As far as the area I lived is concerned in the early years, as I may have already mentioned, it was primarily a steel working town in between the two main cities in Wales. The capital, Cardiff was about 30 miles away while the second biggest; Swansea was less than 10 miles.
Such was transport in the early 1960’s that I can remember a number of occasions where I went with my mother to Swansea but Cardiff was a trip too far and I have no real recollection of ever going there much before my 13th birthday. That time however was quite a number of years in the future.
For the most part, my formative years were spent in my home town and rarely did I go anywhere else.
At the age of five, I started school and this was probably my first honest memory. I remember my mother taking me that first day and being introduced to my teacher for the next few years. She was quite young (as I look back now), maybe mid – 20’s and her name was Miss Wright though I can’t remember anything else about her other than she suffered from acne.
I think my mother took me for the first week, then, as the school was only a few streets away and about 20 minutes’ walk, I would go with my elder sister. In those days, traffic was far less than it is today and the dangers that society tells us kids now face was far less when I was a kid than we are led to believe it is in this day and age.
Personally, I don’t believe that the dangers, such as abduction are any greater today than they were but governments and the media would have us believe it is so as just one of the many ways they can bring in various laws to ensure we, as a society, as more controlled than we ever were.