Newbridge As A Boy

A Memory of Newbridge on Usk.

I recall another Newbridge cinema called the 'Grand' on the way to the Grammar School, down by the river. What a smashing place it was, but it burnt down after a short while - maybe it had something to do with that new blockbuster 'Quo Vadis'. I also, and my wife-to-be attended Greenfield Secondary Modern in the mid 50's, and recently bumped into some of our favourite teachers from those days - Terry Pike and his wife Maureen. What teachers we had then, looking back I think they did a brilliant job, except when it came to having 'the dap', what a deterant that was to misbehaving. I remember the Memo well, and the New Years day mattinee where we all had 3d on the way out off Harold Jones (the terror with the torch) who kept the peace in the Memo for many years. What would he think of it today? I wonder if anyone knows how long it took to build the Memo and whether the restoration will take as long; and will we recognise the old building or will it be a replacement? I remember sneeking up the worn steps at the High Street entrance to the exclusive 'reading room and billiard hall', only to be swiftly sent back out, as 'too young' - come back when you are older boy, I was told. Who can recall also those hot summers, when almost every day was spent down at Abercarn Swimming Baths, open air, freezing cold till you got used to it, where most of us kids from Newbridge area had the time of our lives. Buying a penny leg of bread from the corner shop, half way up Hill Street to eat on the way home, walking up the canal bank. Even after I started work in the Celynen South pit, me and my best pal at the time, Jinks (John Jenkins) still couldn't get enough. If we were afternoons, we were there in the morning before work, when we were days we were there straight from work. It would be great to see any photographs or pictures of the baths, but who would have them? Then there was the Friday night dance at the boys club in Newbridge, which Joe Davies ran for years. Happy days, but I don't think they'll ever come back except in our memories, there doesn't seem to be anywhere, by comparison, for kids to go today. Someone mentioned a circus at Windsor Avenue Park, I recall this a little too, also a fair ground above Hill Street for a while, where John Beech was banned from the rifle shooting, for winning all the coconuts on a string. It's nice to recall those days, now where did I put my glasses?

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