Tag: Pond Row (Abercanaid)

I remember that…..

by Eira Hopkins

The before – Graig Houses. I knew, loved and lived in these houses
Graig Houses in 1968. Photo courtesy of Clive Thomas.
  1. I remember the after, before they were torn down in the mid to late 1970s supposedly because of subsidence, only to have 4 new Bungalows built on the same land.
Old Graig Chapel and Chapel House. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

2. I remember only the house remaining where the Pritchard family lived and playing in the cemetery hide and seek, and also with no disrespect at the time being a child. Swinging on the chains around one of the graves. No damage or vandalism was done just childhood fun.

3. Like you Stephen and many others from Graig Houses and Pond Row I too remember the slag tips covered by grass and the times I played hide and seek. Even sliding down, the deeper ones when snow came.

Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm
Afon Taf School. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

4. I remember the day I went to Afon Taf High School and was scared out of my mind. From Abercanaid Infants and Juniors with a total amount of pupils maybe 100 to a school of 1500 and no preparation for the transfer, unlike pupils of today. I recognise people in the picture besides Mr Powell Headmaster, does anyone else?

Gwaelodygarth House. Photo courtesy of http://www.alangeorge.co.uk/index.htm

5. I remember the day I started my nursing career at Gwaelodygarth House Merthyr Tydfil, myself and my soon to be friend Susan Payne started in April 1974 where we were among the 30 who started that day. That was a very important day for us all, we learned how to do the nursing procedures from basic and how the body and its anatomy worked. The Matron would check that you were doing your assignments correctly and if not, boy didn’t you and everyone else in your group know, no softly, softly, approaches then, unlike today.