Memories of Pontypridd

birth

i dont have a clear memory of pontypridd, i was a baby of 14 months, a twin when our mother died giveing birth to a baby, her name was margret olwyn birch,nee owen, we were all put in the childrens homes, and my twin and i was adopted by two diffrent people, my other brothers and sisters were brought up in the home. we were born in number 7 norton bridge as it was called then, its now called pontsionnorton .i have visited where i was born, it has wonderful feelings of comeing home. if any one knows of my mother i would love to talk to them. i believe there was a calenda done 2 years ago of norton bridgewith photos of people who lived there in 1943 i would love to see the calender or even just the photo of mother and twins.

Working in Wollies

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.

Swimming?

It was approximately 1960 that whilst bathing in the 'pool' as a child of about 3, I held onto the rail at the edge of the 'boardwalk' and became stuck as my legs were pulled underneath where the water poured in (not being strong enough to pull my legs back) and had to be rescued by another child. Scary!!

My courting days

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.