A 1930's view of the 'Italianate Gardens' on the Penarth Esplanade opened in 1926. By now the promenade had been widened to accommodate the sheer number of visitors. Motor vehicles are conspicuously rare in this photograph which has been borrowed from a marvelous book by Mr. Ings, 'Penarth in old picture postcards.' [300]

A photo snapped of the Excelsior Ropes Works Band (formerly the Mellingriffyth Band) on the sunny Sunday afternoon of the 21st August 1966 with yours truly playing the soprano cornet. In the lower image, Phil Bellringer is in the solo cornet chair, a sixteen year old me is in the back row and Mr Fred Prior is the conductor. It is holidaytime and Mr Prior was a 'borrowed-man' normally the erstwhile conductor of the Mid-Rhondda Band. The Excelsior Ropes Works (part of British Ropes) was situated on Western Avenue in Cardiff and produced wire ropes for the shipping and mining industry. [001]