Let me tell you a Story...............

We went shopping to Sainsbury's this morning, and then went to fill up the car with petrol. This wall surrounds the car park, and used to be the wall of Cefn Hir Coed hospital. It has a special childhood memory for me, which i will never forget. When i was about two years of age my Mum contracted TB. It was highly contagious and she was admitted to the isolation hospital at Cefn Hir Coed. My two brothers, and myself ,went to live with my Nana and Grampa. They had a three bedroomed house in Tondu and there were eight of us living there. How my Nan coped i don't know. My bedroom was shared with my father and his brother in a double bed and me in a cot. From the bedroom window we could see the hospital in the distance. Before i went to bed each night, i used to wave to my mother, who i thought could see me ( i was very young). As i wasn't allowed to visit my mother for at least a year, my father and grampa took me to the outside of this wall and they held me on the saddle of a bicycle and i tried to see over the wall. I couldn't see a thing ,but pretended that i could, as i so desperately wanted to see my mum. When they lifted me down i was horrified to see that my new black patent shoes were badly scratched on the toes. I have never forgotten this. The wall has a conservation order on it and it always brings back these poignant memories of my childhood flooding back. In spite of , or because of this incident ,my childhood was a happy one.