Childhood Memories of Lower Cwm

Sometime in the late 1940s my family moved from Upper Cwmtwrch to the Gurnos Council Estate in Lower Cwmtwrch and lived there for the next nine years. I have many memories of the place. The main source of entertainment was the cinema. On Saturday morning I would get on the bus to Cwmllynfell to attend the cinema in the Workingmen's Hall situated on the Square. Most of them were cowboy films. A shilling was sufficient to buy the bus and cinema tickets and leave enough for a packet of chips! I still attended the primary school in Upper Cwm. On one occasion, after school, I climbed a Yew tree on the bank of the River Twrch to look at a pigeon's nest. When the bus arrived suddenly I slid down the tree quickly. When on board I noticed that one of my jacket sleeves was missing. At first I thought someone had cut it off with a scissors! Then it dawned upon me - it had torn off when I slid down the tree. For most of the summer holidays we had to entertain ourselves. If the weather was fine a gang of us would walk up to the River Gwys where we would swim and tickle trout for hours. Sometimes we would go to the outdoor swimming pool in Ystalyfera or go swimming in the River Tawe where the braver lads would jump from the road bridge. One of the attractions in the Gurnos was the Swansea Valley Canal. There were no boats on it but you could walk or cycle on the footpath. One of the games we played was jumping the locks. One of my friends slipped and landed in the mud. The canal has now been replaced by a road.