Choirboy 1936

A Memory of Swansea.

My brother Joe joined St Mary's church choir about 1936. We lived on Pantycelyn Road, Town Hill and every Sunday morning he was forced to drag me, his sister (sixteen months younger), down the hill and across town to the church. He went into the choir loft and I was left to find a seat somewhere. The place looked enormous to me and not many people attended the service. Sometimes I sat in the back row, sometimes in the middle, sometimes in the second row from the front. I wasn't allowed to sit in the front row. On the days communion was held people would line up in the aisle, and I always remember one man kept rubbing the side of his head as he walked along.
All the time I attended the church -  a little girl, sitting all by herself, surrounded by empty seats - not one member of the clergy came near me. I can still remember the Vicar, a little plump with a red face.
On the way home we passed a tall white building, a store of some kind which had windows where they displayed their merchandise. Joe and I loved the window which had a display of Mickey Mouse watches.