"The Swing"                                                                                                                "The Pop Lorry"

The Swing

Bryntaf, the street where I was born, lay on the hill above the centre of the valley. The fields and woods adjoined the gardens which provided a varied diet for the sheep that got through the wire fences separating their pasture from the houses.

The trees in the wood could be climbed easily and their trunks and branches were strong enough to support swings. Moving swiftly in long ellipses from the flat bald rea around the base of the tree we swung into the unsupported void above the quarry and the street below. The view of the valley was breathtaking! The preliminary pulling of the rope holding the swing the only safety check. Parents held their breath but we never saw or imagined the danger until later!

The Pop Lorry

Once every couple of weeks the Corona lorry delivered several crates of pop to Hughes’ which was a small family shop in the middle of Bryntaf. The road to our street was hilly and winding and the truck had to travel in low gear to negotiate the sharp bends around the station bridge and the cemetery hill turn.

This was a chance to have a free ride. The tail board of the vehicle could be reached by the taller boys who would help their smaller pals to hang on. Taken up with road problems, the driver gave little attention to a group of small boys running behind or hanging on his vehicle. We got off before reaching the shop, pleased with the ride. Apart from occasional coal lorries, or ambulances, no buses and little other wheeled traffic came along our street, except for the doctors car and the Rileys of the grocer’s sons.