A TRIP DOWN MEMORY LANE In the 40's and 50's Barry was a wonderful town to grow up in, but the Cadoxton bit was always better! It was near to Sully and Bendricks beaches, surrounded by the countryside, Moors on one side and Pencoedtre with its woods and fields on the other. It has always been said "that you can take a boy away from Cadoxton, but you can't take Cadoxton away from the boy". Most of it has now gone. The Moors are no longer marshland where Peewits used to nest, their cries could be heard all over the Moors, and the small ponds where tadpoles and newts could be found in abundance are long gone. The footpaths across the Moors to the Bendricks and Sully beaches are closed or are soon to be closed. The only breeding programme that is a success is the breeding of chemical works, and these are breeding and spreading out of control. Pencoedtre Woods and fields are the next victims of progress! Not that many years ago the seasons of the year were the factor that ruled our lives, but they ruled us with a gentle hand.   SUMMER was for swimming in Tomedge Pond, the Clayhole, the ponds that were all over the Moors, or in the river diversion. The Knap Pool was considered in those days for the toffs who could afford to pay to swim. Help was always needed on the local farms with haymaking and other jobs, in return for which you were given permission to trap rabbits later in the year. These could be sold or given to relatives or friends for past favours received, or future ones hoped for. Usually when you went ferreting, it always turned out that it was the farm next to the one you worked on that had the most rabbits, and then it was a quick case of hedgehopping with one eye on the ferret and the other on the farmer. The cricket season began at this time of the year; every street lamppost was used as wickets, and if moved on by the local bobby it was down to the garage for an old five-gallon oil drum for use as stumps. Every street seemed to have a team, consisting in some cases of 20 or more players. Makeshift pitches were situated all over the town, in school playgrounds, in parks when the parky went home, in fact any spare piece of available ground was taken up to play on. Tennis didn't seem to have the same attraction. If, as sometimes it happened, you were flush, a quick trip to the beach at Barry Island was in order. The walk across the docks to Barry Island took you to a foreign land, where so many accents were heard from the trippers there - pure Taffy, to Liverpudlian, Brummy, Cockney and the broad tones of the West Country, Somerset, Devon and Bristol. If you were really loaded, a walk through the town and down Subway Road took you to Bailey's ferry that plied between Barry Dock and Bailey's Dry Dock near the bottom of Dock Hill on the Island. Usually it was a walk to the Island from Weston Square, across the dock past Ranks Mill, (in case the swing bridge was open), over the lock gates and up Dock Hill. Extra money could always be made if the fairground was busy and needed extra staff whilst the rush was on; the job only lasted until the trippers went home. Another method was by collecting bottles on the beach and taking them back to the shops. Later on the Council introduced a scheme to try to cut the number of injuries sustained from the broken glass left on the beach. They introduced a bottle recovery service in which youngsters were paid a small sum for every bottle they recovered and brought to the depot. This worked for a time until milkmen in Barry complained that they couldn't find an empty milk bottle on the doorsteps of their customers!   In the AUTUMN there was mushrooming, picking watercress, or blackberries. Blackberries always seemed to taste better the further away from where you lived. Green Lane at the Dinas Powis end of Cardiff Road was a favourite spot for picking them, as they were cleaner (no coal dust), bigger and had more juice. Living near the entrance to the lane was Mr. Price, who was one of the last true gypsies and something we are sadly lacking now, a character. In the summer he lived in a canvas shelter and in winter a large water tank turned upside-down with an entrance cut in the one end. For insulation he used straw bales stacked around and turf on top of the tank. He made dolly pegs from hazel wood with a strip of tin to hold them together. When blackberrying there we always had orders to take Mr. Price some tin cans for him to cut into strips. Residents of Dinas Powis told Raymond Gower, their MP, about him and his living conditions, and he went to see him to try to get him an old age pension. When asked his age Mr. Price was unable to tell him the date he was born, and explained that time was for town dwellers, not for him. He did get a pension and was most surprised that he was given money that he didn't have to work for. The lane was one of the places where you could always snare or ferret a few rabbits. Some weekend mornings (very early), a quick trip up the old Barry to Wenvoe railway line (always keeping a wary eye open for Henry Oliver, the Wenvoe Estate gamekeeper), would result in about half-a-dozen rabbits. Arriving home with the catch, orders would be given, "I've promised my sister that if you catch a rabbit, she can have one." Or "Mrs. So & So asked me for a rabbit when you've got one to spare", until finally they would all be gone, except for one, which was kept for a midweek meal. Some were paid for, but most accumulated goodwill and a promise to return the favour. A number were exchanged for fresh vegetables and fruit, and a hint that they would always have any that were caught.   WINTER was the time that youth clubs and other similar organisations came into their own. There were dozens all around the town. Cadoxton Moors, Jenner Park and Romilly were run by the youth service. Churches also ran clubs, the Methodists had the MAYC, Mount Pleasant Church ran a very successful club with various activities taking place there, and Barry Island had its YPA. St. Helen's not only had a youth club but also had Saturday night dances with one of the priests (who shall remain nameless) in attendance, keeping an eagle eye on the dancers, with the admonition, "not too close boy", or "hands on waist, boy!", or just "hands!". Thompson Street had its Colonial Club and Domino Club. Scout groups abounded (Rover Scouts, Sea Scouts and Cub Groups); there were Girl Guide and Brownies Groups, Sea Cadets, Boys and Girls Air Cadets and Army Cadets. The YMCA met nightly and catered for judo, table tennis and snooker, and for the more athletic minded there was the Barry Harriers, Barry Boxing Club, St. Aidan's Gymnastic Club, Barry Rugby Club, the Barry Athletic Club, Barry Rowing Club or Barry Yacht Club. If you played football you had your choice of where you played, 11-a-side proper matches or street football, played wherever there was a space - street corners, parks, back of schools, clubs or anywhere you could drop your coat for goalposts. Teams consisted of half the number of players available with the odd one out having to referee. If you decided that sport was not for you, dancing was the next best thing. The Savoy in Gladstone Road, the Unity or the Masonic Hall in Broad Street or the Merrie Friars on the Island were favourites. Bindles was somewhere you went if the works had a dance, or if you wanted to impress your latest, but usually it was too posh, a place where you were expected to wear a suit and a tie. Other dance halls in the town were St. Mary's Church Hall, St. Aidan's in Main Street, or the Billy & Gwen Oliffe School of Dancing at the Mart, King Square, where you could learn to dance between 6.30 and 8.00 p.m. and after having had a couple of lessons, take the floor at 8.30. November 5th was Bonfire Night, and for weeks youngsters went around collecting cardboard, old furniture, wood, old tyres in fact anything that would burn. Every night the streets were alive with the sound of branches being dragged along to be stored away until the night before the 5th when, as if by magic, it would be produced from the most unlikely of places. Competition was fierce, it was a matter of pride as to which street or gang had the biggest bonfire. If you could stand within 100 feet of the fire when it was lit and not get scorched, then it wasn't a successful fire. The next big event of the winter was New Years Eve. King Square, which was lit by coloured lights, was the venue for hundreds to meet to celebrate and bring the New Year in. Very often someone would appear there and provide music, ending up before midnight with "The Conga". The line of dancers would stretch around the Square and with a bit of luck into Central Park, where some of dancers would break off and disappear into the darkness, only re-appearing when the sound of "Auld Lang Syne" was heard being played. As you got older you could afford to do more things, swimming in the winter was either at Penarth Baths or at Guilford Crescent in Cardiff. The Taff Vale Push-Pull train seemed to be full of youngsters who somehow got the message that a group from Barry would be going to the Baths on the weekend, although it was not advertised. After going to Penarth Baths for a number of weeks, the couple who were in charge of the pool got to recognise you, and if there were not too many using the pool, supplied you with a free hot drink before you left to catch your train home. Sometimes after a swim it was out of the pool and up the steps to the cake shop in Windsor Road for a fresh cream cake baked on the premises and then back to Barry on the Push-Pull. Cinemas in Barry were the Palace in Vere Street, Plaza in Court Road, Tivoli in Holton Road, Theatre Royal in Gladstone Road, Romilly in Broad Street and the Roxy, Barry Island. Saturday morning was the threepenny rush at the Palace to see the weekly serial, Flash Gordon, Buck Rogers, the Saturday Western, or other similar serials. In the Western the villain always wore the black hat and the hero the white. Each week the hero or heroine would be left in an impossible situation with only seconds to save his or her life, and just at that moment up would come a sign, "What will ??? do now? Will he/she manage to survive, come next week and find out!  The main enjoyment of going to the Saturday film shows was not seeing the film but outwitting the staff. Bryn-y-Don Truant Schoolboys were let in free as a concession by the management, and they wore a distinctive uniform consisting of grey shirts, grey jumper, grey trousers and a striped tie. Deals were struck between them and the local youngsters to borrow a jumper off one and a tie off another, so you got in free. Once in, it was down to the toilet, open the window and let all your mates in. You had to be careful to come out of the toilet one at a time, or when someone else went in, or you would be asked to show your ticket stub, and as you didn't have one it meant a swift clip around the ear and out through the door.   When in school, SPRING meant that May would soon be around with swimming lessons at the Knap Pool. Teachers warmly wrapped in overcoats, scarves and gloves would order their classes into the water, telling them to duck under the water, as it was warmer in the water than out. After about 5 minutes of splashing about it looked as though they were taking a class of Martians in the pool. Completely blue with teeth chattering so loud you couldn't hear the words of the instructor over the noise! The saline content of the pool also increased as each class took their turn having swimming lessons!   With all these things to do and places to go, the same old complaint was made by my generation as is now heard from the present one. "We've got nothing to do, or nowhere to go!" Money was in always in short supply, but it didn't seem to have the same importance that it has now, probably as there wasn't much to spend it on. Make-do-and-mend seemed to be everyone's motto. Soup made from bones and scrag-end was the mainstay of most families that I knew. Poultry was a luxury for Christmas, or if you were ill, as chicken soup. Being a member of the local Gym whose instructor was a manager of the Co-op, I was in a position of being able to obtain bacon bones that could be used for the stockpot. This pot was kept on the range and left to simmer all winter. This soup consisted of lentils, pearl barley, split peas and whatever meat or bones that were available, and as the soup thickened more water and ingredients were added. It didn't matter what time you came home; there was always a plate of soup on the table ready for you within five minutes of your arrival. © T. CLEMETT 2001
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