Collections Online
Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales
Advanced Search
Tommy Letton - Below the Bridge (audio)
Interview with Tommy Letton, old barrow fishmonger, local celebrity. Content summary: Accident with fireworks when he was three and taken to Hamadryad when it was still a ship. Selling matches round pubs when he was a child, then worked in the dry docks for 25 shillings a weekduring 1914-18 War. During last couple of months in war he was towing targets on a ship called the Pioneer (Tugboat). Then he worked in a general garage/repair shop at 14. Talks about his time in the army during Second World War in between the wars he started courting. He also went up to New Zealand and home via Cape Horn, Buenos Aires trip took ten months. Talks about cattle pontoon taking cattle to Bristol. Talks about fish - coming down from Grimsby - talk mainly centred around photos of Tommy. Various stories about selling fish around Docks. Sings "Tiger Bay" and "Tugboat Boys". Using all languages used in docks to sell fish. General Strike 1926.