Memories of a Sofrydd boy

By Kevin Pritchard

I moved to Sofrydd in Nineteen sixty three
Lived in a street called Keir Hardie
Many locals called in Tintown
That would always make us frown
We loved our new home
In it we all have grown
We went exploring our first night
At Lewis Street we saw an awesome sight
My five year old eyes opened wide
A train was crossing to the other side
Through the air it flew
On a bridge held up by many screws
I had never seen anything like this before
This huge viaduct filled me with awe
Every day we went there to play
But alas the bridge began to sway
They said it wasn’t safe any more
It would have to be brought to the floor
The thought of that made me want to cry
This young boy didn’t want the viaduct to die
They came with their big cranes and hooks
Many people came to look
The viaduct didn’t want to come down
This made the demolition men from Sparrow frown
Our grand old viaduct stood firm
We went to school happy for another term
Everyone hoped they wouldn’t come back
Please, please give them the sack
But it wasn’t to be
The men from Birds came you see
They destroyed our viaduct pier by pier
Never again would we see her
Her steel girders rust in the grass and ferns
As the clock of time turns
In our memories she is still alive today
Everytime we tell the kids where we used to play