The Cardiff Book of Days (52 page)

2010:
The Model Inn in Quay Street closed. Soldiers of Cromwell's New Model Army had allegedly been billeted there during the Civil War. The Taff used to run alongside Quay Street until it was diverted for the building of the railway. (
South Wales Echo
)

1900:
‘The great festival of the Nativity was observed in Cardiff with the same enthusiasm as in times gone by, notwithstanding the wet weather which prevailed. The streets presented an animated appearance. All means of locomotion were in full play and the railways were kept busy all day. The usual run of services and meetings were held, being well attended. Collections were made by several congregations on behalf of the Cardiff Infirmary. The Post Office was well able to cope with the demands made on it. Deliveries on Christmas Day were exceptionally numerous and the inside staff, as well as the postmen, were hard at work until well into the afternoon. In many towns and villages eisteddfodau were held, the events being well patronised. The poor in most unions were provided with “Christmas Cheer”, dinners being given them, either at the expense of the guardians or private individuals.' (
Western Mail
)

1955:
A fire broke out at the Fire Brigade Headquarters in Westgate Street. Damage was confined to the roof-space over the residential flats. The operation of the Fire Service was unaffected. In 1973 the building was demolished to make way for a multi-storey car-park. (M.J. Mace, ‘A Brief History of Cardiff Fire Brigade', in
The Cardiff Book, Vol.3
, 1977)

1948:
The Gwyn Nicholls Memorial Gates at the Arms Park were dedicated by former team-mate Rhys Gale. Known as ‘The Prince of Three-Quarters', Nicholls was born in 1874 and first played rugby for Cardiff in 1893. In 1909 he refereed the match between England and Scotland at the Richmond Athletic Ground. This was the last international to be played there. In 1923, while on holiday at Weston-super-Mare, he was involved in the rescue of two young girls from the sea. Not a strong swimmer, he only just got back to shore. His health never fully recovered and he died in March 1939. (T.D. Breverton,
The Welsh Almanac
, Glyndwr Publications, 2002)

2004:
Newlyweds Jennifer Hill and her husband Tony, a museum assistant at St Fagans, escaped unhurt from the Boxing Day tsunami which hit while they were on honeymoon at Marawila, Sri Lanka. The water stopped only yards from their beach bungalow. On January 5th 2005, the First Minister at the National Assembly led three minutes silence in Cardiff in memory of the 150,000 killed in the disaster. (
South Wales Echo
)

1913:
A severe storm swept northwards from Devon into South Wales and on as far as Cheshire. Making landfall at Aberthaw, it built up into what was described as ‘a tornado of exceptional violence' in the Taff Valley, north of Cardiff. At Duffryn Dowlais its track was 50 yards wide and the wind was strong enough to cause structural damage. A Mr W.M. Morris, travelling home to Cardiff by train from Pontypridd, reported seeing ‘a ball of fire and a blinding sheet of lightning' near Creigiau station at about 5.30 p.m. About £40,000 of damage was done to properties in the Rhymney and Rhondda valleys. (Meurig Evans, ‘A South Wales Tornado',
Glamorgan Historian, No.11
)

1979:
Flooding caused major damage in the area west of the River Taff. The river burst its banks at Llandaff Fields. Cathedral Road and Cowbridge Road East were flooded. Camels and horses escaped from a circus in Sophia Gardens and were rounded up in Penarth Road. The monkeys were taken to a Funeral Parlour where they were served tea and cake. (John O'Sullivan & Bryn Jones,
Cardiff: A Centenary Celebration
, The History Press, 2005 /
www.mets.org
)

1908:
The Australian rugby team embarked on their first European tour. They were encouraged by their Rugby Football Union to perform a ‘war-cry' before matches, in imitation of the New Zealand ‘Haka'. When they tried this before their match against Cardiff, the home captain responded by advancing towards them brandishing a Zulu spear, allegedly a souvenir of the Battle of Rourke's Drift. It must have been effective – Cardiff won the game. (Robert Cole & Stuart Farmer,
The Wales Rugby Miscellany
, Sports Vision Publishing, 2008)

1958:
Uncharacteristic blunders by Liverpool's Scottish international goalkeeper Tommy Younger helped Cardiff City to a shock 6-1 win in their Second Division encounter at Ninian Park. This marked the beginning of a sequence that established Cardiff as Liverpool's ‘bogey team' for a couple of seasons. It was the first of five successive Cardiff victories, the last of which was a 4-0 triumph at Anfield in December 1959. (Dennis Morgan,
Farewell to Ninian Park
, 2008)

2010:
Vimla Patel, a businesswoman who had worked tirelessly for Cardiff's Hindu community, was made a MBE in the New Year Honours list. The 58-year-old had come to Cardiff in 1972 after fleeing Idi Amin's regime in Uganda. Refusing to accept any State handouts, Vimla and her husband Hari worked long hours to make ends meet. Eventually they had saved enough money to buy a petrol station and were able to build up a chain of garages in South Wales. The MBE was for Vimla's community work. ‘When we first arrived in Cardiff,' she told the
South Wales Echo
, ‘there were many Ugandan Asians who could not speak English. I went with them to hospital appointments and job interviews and helped them to fill in forms. In 1984, with a group of friends, she had set up the Sanatan Dhatma Mandel Community Centre in The Parade, Roath, where Hindus could meet to celebrate religious and cultural events and where older people could socialise.'

1921:
The death of Charles Wood, the last man to receive the Victoria Cross from Queen Victoria herself. He had earned the award for his gallantry in the Boer War. In June 1900 a group of men from his regiment, the 2
^nd
Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry, were surrounded on three sides by about 500 Boers. Despite the great likelihood that he would die in the attempt, Private Wood volunteered to take a message requesting reinforcements to a signalling post 150 yards away. He succeeded but was severely wounded and his action saved his comrades from capture. He died in Whitchurch and for more than sixty years lay in an unmarked grave in St Mary's churchyard. In 1986 David Clarke, the verger at St Mary's, identified the grave, with the help of the Glamorgan Family History Society. The British Legion and Wood's old regiment paid for a headstone. Wood's grown-up children were among those who attended its unveiling by Pontlottyn-born VC-holder Edmund Chapman. (
South Wales Echo
)

1872:
Cardiff police constable William Perry was murdered by a mentally-ill butcher John Jones. His funeral was attended by large crowds (
see
January 5th). (Mark Isaacs,
Foul Deeds & Suspicious Deaths in Cardiff
, Wharncliffe, 2009)

1938:
A crowd of 40,000 attended Cardiff City's derby game with Newport County in the Third Division (South). Only Newcastle United had a bigger attendance that day. County won 2-1 and at the end of the season gained promotion, only for the 1939/40 season to be abandoned after three games because of the outbreak of war. (Dennis Morgan,
Farewell to Ninian Park
, 2008)