Bombing of barrage balloon squadron site killed WAAFs
CARDIFF Remembered reader Dr Graham Westall has kindly sent me a copy of a letter he received from his cousin Alan Probert now residing in London.
Mr Probert, 83, remembers the time three WAAFs were killed during the last war when the 953 Barrage Balloon Squadron site near the Roath Power Station, not far from Colchester Avenue, was bombed on May 18, 1944.
They were Aircraftswoman 1st class Helen Ross Brand, leading Aircraftswoman Mary Macaskill and Aircraftswoman Betty Stannard.
All three women were in their 20s and Helen was due to marry three weeks’ later.
Mr Probert says that Betty “had only been posted there on a four-month course”.
He writes: “A few years ago I motored down to the hamlet of Benenden in Kent and placed flowers on Betty’s grave.
“As I left the graveyard I mentioned my mission to a local gardener who looked over his shoulder and pointed to a cottage telling me that Betty’s sister lived there.
“I knocked the door nervously, wondering if she would be offended but instead I was greeted with open arms.
“She informed me that, on being summoned to the headteacher’s office all those years ago, she wondered what she had done wrong only to be told that her beloved sister had been killed in Cardiff.
“Disgracefully, she was sent home unaccompanied.”
Ted Richards, chair of the Roath Local History Society, informs me that the incident is mentioned in Muriel Pusham’s book, We All Wore Blue: Experiences In The WAAF.
And for more information on this tragic incident see Roath Local History’s website.
YOU WRITE
READER Fred Fox got in touch to say: “The continuation of your excellent Cardiff Remembered articles suggest that you are in good form, and I wish you well in these difficult times.
“The mention of a ‘walking boom’ in your piece dated October 2 reminded me of a cutting which I have circa 1904, which reports on the second annual dinner of the Cardiff Windsor Photographic Society on November 16 of that year.
“The dinner was held in the Great Western Hotel (still there!) in the billiard room, where special flooring was laid over the tables, which the cutting states ‘makes a fine dining-hall’ and the new lessee’s comprehensive menu was ‘irreproachable’, about 85 people being present. The society originated after the amateur photographers’ Porthcawl walk of 1902.
“In 1904, membership totalled 118. My grandfather (Fred Fox, scenic artist at The Oswald Stoll’s Empire Theatre) was president, and responded to the toast to the society after which he was presented with a camera with an inscribed silver plate, for his services to the club.
“I believe that the club morphed into the Cardiff Camera Club not long after. There were annual competitions, and I have a few medals which my grandfather won.
“On a different topic, I was reminded of the family association with D’arc’s Waxworks by a Facebook message asking if I was the Fred Fox who was associated with Madame D’arc.
“It was from an Anne Marie Barry, a research assistant at the Royal College of Music. She wants to have a chat, and tells me that she is writing a book on fortune-telling, although I didn’t know Madame D’Arc was interested in that.”
Incidentally, I remember seeing a D’arc’s Waxworks advert for a fortuneteller in one of the local newspapers of old when I was researching the Cardiff Continental Waxworks at 90 St Mary Street.
With regard to my piece on Cardiff Speedway (October 2), Lillian Allen writes: “Your article brought back happy memories. My husband and I were regular supporters from 1951 to 1953. I still have our speedway badges and car park badge. We enjoyed everything about those meetings and always looked forward to seeing our favourite speedway rider Gerald Pugh.
“Thank you for giving us something to think about during the virus lockdown.”
Another reader was able to name all the speedway riders in the picture apart from the young lad who was the mascot.
They were Alf Elliott, Harry Hughes, Vic Butcher, Mick Holland, Mick Callagan, Ray Beaumont, Frank Johnson, Kevin Hayden, Les Maidment, Gerald Pugh, Arthur Pilgrim and Jimmy Wright.
Meanwhile, former Roath (Cardiff) Harrier Terry McRann, now living in Australia, has sent me a picture which shows former Olympic Games long jump gold medallist Lynn Davies, Tony Clemo, later of Cardiff City management fame, and Terry McRann at Merthyr Mawr.
Please send your pictures and stories to Brian Lee, Cardiff Remembered, South Wales Echo, Six Park Street, Cardiff CF10 1XR or email brianlee4@virginmedia.com – please include your phone number as I cannot reply by letter.