Road Bridge

Dawn Jones (nee Peterson) relates:- I can recall this view looking up Maendy Way towards the canal, obviously the construction of the road bridge over what is now Cwmbran Drive, I find this fascinating, as I can remember the houses either side and when they became unoccupied and derelict, we played in them as kids, I remember the fruit trees in the back gardens, it was like finding bags of free sweets. Where the crossroads were, not a week went by without an accident and Mrs. Miles lived in the end house (near the Workingmens Club) and she was always one of the first people on the scene and my mother often used to say that the authorities should give her a first aid kit as it must have cost this lady a fortune in bandages etc. I think the right of way was straight through Maendy Way and then they changed the priorities, there were numerous accidents after this.

The park was on the left hand side with the big umbrella roundabout which we climbed, dangled from, turned upside down, played tag and allsorts, it had a concrete floor - how did we survive. The little roundabout, we used to whizz around on with lolly pop sticks and sharpen them to a point or place our shoes around the edge and see who could collect the most, sometimes they went underneath, there was a bench near the edge of the park and we would sit there and wave to the motorists - how dangerous that would be to do that these days.

Holy Trinity Church is visible up towards the right, as kids we would attend the Harvest festivals and any other important Church events, the tables would be laden with fresh produce and home-made bread, the colours would be outstanding. Vicar Redd was the Vicar and his sister Mrs. Evans taught at Pontnewydd Church School.

I don't remember the construction of this bridge but I do remember the construction of the telephone exchange and associated works in that area near the old dairy and one Saturday I had been shopping in the town centre with my sister and cousin, we were going to cut through Forgehammer but a JCB was working near this site and I was so scared I wouldn't go that way and under much protest my sister had to take me up over Maendy Way bridge, I must have been quite young but this is a vivid memory.

The view looking up towards Mynydd Maen has made me feel very nostalgic and I could waffle on for ages, it's brought back some lovely memories.

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October 1956	Christmas Day 2007