After school on warm sunny days we would go to the flower gardens in Roath Park and have sandwiches and then rush home before it was dark and the air raids started. In those days there was a great community feeling, most of the mothers did not work and everybody helped everybody else. Nobody felt ashamed if they were handed down stuff, in fact I remember being quite excited because there was an older friend who had a pink angora bolero and I was pleased when it past down to me. When we had birthday parties all the mothers would help out each other, one would provide the egg sandwiches. If you could twist the butchers arm he would give you extra sausage meat for sausage rolls which was a luxury. The older people would donate a jelly and presents were always restricted- you would be thrilled to bits if you had a pencil case or a whip and top. In those days there were no motorcars so you could play out in the street. Children knew one another they didn't just sit on their own watching TV. We would be out on warm summer days playing mob or riding our bikes, completely safe.
At that point I lived in Cathays on Tewkesbury Street. Later on we would learn to play tennis and of course the church played a great role in those days. We went to Brownies and Guides just a few steps down the street.