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Found forlornly flung in the corner of a Splott charity shop. This dress is everything I longed for as a 5 year old girl.
I had no real interest in ballet, I just wanted a tutu. God, I wanted a tutu.
I love the fact it's a bit worn out and had a life before I found it. Hell of a life if you look closely.
I love the fact it's so impractical!
Can't sit in it, sweep drinks off tables in it, knock people off the dance floor in it.
I love it! But I'm not sure if I wear it, or it wears me!
Stories from the
Streets of Cardiff - this film was made as part of a
Digital Storytelling workshop run by BBC Wales.
your comments
Josie nee Donoghue from Splott
I was born and bred in 219 Portmanmoor Rd on the corner of Cornelia Street. I attended Moorland infants and junior then Splott Secondary. I've got very fond memories of growing up in Splott. It was wrong to pull the houses down as it destroyed a really close knit community. Everyone looked out for each other in those days. Sweet memories.
Maria Sherry nee Xiberras, Sydney, Australia
My family ran the shop on the corner of Railway and Ordell Street for many years. It is closed now but I have many happy memories helping out behind the counter.
Stephen Parsons, Adeline Street
I grew up in Splott and went to Splott infants on Splott Rd (where the Star Leisure centre is now. My dad was the youngest from a family of eleven! He worked over the steel works - one of his jobs was to rebrick or reline the furnace stack. Many a time I can recall coming home with my brother after a day at Barry Island with my mother only to find my dad in bed. The ambulance had brought him home and put him to bed after inhaling fumes or gases from the chimney stack he had been repairing. He would somehow sleep it off and be back in work for the next shift. Dad passed away recently. Funny how things stick in your mind - I can remember the soles of his feet being black where they were subject to intense heat from the furnace floor.
Steve, Brisbane, Australia
I was born in Rumney Street, Splott in the 50's. I was made to come to Australia. I was six. Whenever I told people in Aussie where I was born they did not believe me when I said Splott. I visited Splott in adulthood in 1995 & was very surprised how much I remembered. I knew more about Rumney Street than my uncle & aunt who were still residents. I knocked on the door of the house where I was born & 2 dogs barked loudly - there was noone at home.
Sylv from Roath
Well done Judith, I don't remember charity shops in Splott in the late 50s-60s. What I do remember is Teddy Boys on the corners, cafes with juke boxes, shops in Carlisle Street especially the Doll Shop with my nose pressed up against the window gazing at all the doll outfits, getting clothes on 'Apro' taking them home to try on - before paying. I remember Splott school - girls, next to the boys school, 'neer the twain should meet'...the Music and Welsh teachers talking through the music lesson...the headmistress with her ruler! The agonies of adolescence. Ten years of my life in what we called 'the Splott on the map of Cardiff' ... nice to know it had a higher calling as 'God's Plot'. I was glad to leave then but now it's quite the place to be.
Thanks for your comments - please share your views and memories on our page of Splott Stories.
