20th Century
Newport Dock Disaster
Newport in South Wales sits astride the mouth of the River Usk and so its history has long been connected to maritime commerce, with wharfs recorded lining the banks of the river since the 1500s. [more…]
Wales
20th Century
Postcard From Summer 1954, Part Six – Rhyl
In 1954, the Manchester Evening News launched a “Special Investigation” and tasked my uncle, John Alldridge, with answering the question – Holidaymakers, do you get value for your MONEY? What follows is his report on [more…]
Arts
A Postcard From Tintern Abbey
Tintern Abbey (or Abaty Tyndryn if you speak Welsh) was founded on 9th May 1131 by Walter de Clare, Lord of Chepstow. It is located near the border between Wales and England (Gloucestershire) on the [more…]
Arts
The Year Turns, Part Eight
Mabon The autumnal equinox is an important turning point in the year. The hours of day and night are balanced, indicating that the light half of the year is drawing to a close, heralding the [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Abergavenny
Following on from my Postcard from Monmouth we decided our next ‘big day out’ would be to Abergavenny. A place I’ve probably travelled through in the past but never visited. We crossed the Bristol Channel [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Monmouth
With the prospect of a holiday (foreign or UK) looking increasingly unlikely Mrs Reggie and I decided we would try and fit in a number of day trips to break the tedium of everyday life. [more…]
Fiction
The Flower Lady
Richard and Caroline had gone to Wales for their holidays. Caroline had made her disappointment clear at having to miss their annual visit to Greece, due to the pandemic, but Richard was secretly relieved: he [more…]
Arts
The Wisdom of Charlotte: Be Seeing You
I have been a fan of the cult sixties television series, The Prisoner, since it was re-shown in the Eighties. It fascinated me and fired up my intellectual reasoning like no other show I had [more…]
Arts
Postcard from Penarth
A little confession first. This is a bit of a cheat ‘postcard’ because, although I have visited this lovely seaside town many times, I also lived there for a blissful year or so, overlooking Cardiff [more…]