Rhiwbina Living Issue 57

people
The Rhiwbina Queen
There aren't many people who have witnessed Rhiwbina's transformation
from a quiet hamlet to a bustling village. But Dianne Bartley is one of them
"I can't begin
to tell you
how beautiful
Rhiwbina was
back in the
day."
When it
comes to our
village, Dianne
Bartley has
seen it all.
From rolling green hills to suburban
splendour, the great-grandmother
has played her own part in
Rhiwbina's history.
"I moved to Rhiwbina at the age
of three in 1939. My father, Harry
Marjoram, was a golf professional
and my parents had relatives who
sat on the committee of the Garden
Village. The committee kindly
offered my parents a house in the
Garden Village to rent while they
were having another one built. But
then war broke out and building
stopped.
"My mother, Charlotte Marjoram,
was a Llandaff girl and she was
reluctant to move away from
Rhiwbina so we stayed there."
Dianne recalls her happy
childhood in the village, when
10
things were very different.
"We lived on Pen-y-Dre with
the stream just behind us. It was
fantastic. There were hardly any
cars; you could almost count them
and you knew who owned them.
We were right out in the country
and there were only a few main
roads – the ones in the Garden
Village, Wenallt Road, a little bit of
Rhiwbina Hill, and Pantmawr Road
was just a narrow road with farms at
the bottom."
Life in those days was a lot more
serene than today's Rhiwbina.
"We used to whip and top on
the road in Pen-y-Dre because of
course, there were very few cars
around. The library wasn't there
either when we were children.
It was just a little green patch
with trees on it. I don't think we
realised at the time what a beautiful
environment we were in."
Dianne attended Rhiwbeina
Primary School on the outskirts of
the Garden Village.
"The school was out in the fields
and I remember walking there in a
gas mask because the war was on,"
says Dianne. "I think I had a Mickey
Mouse gas mask because I was
small at that time. My
main ambition was
to have a mask in a
brown box because
they were for older
children and mine
was in a black tin.
"Mr Pugsley was the
headmaster and he
was a lovely man.
Miss Price was my
first teacher at the
age of five in 1941.
She would draw beautiful pictures
on the blackboard in chalk.
"We were also taught how to
thread beads onto cotton and
we'd often have to suck the end of
the cotton that had been sucked
by another child the day before. I
distinctly remember there was an
alphabet on the wall and I can still
recite what it said to this day. And
then there would be the milk that
would sit outside in all weathers;
we'd literally watch it curdle during
the summer months."
But the war years were also a time
of fear and worry.
"We had an Anderson Shelter
made from very heavy metal in our
dining room and it almost filled the
room. When the siren went off, our
neighbours would come in to use it.
"Pantbach Road past the Monico
area was bombed and I remember
many times, my Dad would take me
out of bed and put me in the shelter
because the siren had gone off. I
remember there were these huge
balloon-type barrages floating in
the sky to stop the bombers coming
in. All the children in the area were
allocated houses to go into in case
of a bombing, and we had three
children who came in, only once
though on a 'dummy run.'"
Growing up during the war years
brought out the kindness in people.
"Everyone was so caring during
those war years. We had neighbours
who would go and pick raspberries
and make desserts out of them.
They'd shout over to ask if we
wanted any. Because of the rations,
everyone shared what they had and
there was a deep concern about
everyone else.