Early Days In Bargoed

A Memory of Bargoed.

I was born, in 1945, in the front room of my parent's rented house in Bristol Terrace, Bargoed. Open the front and you were on the pavement!!. We had no central heating, no double glazing, no indoor bathroom (tin bath hanging on a nail outside), no running water and we used the tepid water from the hotwater bottles on a winter's morning's to wash (ice inside the glass on bedoom windows). My sister and I had one "luxury" - our father worked regular nights down the pit (Barged Steam Coal), he come at 6 o'clock in the morning and we had a "roaring" coalfire in the grate to keep us warm. We hardly locked the front door because we had nothing to steal. We were all in the "same boat"

Looking back I think my generation were probably more healthier than todays. We had a more "austere" regime. The food we had was basically good and wholesome grub. If we needed to get from A to B we had to walk or treck to the nearest but stop. No telly or wireless (radio) but we were "bloody happy". This is a brief resume of my early life in Bargoed. I left Bargoed in 1964.
Cymru an Byth


Added 03 June 2012

#236680

Comments & Feedback

You could be me. I was born in 15 Bristol Terrace in 1950. Everything you said was true. I am now living in Swaziland and visit Bargoed every year. My name is Raymond Thomas and I lived with my grandparents the Ariss family. I would have been a miner but ended up an accountant. Great days

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