Those were the days, when you could board a paddle steamer like the ‘Cardiff Queen’ and be transported along the south Wales coast or beyond.

The age of the paddle steamer: 'Cardiff Queen' was built in the Clyde shipyards, Scotland, in 1947, for passenger excursion use. She paddled out of Cardiff and Swansea for 40 years before being broken up in 1968. In this short film shot by Chris Jenkins, proprietor of 'Vanda's' hair salon in Cardiff's Charles Street, and a stalwart member of Cardiff Amateur Cine Society, passengers board and the paddler queen sets off on another trip.

The 'Cardiff Queen', like the 'Bristol Queen', would take passengers on trips to the West County resorts - Minehead, Ifracombe and Lundy – as well as places closer to home - Penarth, Mumbles, Barry and Porthcawl. The two paddlers assisted each other on various occasions: in 1949, 'Cardiff Queen' ran aground on the Lynmouth Sand Ridge and 'Bristol Queen' came from Ilfracombe to collect the passengers. In 1956 one of 'Bristol Queen's paddles uaccountably sheered off near the cliffs of Ilfracombe, leaving the boat wallowing about without any means of propulsion. 'Cardiff Queen', very fortunately close by, came to the resue and accomplished the fraught task of towing her sister steamer to safety.