Okay.....so...I have been clearing out the attic as a prelude to moving house. As somewhat of a hoarder (but all placed away neat and tidy..) I first of all went through all my historic newspapers of famous events –starting with the Manchester United Munich air disaster in 1958. In no particular order it was interesting to look back at some of the events, (and other stories adverts, sports news) including:

  • Yuri Gagarin – first man in space
  • The Big Freeze in 1963 – The big freeze – I remember walking to school for months with big piles of snow on the side of the road, from below Trebanog hill (opposite the Rickards Arms) to Porth Sec.
  • Winston Churchill Funeral
  • The Cambrian Colliery explosion
  • The Aberfan school disaster
  • John Kennedy Assassination
  • The Miner’s Strike
  • The Falklands war (many), including HMS Sheffield bombed
  • Margaret Thatcher funeral#
  • Challenger Space Shuttle disaster
  • Prince Charles and Diana wedding
  • Princess Diana Death
  • Queen Mother funeral
  • Concorde crash
  • The turn of the Century....


.....and many many more

....and of course my Cardiff City memories in the form of scrapbooks through the sixties, Football echoes from the days when I used to wait at the news seller near Asteys in Cardiff centre for the first edition, then go to The Queens Hotel in St. Mary Street for a few pints before the train home to Porth.

Also, my programmes. I still have all the away games through the sixties and seventies and all the European games, but sadly I sold 18 full seasons worth of home league games (1959-60 to 1979;ish) to fund replacement of two rusty wings on the Triumph TR7 my wife had at the time...seemed like a good idea at the time...1979 I moved up to Newark so could only go to away games in the area....Doncaster, Chesterfield, Halifax in my thoughts...

Now in retirement in France I watch as many games as I can via streaming over one site or another.

Anyway, in my idle time I thought I would put my Cardiff City memories onto the internet so that others may enjoy some of the memories. There are videos I wish I could have included,
City 3 Man United 0 on Boxing day 1961, when to universal disapproval I left my sister’s wedding reception at The Philharmonic Hotel in Cardiff to go see the game....

Then of course there was:
City 1 Aston Villa 0 (promotion game 1960)
City 3 Tottenham 2 (the famous double winning team).
City 5 Crystal Palace 3 – the ‘Greg Farrell’ game.
City 3 Everton 2 – the Friday night when my namesake Maurice Swan broke his collarbone and Derek Tapscott went in goal.
City 5 Swansea 3

Here is the link:
http://www.libertybs.co.uk/CCFC_memories

Hope you enjoy.