Swansea Bay and Oystermouth from Neuadd Lewis Jones, Swansea University

This is a view in 1969 from Swansea University southwest towards Oystermouth and the Mumbles. The campus looks a bit bleak and empty compared with what it is like now. Parts of the site were still under construction then.

This photo has quite a significance for me in some ways. It was taken from Neuadd Lewis Jones, one of the on-campus student halls of residence, where I was staying for a week during a geology/geography field course. I was 16 at the time. On one of the days we had an underground visit at Cynheidre colliery near Llanelli, my first ever underground trip, which left a real lasting impression on me. Little did I know then that I was to subsequently work in the UK coal industry for 20 years, including a four-year stint back at Cynheidre some 13 years later.

Neuadd Lewis Jones* was named after Lewis Jones (1897-1939). Born in Clydach Vale, not far from Swansea, he is regarded as one of the finest of modern British novelists. He wrote two working class novels: 'Cwmardy' (1937) and 'We Live' (1939), which are generally recognised as being outstanding depictions of life in the South Wales mining valleys during the first part of the twentieth century.

More information about him here:
www.agor.org.uk/cwm/themes/people/lewis_jones.asp

Taken with an old Kodak bellows camera on 120 roll film; scanned from a print.

*Post Scriptum:
I believe that Neuadd Lewis Jones has now been renamed Neuadd Preseli; pretty, but a bit more of our history liable to be forgotten.