Let there be books
By Sara John
By the age of eleven, after school and after tea, each Friday
I was still a pupil in standard five at Gelli Junior School
evening, I was borrowing my own weight in books from my
prior to discovering the joys of library-visiting, although Mr.
local Library.
Jones, our very stern and formidable teacher had always
Pentre Library was on the hillside above Ton Pentre, with commanding views of the surrounding mountains. The building had once been the Intermediate School for the area, so it was spacious with large windows and had been built from local Pennant sandstone in the previous century. I loved going up the front steps and through the ever-open doors (so it seemed to me) into the large front porch which was often festooned with seriously wet umbrellas and damp raincoats. It was within walking distance of my home, or a one penny half-fare ticket on the every ten minute bus service. Yes! it was that long ago. It was The Central Library, in those days, for the two Rhondda Valleys, the Fach and the Fawr, (little and big). However, each district or village in both the valleys had its own local library as well.
encouraged us all to READ. He seemed less strict and frightening after the big day of the scholarship examination and allowed us to spend many subsequent afternoons just reading in class. This resulted in a delivery of reading books from the Education Authority, the books went into a cupboard at the front of Mr. Jones’ desk. Most children had never seen so many books, not all of the same size like our school Book One, Book Two and so on from long before. These were all different sizes, shapes and colours! Many children in the 1950’s were living in homes with few, if any, books. There was usually a very large family Bible on a small table, in the front room, which no child would be allowed to touch, and maybe a dictionary (unread since it arrived delivered from Odhams Press in answer to a newspaper advertisement). Few books were available for
We schoolchildren who had reached eleven years had all sat
children, anyway and they were, up until the nineteen sixties,
the Scholarship examination in March of that year the results
relatively expensive, unlike the glut of children’s books on the
of which would allocate us to a place ‘appropriate’ to our
market today. In my childhood books would only be given at
abilities, the following September. That would be at schools
Christmas and for birthdays.
of three different “levels”; in those days it was Grammar, Secondary Technical or Secondary Modern Schools. There was a second chance possible on offer for pupils following
With no younger siblings at home, I could keep the few books that I had free of sticky fingers and pencilled scribbles.
their first year at the ‘Big’ school if their scholarship results
Even today I still have some of my Rupert Bear Annuals, Film
indicated that it was an unsuitable choice for them after all.
books such as Hollywood Album, and of course a copy of
42 CARDIFF TIMES
