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In the 1920s and 30s, I lived at Overland Road in Mumbles, which was very convenient for Langland, the Village and School, which was St. Anne’s Convent on Thistleboon Hill but is now an hotel. (Now replaced by housing) At that time, it was a branch of St. Winifred’s in Swansea and was run by three or four Nuns, Mothers Patrick, St. John and Bernadine. Of the pupils I remember Joan Hamlett, my best friend who lived in a house near the Mermaid called Treffgarne. Others were Mary Howells, Monica Powell, Joyce and Mary Sander and Jacqueline Taylor. I wonder if they are still about in Mumbles, or have they scattered in the intervening years? They must be in their seventies by now.
St. Anne’s Convent pupils aged 7 to 8 years, , 1930-31
It was a very happy little school and the nuns were deeply respected. There was certainly no bad behaviour at any time. We did not have much in the way of sport, but we played rounders on the big lawn at the back of the house, with many balls hit over the trees into Village Lane. I have many happy memories of days in Langland in the school holidays when the days seemed to be always hot and sunny. I clearly remember the old Mumbles train chugging round the bay and the advent of the streamlined electric trains in 1929. About that time in a very cold winter, even the sea froze in the bay.
Electric Train at the Pier
I also remember going to the Little Theatre in Southend with Joan Hamlett, usually to the matinee performances of Shakespeare plays. I have since learned that Dylan Thomas and Wynford Vaughan Thomas also used to perform there. Another recreation was to attend afternoon concerts in the Pier pavilion where a dapper little man and solo violinist called Paul Belefonte played with a small orchestra. Sometimes on a Saturday, we would go to the Tivoli cinema to see Charlie Chaplin and Rin-tin-tin, the clever Alsatian dog.
Just along from the cinema was a draper’s shop called Kemp’s, where I was fascinated by the range of pulleys and little pots with money which were sent to the cashier sitting in a cubicle, who would then return the pots with the change. Another shop which has personal memories was that of my Aunt Gertrude John, who ran a newsagent and tobacconist business for many years. She lived to be 106 years old and resided in her later years in a home in West Cross where she was well looked after. She was a maiden lady and had been a Governess in France in her early years.
My memories of that time are happy ones in spite of the shadows of the depression. Subsequently, we left mumbles and went to live on Caldey Island. Now I live in a lovely English county, which has everything but the sea, which I still miss after all these years. My time in Mumbles remains an unforgettable period of my life and is a very special place.
Previously published in the book 'Mumbles Memories,' edited by Carol Powell in 2001.
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