Author: gbadmin

I found this story hidden away in The Cambrian newspaper of 6 January 1821. I love it – though it does have the air of an urban myth and, as you know, you can never be completely confident when a story begins in such an imprecise way. We are told that this happened in Reading…

The stories about children are always the most moving; they are always the hardest to write about. This one is no exception. A young boy of 11, John Ace, was sent down to Swansea beach at St Helens to collect sand for his father. He was digging at the very top of the beach, near…

We have our own familiar history of the First World War. Ypres, The Somme, trenches – and bewildered distressed young men with “shell shock” shot at dawn for desertion. Other countries have different stories from the war, their own horrors, their own shame. If you travel north east of Paris towards Soissons, you will find…

There was a great need for such provision across Swansea at the end of the nineteenth century to try and alleviate serious poverty especially in winter. Places like St Marks and Trinity Church were always appealing for funds.W. Watkins Edwards of St Marks Vicarage established a soup kitchen in Waun Wen in 1894. ‘For some…

I offer you this story with no commentary. Theses are the words as they appeared in the Cambrian Newspaper published in Swansea on 28 January 1843. I have tidied up the paragraphing and the punctuation, that’s all. No other comments are required. Three bag foxes were brought by the coach from London to this town…

The Uplands Cinema is a representative of those suburban cinemas which sprang up all over Swansea and then disappeared just as quickly. At one time almost every community had one, like the Manor Cinema which was in Manselton or the Maxine in Sketty. Morriston had the Gem and the Regal and in St Thomas you…