Memories of Mumbles

Diving off the Donkey Rock

We moved to Thistleboon, Mumbles from the East End of London in 1968 when I was 7 years old and I fell in love with the sea. A fond memory of those far off summers is my friends and I jumping from the Donkey Rock at Rotherslade at high tide. You had to time your launch just right to catch the crest of a wave as it rolled up the beach. Too soon and the water would be too shallow, many a scraped knee or ankle was had from these escapades. It was particularly good if there had been a storm the day before and the surf was choked with seaweed. This would act as a cushion upon landing! Mind you... it was a bit of a struggle getting out to the beach. Today's Health & Safety police would have a fit if they saw what we got up to. Tying old washing lines together and abseiling down the cliffs at Lambs Well and Doctors Mine. One Bonfire Night we collected as many fireworks as we could, packed all the gunpowder from them into an old Coke can, piled pebbles from the beach around and blew it up under the old Rotherslade concrete promenade... the resulting boom left me deaf for 3 days afterwards.. and I've still got the scar on my head where the blast knocked me over. Ahh...happy days and a charmed childhood.

A Happy Memory

Whenever I heard the words "The Mumbles" as a child, it conjured up a very romantic image in my mind. According to family history, my Great-grandfather Thomas Stokes proposed to my Great-grandmother Matilda Thomas there. I can just imagine them enjoying the lovely view and sea air and planning their future. They left Wales for America in 1908, never to return to their special place. So it was especially sweet for me to be able to visit there in 1992. I still keep the memory of that day close to my heart.

The Pier!

I have many happy memories of Mumbles Pier from the 1950s onwards. It was a place of Penny Slot Machines and there were lots of opportunities to spend your pocket money and have fun! I can remember the Laughing Policeman exhibit - a penny in the slot started a unusual and rather scary model of a Policeman, complete with helmet, swaying from side to side and laughing. There was also the Haunted House where a further penny opened up coffins, cupboards with skeletons and all sorts of ghosts emerging from the spooky house! There was even the naughty machines where we turned handles and which showed What The Butler Saw ... where a further few old pennies were used up!

Innocent pleasures, but a real treat !

A bag of chips (in newspaper of course), the bracing sea air and the lengthy  walk back along the seawall towards Norton made the day complete .

This postcard is from an earlier age than I remember, but I am sure it was even then a place of entertainment !

Childhood memories in the Mumbles

I was born in London, but my Mother came from the Mumbles, so several times a year we took the train from Paddington on our journey to Swansea. With a large family of grandparents, aunts, uncles and cousins, the sea, the beaches and the freedom, I thought I was in heaven! This photo of the Mumbles in 1954 was just as I recall it. You can see Fortes ice cream parlour in the centre, now demolished. I spent many happy times there eating knickerbocker glories! I can taste them now! The sea wall was just to the right of the photo behind the shops and the Mumbles Tram ran along the seafront.  Happy Times !