The Parade, Park Place c1955, Waunlwyd
The Parade, Park Place c1955, Waunlwyd Ref: W470007
Memories of The Parade, Park Place c1955, Waunlwyd
Waunlwyd 1955 - 1973
I was born in 1955 and lived in Waunlwyd until I went away to University in 1973. I remember this row of shops very well as I was entrusted to shop for family and relatives who would pay me a small fee that I was saving up for a school trip to Paris (that never took place). I remember Mr & Mrs Morgan in the Post Office - who I think you can see in the photo - with their corgi dog. Mr Morgan had the corniest jokes in the world but it was always a treat to go in there. Next door was John Rogers the butchers and I can remember the older Mr Rogers gutting a chicken while carrying on a conversation with a customer - I was about 8 at the time and found it shocking. Next door was Bessie Smith, the greengrocers and next to that was a shop with two entrances - one to a hairdressers and the other to a wool/knitting patterns and haberdashery... Read more
Evacuation to Cwm 1940
My mother, Eunice Weeks, came from Cwm, went into service in Bristol and London at 13 years old. Married in Cwm 1938, lived in London where my brother was born in 1939. Our house was bombed so Mum evacuated to her family in Cwm. I was born at my grandmother's, 14 Emlyn Road, but lived with my great-grandmother, Elizabeth Sayce, at 6 King Street. I went to Duffryn School until I was 6, then we returned to London. My brother and I travelled on the train from Paddington to Newport, then up the Valleys to Cwm, every summer holiday. We went on the Sunday School outing to Barry, went wimberrying up the mountains, and played in the street all day. My mum was the eldest of 10 children, they and their children, my cousins, were always in and out of my Grandparents at Emlyn Road. Grancha had a field opposite with pigs and horses. Grancha and my uncles worked in Marine Colliery. I still have cousins living in Cwm and last visited in... Read more
Waunlwyd & local memories
Read and share memories of Waunlwyd and Gwent inspired by Frith photos.
Waunlwyd
Just seen the photo of Park Place and couldn't resist commenting. The first shop is the post office with Dai and Lally stood out (a well liked couple). Next would be Rodgers the butchers, then Jessie Smith's the greengrocer, then Don Brake's the grocer, then a private house occupied by the Law family. Next was Manship's hairdressers and finally Mrs Warren's haberdashery, later to become Clists chip shop. I left Waunlwyd in 1965 with a lad called david Perry (Rip) to join the army, but I often think of my childhood there.......happy days.
The Village
I left the village in 1960. I attended the local junior and infant school. The teachers I recall were Miss Whitehead, Miss Jenkins, Miss James, Granny Chancellor (she was a lovely lady who taught most of our parents also, those that brought up in the village), Mr Hodge, Eric Finney and Mr Vaughn the Headmaster. Football, cricket, school sports days were up the Gagas and when the school football team played we went to Victoria to play. At the end of the game we would often take a short cut across the slag tips and down through the Pit rather than walk all the way around the road. The slag tips were made up of the remains of the top of the iron melted in R.T.B. I recall this being dumped throughout the day and night time and being taken in large ladels across the main road down by the Institute. At night time the Valley was lit up, so much so that at that point you did not require... Read more
The Park Hotel, Waunlwyd
I understand my late uncle's father, Arthur Miles Beale, along with his wife Janet Beale, nee Stanley, owned and ran the Park Hotel, until he sadly died behind the bar of a heart attack, I think sometime in the late 1940s or early 1950s. It was before my time and now I have no one to ask about this. I would be most interested to find out when he did own it. My late uncle Frank Miles Beale would have been there as a young man. I have been to visit Waunlwyd last year and this year and am still no nearer to finding anything out, it would be great if someone had something hidden in their memory bank.
Yvonne
