken in lots to Penybont Station. I was employed for a time by Mr Grey to take groups of 50 cattle to the station. When we got there we handed them over to the station staff and Mr Grey brought us back in his car to collect a further batch. We would sometimes take four or five journeys to the station after an auction – and then walk home again afterwards. I also came to the big ewe sales and the Horse Fair in November when there were ponies tied up all along the road from the bridge to the hotel. I can remember once Ralph Collard rode a pony up the stairs of the Severn Arms right up to the bedrooms!

 
There have been some great ‘characters’ who were regulars at the Severn. They all gathered most evenings in the bar around the fire, buying their beer in the Tap Room on the way in from the back yard. There were in those days just two pumps behind the bar and I only remember beer being sold. There were usually one or two dogs lying on the stone floor in front of the fire and a great cloud of tobacco smoke. Among the regulars were Stan and Alan Price, two bachelors who farmed at the Graig. When greeted they always replied “not so bad, how’s yourself?”. Tom Bottwood sat by the fire and warmed his beer by taking a red hot poker and putting it in the glass. Jo and Bill Watkins were usually there. On one evening the telephone rang and someone said, ‘it’s for you Jo’. Jo’s reply was ‘How did they know I was here?’. Others who made up the fellowship were Elwyn Lewis Abermithil, Bill Miles, Bill Griffiths (Oliver’s father), Tom Powell the Cefn, Ralph Collard, Jack Bufton Eaglestone, Basil Griffiths, Bob Phillips, Dai Davies Swydd, Sid Bufton Sunnybank, Jack Price, Tom Baileymawr. Where would you find a better company of men? I well remember one evening when a lorry load of geese had been left outside and Dai the Swydd let them in to the dining room and then went and told Bessie Brown that her Christmas poultry had been delivered.

 
Almost everything that happened in Penybont happened at the Severn. I can remember great auctions in the Iron Room which brought a very large number of people from far and near and created great excitement. There have been concerts, meetings and dinners with the football club, the British Legion, YFC and many other organisations. The Severn Arms was always there for the people of Penybont and District and I can’t imagine our village without it.