Laura Ashley became a household name in the world of fashion for more than two decades. The Merthyr Tydfil born fashion designer and businesswoman expanded into clothing design and manufacture in the 1960s. Laura Ashley s first shop was opened at 35 Maengwyn Street, Machynlleth in 1961. The Laura Ashley association is commemorated by a small plaque. Laura Ashley plaque. Picture: Wiki Commons. Here Laura worked with a seamstress to introduce their first forays into fashion, producing smock like shirts and gardening smocks. The family lived above the shop until moving to Carno, Montgomeryshire. Laura and Bernard Ashley had four children who were all involved with the business.
THERE is no statue dedicated to Alix Minnie Clark in Newtown. Yet it was from 11 Severn Street the young Alix lived in a house known as the Hut which became a centre of the suffragist movement in the 1900s. The house was targeted by those who had maintained only men should be allowed to vote in elections but Alix had continued to campaign and champion women’s rights to vote from her home. The Hut was a unique house with its ancient beams said to have been sourced from dismantled sailing ships and had been an early Newtown weaving factory before the rise of mechanised mills in the 19th century.