Listen to Lyn (Need help?)I've lived here for twenty years. Coming in to Grangetown, I found that the old people of the area were very friendly and they accepted me. There's a great community spirit. Over the years there's been quite a few tragedies and I've noticed how the people rally round and pull together. We had the Lynette White murder - all the people in Grangetown came together for that. There's been several other tragedies over the years. When we've had funerals at the local church, they've been full to overflowing.
Obviously a lot of the old Grangetown people now have passed away. I find that whereas there were lots of families in these houses, many of them are now being sold or let as flats. There's quite a few Asian families in the street, but we don't really get to know them because they tend to keep themselves to themselves. As for the typical 2.4 family, they don't seem to exist anymore. We don't know who our neighbours are anymore. People just keep themselves to themselves now.
For children of teenage years, there's nothing for them to do or anywhere for them to go. They don't feel it's safe to go round the streets anymore. There's lots of new buildings cropping up now, and there's not many areas left to play. We've got parks like Sevenoaks and the Mall, but there's nothing there for teenagers.
The sports village is being built at present, so hopefully there'll be something there for the older children to do.
I love living in Clive Street. We just keep ourselves to ourselves. Once you're behind your own door, you're not really aware of what's going on outside. The only thing is, it's a shame that there's nowhere for the children to go off and do what children do in a safe way.
your comments
Peter Smith from Canada
Lyn's comments are very true. That is one of the main reasons we left. Your government has given the country away. Grangetown used to be a safe neighbourhood, and everybody knew their neighbours. It is very different now. Our family has been in Grangetown for 150 years. It is sad to see what happened, but it is the same anywhere in the UK.
Michael Griffiths, Cambusbarron, Stirling
There is loads for the youth of Grangetown to do if they look. It is no different now to when I was a youth in the 50s. Lots of the Grangetown boys joined the Penarth Sea Cadet Corps where officers like Alby Thompson made a great impression on us and stood us in stead to be responsible adults. I joined the Royal Navy because of the Penarth Sea Cadets. There are all the different cadet forces to join but they involve discipline and respect, things not popular nowadays. There are scout groups and church youth clubs on the go in Cardiff. These are the organisations we had to use after the war during a time of austerity. In any organisation there has to be discipline and if the youth won't accept that then they will have nothing to do. We hung around the streets as well on the nights - there was no organised youth activity but for the most we played games and didn't get into any trouble. We would play over the Marl even during the winter and stay out till it got dark all year round. Grangetown was a great place to live and be brought up, and we didn't have TV, computers and Playstations. Just the magic lantern in the Salvation Army hall in Kent Street with a dish of mushy peas! Ahhh, the memories.
