A chat with Val Pearce

From Susan Davies - Friends of Singleton Park

There are a lot of people, local now or not, who have stories to tell about Singleton, be they from childhood, family outings, or working in the park environment.

Now that Swiss Cottage is going to be resurrected like a phoenix from the ashes, maybe it will be a prompt for people to recall or reflect on what at the time seemed mundane life, but is a part of history.

A person to step up to share her childhood memories is well known to many; Valerie Pearce lived locally and remembers the park as a play area with her family, but also as a location to meet up with friends independently. During her childhood there were fewer concerns over crossing roads as there were far fewer vehicles. Valerie attended Brynmill School for the whole of her school life. The lack of green space and a sloping site meant that sports activities took part in the park where there would be rounders for the girls. The cricket pitch was also in existence then but not for girls.

Playing in the park was a simple affair, but none the less enjoyable. There were ball games and pond dipping in lily pad pond with a net and jam jar. Pity the creatures that may not have survived the ordeal. The stream was a race track with rhododendron leaves playing the part of boats; the other important point was not to fall in.

Picnics were enjoyed but without plastic. Pop came in reusable glass bottles with a deposit, so they were never discarded negligently. Remember the tastes of Tizer and Corona, before it became a tainted word. Sandwiches would always include jam as one of the fillings, and sometimes there would also be a homemade cake; a hardboiled egg was good to travel and laid by the chickens at home. During childhood, benches were not required, sitting on the grass near Swiss Cottage was just perfect. There has never been a water fountain in Singleton, but there was a water fountain in Brynmill Park with a communal drinking cup chained to it. Just like now there was not a protective covered area to offer shelter, so during adverse weather people would seek refuge in the heated greenhouses in the botanics.

The park was a venue for so many shows, the Gower Show, flower shows with cakes and horse shows; altogether gentler affairs than today. Sketty Hall was post WW11 a research centre for the iron and steel establishment, then it was used as a catering college and many people will have enjoyed weddings in a beautiful environment; now it is a Business School for Gower College. Sketty Lane was not a dual carriageway prior to Singleton Hospital being built and Valerie recalls collecting many wild flowers from the verges to press and keep.

Thank you to Valerie, for giving your time to chat for a few minutes, so that these stories can be enjoyed by many.