He was a writer, artist and renowned headmaster who wrote over 800 articles in the South Wales Argus and several books about his beloved Gwent. MARTIN WADE tells the story of the fondly-remembered Fred Hando.

His writing evokes another world. It is a placed untouched by motorways and of leafy, secluded places.

In his line drawings and weekly Argus column, Fred Hando delighted generations of Argus readers with his depictions of the places of Gwent.

Fred began to write his columns for the Argus in the 1920s. He wrote to the then editor William Collins asking if he would be interested in an illustrated article on local places of interest. Collins agreed, but said: “I’ll have 15”.

And so under the title 'Rambles in Gwent' he delighted readers with his weekly column, telling of the history of some unexplored corner of the county, complete with a delicate illustration.

His nephew David Hando has written a book on his famous uncle, called ‘A Proud Son of Gwent’ and he is clear on why Fred was inspired to write about the beauty he saw in this corner of South Wales.

"He served in the Royal Engineers in Flanders during the First World War and the devastation he saw made him appreciate the beauty of Gwent and he was determined to make other people realise what a beautiful place it was too”.

He wanted to shine a light on lesser-visited places. “Everyone knows about the Transporter Bridge” David recalls he would say”. His writing conveys agreeable walks in the countryside. David says: “He used to say his main interests were 'country houses, country churches and country pubs - preferably in that order!'”

The pieces were written so people could read them and follow his tracks to the places he visited. Long before car ownership became common-place, Fred included advice on which buses to catch in his guides.

Advertising space on the pages of Fred's columns became prized as so many people read his guides to Gwent, or Monmouthshire – he used both terms to describe the county.

Although he wrote his last column for the Argus nearly 50 years ago, David tells how Fred is still well-remembered: “Because his last column was published just four days before he died in February 1970, only people over a certain age will remember him.

But so big an impression he left on readers David said some recalled the articles he wrote "as if they were printed last week."

Fred Hando's Gwent was picturesque, quirky and historic. He mourned the places despoiled by industry. In Cwmfelinfach, he visits the grave of Islwyn, poet of Gwent and the "sweet singer of Sirhowy" as Fred calls him. He tells how Islwyn's memorial at Babell Chapel had a great spoil heap looming over it. "We stood before his monument utterly unable to recapture his sweetness and light, restless in mind and soul by reason of the frightful grey tip, down which fell the contents of the aerial buckets."

He is a master of the miniature, and delights in the small details he finds on his travels. He describes the 16th Century sculpture of the vicar and his wife in the ancient church at Llanvetherine near Abergavenny, noting: "The ring on the second finger of her right hand reminds us that until 1549 the wedding ring was worn on the fourth finger of the right hand."

He is fascinated by the history which surrounds us and he gives us tantalising glimpses of great events. In 'Out and about in Monmouthshire' Fred tells of meeting an old woman of Croesyceiliog who witnessed the Chartists marching on Newport. They were looking for men to join them in the insurrection.

"They entered here," said the old lady "and searched the house for men. When they went into the bedroom the mother held her baby towards them, saying: 'Here's the only man in the house; take him, with pleasure! And all the time her husband was hiding under the yew tree in the field yonder!"

His love of nature shines through. On returning from a fortnight away from Newport, Fred writes of his joy at walking in Allt-yr-yn. He tells of the "pale blue of the reservoirs past Castell-y-Bwch, the scent of honeysuckle and the damp earth in the fields". He recalls how he went fishing there on the canal bank with his father and later swam in the water of the canal with its "unique taste and bouquet" of rotting wood and its floor "soft and dark, like the inside of a black blancmange."

As he walked the highways and by-ways of Gwent he would talk to all he met: from the squire in the grand house to those toiling in the field. One farm hand working in the Usk valley near Newport told the story of a large stone, shaped like a bishop's mitre which sat in a field. The labourer told how every horse and every man who could be found tried to haul the stone from the ground. A chain was looped around the rock and man and horse heaved but to no avail. "How deep is the stone?" Fred asked. "Sufficiently deep to earn the name 'Lang Stone' for itself and the village."

As well as being a long-time columnist for the Argus, Fred was a well-loved headmaster of Hatherleigh Road School. He was appointed as its first headteacher in 1925.

When David unveiled his book on his Uncle Fred, it was clear how well-remembered he was and how auspicious Fred’s former pupils were by those who came to the launch. "There were five authors, three poets and a judge" David recalls, adding: “There was also an 83-year-old lady who still had her leaving certificate from Hatherleigh signed by Fred”.

One of his pupils at Hatherleigh was the TV presenter Johnny Morris. Writing in 1987, he praised his former headteacher: "Fred Hando unlocked our prison and set free what talents that I am sure would have remained locked in us for ever. Fred was a most talented man. He proved to us that all things were possible. We all of us come to a crossroads in our lives. I can only hope that at every crossroads there will be a smiling Fred Hando pointing the way and saying ‘This is the most pleasant and interesting way’”.

His memory lives on in the words he wrote extolling the beauty of the Gwent countryside. Nearly fifty years after his death, Fred Hando is still known and revered. A variety of books were published compiling his writing for the Argus with some of them have become prized collectors' items. David says he has been offered up to £300 for a one of Fred's books 'Rambles in Gwent'.

Fred was awarded the MBE for services to education and to Monmouthshire in 1953. Alongside this great honour is the place he has in the hearts of so many in Gwent and beyond through his writing and his teaching.