Mountain Ash Remembered Between 1970 And 2008

A Memory of Mountain Ash.

Now as a baby of the swinging sixties (1966 to be exact) we didn't see the Beatles or Elvis Presley but we did have the lads coming home from the local pubs singing their hearts out. The pubs included The Mount Pleasant (still alive), The Baileys (alive), The Park Hotel (deceased), The Lee (burnt Down) and the Osbourne (alive) to name a few and the Con Club (Ceiber (alive) and Mount (now gone), Ceiber Legion, The Nixons and The Workmans. The so called posher pubs in the Mount where us ceiber boys were either not welcome or who were barred from anyway such as the Mountain Ash Inn, The New Inn and the Aberdare Hotel (or Aber as it is affectionately known) .... We don't mention the Harp or the Jeff as we boys didn't wear Barbour Jackets or ties so we were not welcome over there.....

The shops in the Mount such as the Leather Stores, Woolworths, and the Pet Shop with George the Mynah Bird that kept us amused by speaking "Hello" and "Pretty Boy" to everyone. The Mounts shops may have come and gone (most have them have now gone) and the place may have had a new one way system which some people still can't get the hang of installed but it is still a nice place to live. People on the whole still speak and say hello to the people they do not even know and everyone knows everyones business. The problems of inner city life seem to to have mostly missed this pleasant valley town and life still seems to be running at a pace that we enjoy.

The outside swimming baths (or Mount Baths as it was known) may now be a distant memory and the times we spent freezing to death in the water on warm days. The boys of Tyrfelin Street (me included) having our outings to the baths on the days that it was raining as the water always seemed warmer when it was raining or perhaps we were so cold outside that the water felt a little warmer HA HA HA.

The memories of the Floods in Henry Street Car Park and Pinos Cafe and the floating sweets and fags, the only time the Baileys closed and us wondering if we would see Noah and his Ark. Miskin Co-op burning down and taking two days to do so and the tears that were shed when the Park Hotel closed its doors to now become Flats for the old age. No fights when we lost the rugby (but in them days we seldom did !!!!) and any fights we did have usually ended with the police being called and we all went home without a charge. The police who gave us a clip round the ear when we were naughty and we wouldn't tell our Dads as he gave us one as well. We all had Mams and Dads at home and brothers and sisters galore....(one of 6 you see). Two and three bedroom terraced houses that had umpteen kids sleeping end to end and Bunk Beds being all the rage.

Christmas.... Ahhh Christmas we had no computers or TV games cosoles and we had a black and white TV with a rubbish aerial when we reached 11 and a 2nd hand bike for Christmas from a neighbour who was buying their kids a new one. A Snooker table that we had to share with all the street as you always had a friend if you had a snooker table. No fancy stockings with your names on them we had a rugby sock of my brothers with white wool at the top for me and a differant colour for my siblings. You always know the Christmas stockings as the first rugby day at school the kids had to play with them around their ankles as they had all been stretched... If you always wondered why JPR Williams always played Rugby with his socks down to his ankles now you now.

Halloween was not spent Trick or Treating and knocking doors for money but spent burning your fingers with candles shoved down Swedes if you were rich and empty tins of peas or beans with faces cut out of them with sharp edges you would slice apendages off with. No make up on the faces just the dirt that was always there and an added soot from the firelighters we piched when our candles had long gone.

The Bonfire nights we spent raiding other local street bonfires and pinching their wood and rubbish was a real treat. Cutting down Silver Birches from the other side of the valley and dragging them across the River Cynon for fear of the police catching us. The mucky books that used to be found every year and was the font of our carnal knowledge. The dens we made in the rubbish and the time we ran when the neighbouring kids set fire to the rubbish while we were in there.....

Chapel on a Sunday the place for Sunday School, where we all learnt our Christian morals and our songs to sing at night in pubs. We used to sit at the back and send notes and play with Rubic's cubes and when the ministers said amen we were the loudest in the room. We all remembered Sunday School and the trips to Barry Island and the oldies and the youngsters playing all our games.

The time we spent in Primary school was fun and the teachers loved us then and to name them all would take all year so forgive me if I just mention, Pengeulan the one that I went to. Mount thanks for the memories and the more to come. AMEN

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