Langstone Memories Part 2

A Memory of Langstone.

Just south of the entrance to the Airdries was the Methodist Church where we had summer bazaars. Adjacent to this lived Ernie Beard and his wife Betty. They had a Dalmation called Major which I used to walk for them. Mr Beard often complained about how muddy the dog was when I brought it back, but he didn’t realize how much fun we’d had climbing through streams and hedges. Further down the road lived another James family; Cyril and Nancy James. Cyril James was the brother of Mrs Phyllis James (deceased husband Henry) and Nancy James was a ‘lunch lady’ at the primary school. At the end of the street lived three girls I went to school with at the primary school. Helen Orr lived in the end house with her older brother Richard. Just up from them lived (in separate houses) Tracy Mallet and Sally Daw. I had several friends in nearby Park End; Anthony Young and David Toll. We went to school together and all three of us worked for Danny Wills in his flower business. At the entrance to Park End the house had a huge apple tree that overhung the fence. Every fall it was loaded with apples and we’d get then by throwing rocks up into the tree to knock them down. Nothing tasted better than stolen apples. Also in Park End were several teachers / lunch ladies from the primary school. There was Mr Hammond, one of our teachers and an avid radio operator, and Mrs Friend, one of the lunch ladies. I remember many of the teachers from the school as well. The most scary was the headmaster, Mr Griffiths. My first teacher was Mrs Whitehead and I spent many happy days in her class drawing and playing. My favourite teachers were; Mr Jones (Gareth Jone's father) and Mrs Bailey. On the east side of the playground at the school was a huge log that we all sat on and played. At the primary school I became good friends with Richard James and Gerald Cole. Richard lived at Llanbedr Hall and always had incredible birthday parties there. Gerald lived along the old Roman road towards Coldra and I often spent days after school at his house. His mother Barbara drove a very ancient small panel van with a rusted out rear end and no seats in the back. She would pick us up in this and we’d bounce around in the back, sniffing exhaust fumes getting sucked in through all the holes in the back. Also at Langstone school I experienced my first real crushes on girls. The ones that left lasting memories (at least in my mind) were Sarah Preece, Deborah Holden and Carolyn Stops. Prior to starting school at Langstone Primary, I spent my days going on long walks with my mother. We would often walk towards Llanwern and watch the cows being milked at the farm next to Langstone Church. Just past the church was an old house with a beautiful thatched roof and in between the church and this cottage was a sort of roadside watering hole which always seemed to be filled with clean water. We also walked up Catsash Road a lot and east along the old Roman Road where we’d get milk at the farm on the corner and eggs further along from Mr & Mrs Sherman. At the top of Catsash Road where it intersected the old Roman Road was a huge hollow tree which we’d climb up inside. One place we spent a considerable amount of time was the Gorelands. There was an incredible grove of horse chestnut trees up there on the ridge and we’d spend lazy afternoons here gathering conkers. During the fall, the field around here were busy with harvest and we’d often help with the hay bailing, following along behind the tractor and staking the bails as they were spat out. Just up Catsash Road from our house in the field to the east was an abandoned combine harvester and we’d often play on it and climb through its passageways. While we lived at Longleat my father did substantial renovations. When we moved in the house was small, with 4 rooms and an outside toilet that was very cold in winter. Hot water was produced by a small boiler built into the wall next to the fireplace in the front room. The house had a large heated greenhouse with its own boiler and radiators and two large sheds. Inside the sheds we found gas masks from WW2 that we had lots of fun with. The greenhouse and one of the sheds soon came down and were replaced with a smaller modern greenhouse. A rear addition was built on the house and a new front porch added. Then a garage and coal bunker was added, together with a drainage line to alleviate a perpetually wet area of the front yard. In digging this we discovered the cause of the wetness was a natural spring and this was diverted into the stream in the back. In the process of digging the trench we came across the remains of a long dead horse in the yard. Later a second addition was made to the house, adding a new wing with two bedrooms and a bathroom. Early in the 1960’s construction on the M4 motorway began and we watched with fascination as the huge Euclid earthmovers carved out the path for the road through the fields. We also got a home phone during this time; prior to this we had to walk to the bottom of Catsash down at the A48 where the phone box was. This was also where the mailbox was and I remember one night someone lit a fire in it (wasn’t me). Up and down Catsash Road we had some well known people. There was Fred Little in his grocery van who would make several stops each week so we could buy groceries. Then there was old Mrs Noble who lived up toward Kemey’s House and was in her 80’s and losing her memory. She would often wander down the street in her nightgown in the middle of the day. I remember the German girls, Gail and Susan who would often walk together down Catsash picking blackberries.