Pontypridd memories

Graigwen

Graigwen From Above The Station c1925
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The picture is of Graigwen taken above Pontypridd station with Graig yr Hesg in the background.

Working in Wollies

Taff Street 1952
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Whilst still at school I had a job on Saturday's at Woolworths, earning 16s11d for working 9am to 6pm. We had to serve the customers,(no checkouts then). My first day was on the fruit and veg counter and had to learn to use the old style weighing machine, also had to add up the items in our heads as we served. It was a really happy place and I loved it.

My Courting Days

Common, The Memorial c1960
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I lived in Mountain Ash and my husband to be lived in Cardiff, we both used to travel on the bus to Pontypridd to meet up. From there we would walk up to the monument for a kiss and a cuddle. We spent many happy hours up here thinking of our future together. Some times it was so cold we could hardly walk back to the bus as we were frozen. Now 47 years later we sometimes travel to Merthyr and every time we pass the monument we have lovely memories.

My Childhood

Born on The Graig

"It's only wind or powder on the stomach"my Mam had said as she walked home from the ammunition factory on a cold Autumn evening. The "wind" or "powder" was born on the 2nd December 1942. I, Colin Gronow, had arrived, born in the middle of a war! I was the third child born to my parents, Mam, who worked in the "arsenal" at Bridgend, and Dad, who was a coalminer. I had a sister June,and a brother Creighton. My brother was ten and June was eleven. I've always wondered why there was such an age gap, I suppose the war had something to do with it, because during an air raid my Mum and Dad took shelter in the coal cellar under the house, and well, they had to do something to take their minds off the bombing! So here I was, a little boy, born on the Graig, ready to face the world. The Graig is a district about half a mile from the centre of Pontypridd, a small town in the... Read more

Llansamlet School in 1973 to 74

I remember first going to this school as if it was yesterday, my mum also went there and I remember my mother saying that she had a teacher and her name was Maisie Clements and another who did geography, so when I went there they were both still there teaching us. I never liked the geography teacher because he always had a massive long stick on his table that reached to the back of classroom and he used it to whack us on the head or shoulders to get us to concentrate, his name was Mr Williams, I am sure whom ever was taught in this school in 1971 to 73 would remember him and Maisie who drank her whiskey behind the blackboard and wore cherry red lipstick and a wig that hung round her neck, she was the religious education teacher, she was crazy but I did like it there and I can still remember a few of my friends who attended there when I did so come on... Read more

The Children's Home, Woodland Terrace

My sisters and I lived in the children's home at 40 Woodland Terrace, Maesycoed from 1972 till 1975. I remember the staff being very caring but occasionally strict. Us younger ones were banished to the massive garden! We used to sit on the wall at the back of the garden and wait for a man with a delapidated truck hollering "Any old iron". Sometimes we used to sneak through the bushes and head off into town which was down a very steep footpath. If caught, the dormitory was our sanctuary for a couple of hours! We went to a Victorian-looking primary school, I think it was near Dan-y-graig or Dan-y-llan. I'm sure it was called Maesycoed Primary School but my memory is a little hazy. I do remember that a little down the road opposite the school and up a steep hill were fields of fern and heather. The staff used to take us there for walks, probably to tire us out! I could wax nostalgic about those days but... Read more