Mumbles Community Radio interview by Clive Saddington with Alun John Richards, an octogenarian and author of A Swansea Boy, interviewed at his home in Sketty. He talks about his memories of Swansea and the industrial heritage of Wales, about which he has written a book.

[00:00:01] Adverts: Adverts until 2m 22s. [00:02:24] Personal Details: Alan Richards, interview by Clive Suddington, for "Mumbles Memories", Radio Mumbles. [00:02:33] Industry: Appointments, in engineering, NW Wales. [00:03:08] Industry: Macalpines took over Penrhyn Quarry. [00:03:19] Industry: Impressions of Penrhyn Quarry, 1963. [00:03:46] Industry: Health & Safety developments. [00:04:20] Slate: Use of slate in Stone Age for scraping skins. [00:04:52] Housing: Slate strength, for lintels. [00:05:14] Slate: Early men limited techniques. [00:05:44] Industry: Companies, developed businesses, started exploiting slate c 1770s. [00:06:14] Industry: Slate: Carmarthenshire, north Merionethshire, Blaen-y-Ffestiniog. [00:06:42] Transport: Major cost: getting slate from quarry to ships. [00:07:33] Transport: Transport difficulties, particularly in winter. [00:07:51] Transport: Turnpikes, mid C18. [00:07:57] Transport: 1801: Lord Penrhyn, railway. [00:08:15] Transport: Canals unfeasible, terrain, locks. [00:08:37] Transport: Unfeasible canal plans. [00:08:57] Transport: Early railways, horse drawn. [00:09:25] Transport: 1836 Ffestiniog railway. [00:09:35] Transport: 1863 Ffestiniog steam engines. [00:09:50] Transport: Economic advantages of narrow gauge building & maintenance. [00:10:27] Transport: 1860s technical developments in gradient abilities & cornering. [00:10:44] Transport: 4' gauge rationale, 1836. [00:11:37] Industry: Quality and fame of Welsh slate, particularly Porthmadog. [00:12:23] Industry: Carmarthen v Merioneth slate longevity. [00:13:25] Industry: Quarry & land ownership, capital for investment. [00:14:15] Industry: Freehold v Leasehold; freehold landowners could afford long-term plans. [00:14:58] Industry: Very few slate fortunes. [00:15:22] Industry: Penrhyn family owned until 1947, part-owned until 1963. [00:15:40] Industry: Family-owned slate businesses for 2 centuries. [00:16:04] Industry: Welsh slate contemporary use for public buildings. [00:16:53] Building: Use of slate as bulk and fine building material. [00:17:56] Education: 1870s Education Acts - schools used slates - boards, writing. [00:18:49] Education: Slate blamed for epidemics. [00:19:35] Education: Economics: paper too expensive for schools. [00:20:08] Historiography: Books: Slate Quarrying in Wales (general history) Gazeteer of Welsh Slate Quarries (reference work). [00:21:01] Historiography: Photos, fieldwork, Coleg Harlech & National Park lectures. [00:22:28] Adverts: Adverts until 25m 48s. [00:25:53] Personal Details: Alan Richards, b Uplands, author of A Swansea Boy. [00:26:38] Historiography: Rationale for book, & family history. [00:29:29] Class: "Businessman" was only proper occupation for middle class. [00:30:00] Retail: Retail grocery, John Richards Ltd, Lower Union Street. [00:30:11] Retail: Use of motor transport. [00:30:40] Retail: Richards Ltd started c early 1870s (1872?). [00:31:06] Personal Details: Subject b 1924, RAF national service. [00:31:26] Retail: Supermarkets near future. [00:32:06] RAF: Cranwell - RAF College. [00:32:27] Education: Year at UC Swansea, Engineering, pre-RAF. [00:32:36] RAF: 36 years in RAF Reserve. [00:33:50] Industry: Solving engineering problems. [00:34:49] Society: Inequalities, relative wealth. [00:36:00] Industry: End of docks coal trade & activity - noise. [00:36:32] Industry: Weavers - hooter noises, shift changes, audible in Sketty. [00:37:28] Industry: Industrial smells defined areas: - Wind St brewery, High St Gale's coffee roasting. [00:37:54] Retail: Gale's: high class grocers, coffee smells an advert. [00:37:34] Swansea: Lascar seamen [Lascar: archaic term for south/south-east Asian sailors]. [00:39:05] Swansea: Dominated by docks, south of Wind St: north of this, "town". [00:39:49] Class: "Docksmen" less than respectable. [00:40:10] Swansea: Swansea a "collection of villages". [00:40:47] Class: Domicile more important than occupation. [00:41:02] Class: Mumbles top class, because of use of train for work/school. [00:41:19] Transport: Mumbles railway memories - omnibus-type carriages, open top, pre-1929 electrification. [00:43:01] Transport: Electrification: 19 mins Rutland St to Oystermouth. [00:43:55] Leisure: Mumbles excursions, steam travel. [00:44:38] Transport: Electrification impact: unique smell, sound of Mumbles train. [00:45:48] Police: Mumbles Train & United Welsh buses: free travel to uniformed police, not SWT. [00:47:02] Shipping: Insolvencies, banks - hence bankers presence in "ship" cafes in Wind St. [00:47:25] Shipping: Scrap & insurance values of ships. [00:48:22] Crime: Fires, suspicion of insurance fraud. [00:48:53] Class: Maintenance of standards of appearance important for business. [00:50:25] Poverty: Squalor, rent collection problems. [00:51:35] Retail: Old practices, services. [00:51:54] Retail: Memories of Turgoose's grocers, Mumbles. [00:52:26] Society: Slower pace of life, less urgency. [00:52:45] Society: Community, familiarity of past, now lost. [00:53:32] Transport: Car use = loss of community. [00:54:25] Society: Changes in standards of dress, decline of suits, hats. [00:55:43] Society: Daily Express picture of Edward VIII hatless, shock. [00:57:42] Industry: Slate: quarries, never mines. [00:60:57] Adverts: Adverts until end of recording