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Posted 21 January 2012
Born on the Graig [Kindle] - Memories of a boy growing up in the Welsh Valleys during WW2
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Memories of a boy born during WW2 in Pontypridd, a small town in the valleys of South Wales.
What memories this short piece of social history revived ! I was born just after WW2 - 1946 - a little later than Colin Gronow but our lives seem to have been SO similar.
Working class parents - no money but the deepest love a child could wish for. Sacks of presents at Christmas - in my case my Dad's army kit-sack ! Playing in the streets with my friends. Family games around the table - as close to the one and only coal fire in the house as possible. Trips to the country or seaside - usually the Sunday School Outing being the highlight of the year !- the journey to Barry Island all of 8 miles away seeming like a world tour as we sang "Ten Green Bottles" on the double-decker bus.
The writing stirs so many memories - the tin bath in front of the fire - so typical of South Wales in those days. The coldness of the bedroom in Winter - no central heating then - just a hot water bottle if you were lucky. The ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. The freedom to "go out and play" - spending hours with my friends out of sight of parents, but still feeling safe from any dangers except those caused by one's own stupidity.
No money maybe - but always food on the table, a house full of warmth and love, friends and family as regular visitors,and adventures abounding as "Dens" were built, "Bogeys" (a vehicle made from a slab of wood and some pram wheels)driven at break-neck speed down hills (and without brakes not a chance of stopping in an emergency !), and the street games such as "Bombombmarino" (how my back survived that particular crazy activity I will never know !
Recommended to anyone who would like to gain an insight into life in the Welsh Valleys in the 1940's and 50's.
How life has changed - you decide if it is all for the better.
By Colin Gronow
Memories of a boy born during WW2 in Pontypridd, a small town in the valleys of South Wales.
What memories this short piece of social history revived ! I was born just after WW2 - 1946 - a little later than Colin Gronow but our lives seem to have been SO similar.
Working class parents - no money but the deepest love a child could wish for. Sacks of presents at Christmas - in my case my Dad's army kit-sack ! Playing in the streets with my friends. Family games around the table - as close to the one and only coal fire in the house as possible. Trips to the country or seaside - usually the Sunday School Outing being the highlight of the year !- the journey to Barry Island all of 8 miles away seeming like a world tour as we sang "Ten Green Bottles" on the double-decker bus.
The writing stirs so many memories - the tin bath in front of the fire - so typical of South Wales in those days. The coldness of the bedroom in Winter - no central heating then - just a hot water bottle if you were lucky. The ice on the inside of the bedroom windows. The freedom to "go out and play" - spending hours with my friends out of sight of parents, but still feeling safe from any dangers except those caused by one's own stupidity.
No money maybe - but always food on the table, a house full of warmth and love, friends and family as regular visitors,and adventures abounding as "Dens" were built, "Bogeys" (a vehicle made from a slab of wood and some pram wheels)driven at break-neck speed down hills (and without brakes not a chance of stopping in an emergency !), and the street games such as "Bombombmarino" (how my back survived that particular crazy activity I will never know !
Recommended to anyone who would like to gain an insight into life in the Welsh Valleys in the 1940's and 50's.
How life has changed - you decide if it is all for the better.
By Colin Gronow
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2 Comments
Can it be that it was all so simple then
Or has time rewritten every line?
If we had the chance to do it all again
Tell me would we? Could we?
Memories, may be beautiful and yet
What's too painful to remember
We simply choose to forget
So it's the laughter we will remember
Whenever we remember
The way we were.