Canadian Philatelist Philatéliste canadien - The Royal Philatelic ...

WHERE I LIVE
by Ken Lewis
(From top to bottom): Figure 1, Figure 2, Figure 3, Figure 4.
Being the first Director of The Royal Philatelic
Society of Canada to reside outside continental
North America, I thought that the other members
would like to learn a little more about where I live
along with a tinge of the history of the area illustrated
by contemporary picture postcards. My
home is in the Gower Peninsular, South Wales,
United Kingdom, and Wales is the area of land that
separates England from Ireland. The whole of the
Gower Peninsular has been designated an area of
outstanding natural beauty.
My life began in a little village called Reynoldston
(Figure 1) at the centre of the Gower Peninsular.
Even though there was a maternity hospital 100
yards away, my mother chose to give birth at home.
Within 18 months of my birth, the family moved to
Parkmill, and lived in Stonemill Cottage (Figure 2),
which was next door to the post office. One year
later, our last move was to West Cross, which is situated
on Swansea Bay. All locations of our moves are
shown on the map (Figure 3).
West Cross has clear views of both the Mumbles
Pier (Figure 4) and Lighthouse (Figure 5). Figure 4,
showing Mumbles Pier, includes the view across the
bay that shows the industrialised landscape from
Swansea to Port Talbot. On the left are Swansea
docks, moving to the right we can see the storage
tanks of the local oil refinery and on the extreme
right we see the two cooling towers of the Port
Talbot Steel Works. It was at this Steel Works where
I became a mechanical engineer. The road system
is reasonable, but what most people do not know is
that the world’s first public passenger railway, the
Swansea & Mumbles Railway inaugurated by an
Act of Parliament, (known as the Mumbles Train)
ran between Swansea and Mumbles Pier. Figure 6
shows the history and the various modes of locomotion
used during its lifetime. The popularity of
the Mumbles Train (Figure 7) is shown with not a
spare seat in sight. Even King George V and Queen
Mary, when they visited Swansea on 9 th July 1920,
had their own Royal Coach (Figure 8) from which to
view the natural beauty of the area while travelling
on the Mumbles Train.
94 • the CP / le PC • MA06