Listen to Alan (Need help?)In the summer of 1943, when I was 15, some of my school friends introduced me to the delights of Roath Park lake.
It was a great place. I was part of a mixed bag of young people who made the lake their headquarters for social interaction.
We came from all areas of Cardiff by bike and tram. Some pairing would take place, but a pair was still a firm part of the whole.
There was swimming 'til early evening and on becoming a 'regular', I was often let in free to swell the numbers, particularly if the weather wasn't very clement.
Boating was an option, but cost was a limiting factor. To make the money go round, one of us would hire a boat and row up to the top of the lake behind the islands where the rest of us would pile in.
We cruised around making sure we disembarked before the boat was returned. We used to paddle the boat like a Pacific Island canoe, with about five of us on each side, using any means to propel the boat.
Evenings were for dancing in the pavilion to music on records and the assistance of a DJ, although the term was unknown at that time.
It was here that I met Val, an art student - this was my first romance. It lasted all of two weeks, til we both found new dancing parnters!
Coming from Grangetown, I was slightly over-awed on being invited to a party at a girl's house in Cyncoed. She was Veronica. No one in Grangetown was called Veronica. Her house was like a palace with a drive in and out and an expensive motor outside the magnificent porch.
I was welcomed here just as warmly as I would have been in the humblest house in Grangetown. Lovely people, lovely days and nights.
This radio story was made as part of a
Digital Storytelling workshop run by BBC Wales.
your comments
Lyndon Jones, Kingston, Canada
Joined the RAF from Pontnewynydd, Pontypool
on July 2, 1940. Eventually posted to Penarth in 1941-1942. Spent many a Sunday afternoon in Roath Park and thoroughly enjoyed the location. In 1948 my parents retired to Cardiff and on my annual vacations from Canada to Cardiff while they were alive, I would take my parents to Roath Park, which they enjoyed too.
Hugh Hughes. Bedford (Formerly Cardiff)
I am sure I remember Alan Brinkwoth during those Roath Park Days. I spent many happy hours with groups of friends who always met on a particular bridge, near the Pavilion in Roath Park, particularly, on a Sunday afternoon. I first started to learn to dance in the pavilion with many other friends too.I recall Alan living in the Grangetown area, and I believe both he and his father were great Cardiff and Wales rugby supporters.
If I am right, he would possibly remember, Trevor Parr, Chic Hunt, Lionel Corne and many others,who always turned up at the bridge in the park, on those Sundays, during 1943/44.
If I am wrong my apologies, to Alan. A case of mistaken identity.
