It was once the landmark of Rhiwbina. For decades, it entertained the people of North Cardiff and the valleys. Its name still trips off the tongues of locals, and its demise over eight years ago was seen by some as a travesty. The Monico cinema on Pantbach Road will forever be etched into the minds [...]
Archive for the ‘History’ Category
Llandaff North in the 1930s: My Memories
January 8th, 2011 
Editors by Desmond Marley I write regarding the article by Les Gibbon entitled ‘More Memories of Melingriffith’, as published in a previous edition of Whitchurch and Llandaff Living. It evoked many, if now patchy memories for me, of the times I would spend with my grandparents at a very early age in the late 1920′s at [...]
Posted in History 
Tags: glamorganshire canal, llandaff north, melingriffith, melingriffith band 
No Comments »Memories of a Melingriffith Boy by Ken Hopkins
January 7th, 2011 Editors Ken Hopkins was born at Forest Farm, Whitchurch in 1930. My early memories as a four year old are of our two terraced cottages. They had, from memory, three bedrooms, one living room and a rear scullery which would now be called a kitchenette. We had no bathroom, no running water and no electricity. We [...]
Fantastic Mr Dahl: Llandaff’s Greatest Son
September 27th, 2010 Editors Arguably Llandaff’s greatest son, Roald Dahl is still considered one of the world’s finest authors. Twenty years after his death this November, his books have been translated into almost 50 languages and sold millions globally. Roald was born on 13th September 1916, at Villa Marie, Fairwater Road, Llandaff to Norwegian parents Harald and Sofie. Harald and Roald’s [...]
Posted in History Tags: bfg, charlie and the chocolate factory, llandaff, patricia neal, roald dahl No Comments »Out and About: Caerphilly
September 20th, 2010 Editors Caerphilly’s history goes back nearly 250,000 years when what we know as Neanderthals scoured the plains for food and shelter. Leaving little impression on the landscape, it wasn’t until the Ice Age glaciers retreated in 7,000BC, that what we know as modern humans began establishing settlements. By 4,500BC, the settlers had cleared a lot of the [...]
Posted in History Tags: battle of hastings, caerphilly, caerphilly castle, edward I, king offa, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, owain glyndwr, romans, silures No Comments »People’s History: Missing but not forgotten
September 16th, 2010 Editors By Guest Writer, Clive Tucker of Llandaff My greatgrandfather Francis Grimshaw, who resided at Tyn-y-Parc Road, Whitchurch, is one of the missing soldiers of the Battle of the Somme, which was fought between 1st July and 18 November 1916. During that period, the British Army suffered nearly 450,000 casualties with 57,000 on the first day [...]
North Cardiff at War
September 16th, 2010 Editors 70 years ago, Britain was at war with Germany. The country’s existence hinged on the contributions of each and every individual. From the moment that Hitler invaded Poland in 1939, its impact was felt almost immediately over a thousand miles away in North Cardiff. September 1939 saw the start of the great evacuations from the [...]
Posted in History Tags: cardiff war, north cardiff, whitchurch, world war. ww2. rhiwbina No Comments »Memories of Whitchurch
August 26th, 2010 Editors My lovely Dad was Harman Williams, born at Melin House, Melingriffith, 5th August 1913. He was one of a family of eleven children born to Jennet Ann and David John Williams. Grandad Williams was superintendent of the Melingriffith Tinplate Works and they all lived in a very large house (it had to be with thirteen [...]
Memories of Llandaff North in the 1950s
August 18th, 2010 Editors Highfields School: putting together the school magazine! See pages drying on line at the back. Back row: left to right, David Moles, John Cook, Tony Mead (emigrated to Oz back in ’52 or ’53), Colin Treweek and myself. Typesetters/Compositors: Philip Shepperd, Graham Parsons and teacher Mr. W.B.N Oates (William Bonham Norman Oates)! by Tony George [...]
The History of UWIC
August 18th, 2010 Editors By Dr John Marsden Vocational education first made its appearance in Llandaff when the first phase of college buildings were built on a sixteen acre site bounded by Western Avenue, the River Taff and Llandaff Cathedral cemetery. They were officially opened by His Royal Highness, the Duke of Edinburgh, on the 1st December 1954 – [...]
Posted in History Tags: education, llandaff, Llandaff technical college, university, uwic 1 Comment »
