1948 AUGUST
Extreme weather causes chaos, war orphan foster father pays a visit, Bradman hoax at Eisteddfod, and much more made the news 72 years ago this week...
Storm put 2,000 ‘phones out of action’
THE thunderstorm which raged over Cardiff and South Wales for nearly three hours yesterday evening, breaking the four-day spell of intense heat, put more than 2,000 telephones out of action, interrupted power supplies, damaged houses and roads and cause extensive flooding.
The weather was cooler today, but the forecast was that it would warm up again, with risk of further thunder or thunder showers.
The rainfall during the storm was the heaviest experienced for a considerable period.
The average rainfall for the whole of Cardiff was 2.16in.
The Post Office telephone department in Cardiff said today that 1,500 lines in the city were still out of order as a result of yesterday’s storm, with a further 300 at Whitchurch, 150 at Llanishen, 100 at Llandaff, and 75 at St Mellons.
Principal cause of the trouble was a major cable breakdown in the Roath Park area, others being due to broken lighting protectors and fuses.
Foster father to 5,000 war orphans
NINE-YEAR-OLD Tommy, of Cardiff, gazed up at the Minister of Pensions today and told him he wanted to be a bricklayer.
The Minister, Mr H A Marquand, is foster-father now to Tommy and every other war orphan in Britain.
“Three weeks ago I had three children.” Mr Marquand told a reporter. “Today I find I’ve got 5,000.”
On a visit of inspection today at Cardiff regional Office of the Ministry he met 11 of his new family. Tommy and his sister Hilda and another brother and sister – Tommy and Joan – were the first four he met.
“Where do you live?” asked the Minister. They told him the names of the streets. “Why, you’re all in my constituency,” said Mr Marquand. “When they grow up they can all vote for me,” he added, laughingly.
The children, 266 of them in South Wales alone, are living with relatives and guardians and are visited regularly by the children’s officer, Miss Enid Jenkins.
The ministry pays £1 a week for their upkeep and grants up to £80 a year can be made for special education.
One girl of 15, Miss Jenkins told the Minister, was evacuated to relatives in Tregaron when her parents were killed in the London blitz, She has since been able to go to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and win a diploma in dairying, thanks to the grants.
August break makes three records
THREE South Wales holiday records were in the process of being smashed today.
The biggest-ever crowd to watch cricket in Wales gathered at Swansea to see the Australians meet Glamorgan; the National Eisteddfod at Bridgend is likely to draw unprecedented numbers of visitors; and folk going away by bus and train will also, according to transport experts’ predictions, furnish new high figures for the August break.
So keen was the enthusiasm of South Wales sports fans in this year of spectacular cricket happenings, that visitors to St Helen’s, scene of the Glamorgan and Australia encounter, queued up at midnight.
In Cardiff, elaborate arrangements had been made to cope with the rush at the weekend. At Cardiff Central Station crowds, several deep, lined practically the whole of the long platform waiting for trains.
Over 50,000 South Wales miners start their holidays today and formed a big proportion of the crowds waiting for transport.
Bus companies were also anticipating a busy time. An official of the Western Welsh Omnibus Company said they would have everything on the road. The company had made plans to duplicate all services running to Bridgend throughout the week to handle the Eisteddfod crowds.
Bradman hoax at Eisteddfod
DON Bradman was the innocent cause of an Eisteddfod hoax today. Rumour got around at an early hour that the Australian cricket team, including the famous Don, were due to arrive at the great Welsh national festival. It spread and spread, as rumours do.
Festival-goers, who in general care little for sport when in the precincts of the pavilion, suffered a temporary lapse on their patriotic and musical fervour and began an investigation in the hope of catching a glimpse of the great cricketer.
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When word reached Mr WJ Samuel, general secretary, at his office inside the pavilion, he hastily sent a dispatch runner to the police tent at the main gate, requesting the inspector in charge to receive Don and his men should they arrive.
Don didn’t; he was miles and miles away – playing Warwickshire in Birmingham.
The team’s game against Glamorgan earlier in the week was affected by rain.
Cardiff just misses record
YESTERDAY was almost the hottest day in Cardiff on record.
The mercury at Roath Park reached a high spot of 92 degrees, only twofifths below the record of 92.4 degrees reached on August 19, 1932. That figure was the highest ever reached since records were first kept in the city.
Last year’s heatwave in the city reached 88.5, a figure which has easily been topped in the past week.