Commercial Street

A Memory of Pontnewydd.

I lived at number 36 from 1936 for 11 yrs. and saw the changes that World War 11 brought to our village. I remember the milkman and his horse-drawn cart and mam asking for a gill as she searched her purse for the coin to pay for it. Someone would always rush out to collect the horse droppings for use on their garden. The blackouts and the sound of enemy aircraft overhead as they followed the mountain range from Blaenavon to Twyn Barllwm their dropping point for the bombs aimed at Newport Docks. The arrival of the Yanks based at Llantarnam and rides in jeeps to the Mountain Air pub when soldiers took our house neighbours' daughters out for runs. Jeff Saunders and the Rogers boys who lived opposite (where the OAP home is now). Jones and Porters shop at the top of the street and the Bridgend pub. The street party after VE Day. Charles' Funeral Site next to the canal and Tommy Arundle who drowned in the lock behind it. That was a sad day in the village and mam and I saw the police sergeant carrying him to his home in Capel Street where his parents had a shop as we were on our way to my nan's in Church Road.

---

---