Memories Of A Childhood Past

A Memory of Risca.

My first memory is of being carried by my mother Bettie "welsh fashion" in a lovely thick shawl,from Constant row,where i was born up the Moriah hill over moriah bridge and the canal to the quarry,where my Grancha Holder would be sat outside his greenhouse watching the world go by smoking his pipe,i still remember the smell of that pipe smoke.Running around the quarry playing ,chasing the geese ducks and chickens,eating the freshly picked tomatoes out of the greenhouse,how sweet they tasted and how wonderful they smelled.
The sound of the quarry siren on the other side of the valley at danygraig before they blasted,of my granchas dog laddie,a black mongrel,galloping up the canal bank past the Prince pub to just past Kears house and he would stand there howling until the siren stopped,then trot off back to my granchas house on moriah hill.This happened every time the siren went off every day several times a day.Mental dog!!!
My days as a child were unlimited happiness,of freedom,playing and wandering where ever and when ever we wanted,no worries in those days.
Playing in Dai the farms fields,drinking the fresh milk in his old parlour.He was lovely, with his cap tilted to the side of his head i always thought it would sometime fall off.My happiest would be in his fields patting his Shire horses, Queenie and Bess, smelling their coats and their steamy breathes,how gentle they were with me,I was in heaven with them.They would lie out in the sun and I would lie on the grass between here four great legs with my head on her belly,Queenie would gently lift her great noble head and encircle my little frame with her neck and head,never once hurting me she was so gentle.I think that is where I got my love of horses.Queenie was the most gentle creature,I bet she often thought "oh no not this whipper snapper again"I loved her so much,she made me feel very safe and happy,I have come across other horses in my work,some amazing characters and great fun,some very gentle,but there was only one Queenie.
The hilly fields in Summer was a favourite with many kids big and small,we would go armed with cardboard boxes and slide down,hard to start with as the grass was still green,but after our endless sliding the grass would brown off the sun would do its work to burn it off and after a few days it would be like a glass bottle,we spent hours walking up sliding down,we must have been the fittest kids in the valleys!!
Walks up the tump (twm Barlwm),my favourite was running through the ferns,drinking the lovely cool water to cool off. The chapel picnics up there.The sunday school anniversary each year in Moriah chapel,learning our party pieces,and a lovely tea party afterwards,watched by our minister Russell-Jones,he was a lovely man,his son David was a friend of mine,I wonder where he is now,and what is he doing.
Apple scrumping at Miss Thomas's who lived in the big house at the side of Constant Row,why we did it i do not know as i am sure if we asked her nicely we could have had as many as we wanted. Sitting in the middle of Mrs Crooks (from number 6)patch of lily of the valley,even now my favourite flower.
Aunty Tut (mrs Tutton) and her husband uncle Arthur,they were lovely to me,and I spent a lot of time in their house next door,her house was immaculate,smelt always of polish and brasso,if she wasnt scrubbing her step she was cleaning brass,or my favourite making bake stones(welsh cakes),she was a chubby jovial kind lady,and was always lovely to me.She had a huge picture at the top of her stairs of Jesus showing the holes in his hands from the cross.
The great freeze of 1962,we never went to school for 6 weeks,oh happy days,even tho I missed Mr Monty the headmaster,we spent days sledging,skating on the canal,why as we get older we feel the cold more as I cant remember being cold those days,and boy was it cold!
I could go on and on and on and on....................happy memories,and I wish i was a kid again!!