From the collection of
Established in 2001, the National Library of Wales Screen and Sound Archive holds an unrivalled collection of films, TV and radio broadcasts, video tapes and sound recordings relating to Wales and the Welsh, from 1898 to the present day. The collection spans multiples formats and genres, both professional and amateur.
Fond memories of days gone by - Cardiffians remember and reminisce.
Elderly members of Plasmawr Road Day Centre in Cardiff's Fairwater area share their memories of life in the city - including life and work in the docklands, and in areas such as Grangetown and Adamsdown. There are recollections of celebrating the end of WW2 in the Moira Hotel, whilst one man remembers the end of WWI in his early teens. Films are fondly remembered, such as The Singing Fool, and there is reminiscing about loved Cardiff amenities such as the New Theatre, Roath Park and Victoria Park with its zoo and celebrated resident, 'Billy the Seal', as well as about shops, including pawn shops. There are memories of the Irish community with its wakes, of incidents such as floods, as well as the jobs that people did, such as working on the night trams, with the teeming street life that could be seen from them.
Old Cardiff was thriving docklands, Tiger Bay, trolley buses and trams. New Cardiff is docks regeneration and gentrification. Cardiffians must somehow hold fast and muddle through….