Description

In addressing the theme for the Dylan Thomas Dialogues project, I gravitated towards Thomas’ poem, The hunchback in the park as this subject has a particular significance for me. In 1940, when I was three years old, my parents moved from St. Thomas (near the docks and station yards) to Cwmdonkin Terrace, a row of twentyfour houses adjoining Cwmdonkin Park. We occupied
the ground floor flat in the home of Daniel Jones, the composer friend of Dylan Thomas, who, I’m told, was a frequent caller at No. 16.

I lived there for ten years and, like Dylan, spent hours in the park throughout my childhood, getting to know every nook and cranny: the bandstand, the water fountain, the shop, the rhododendron bush where we had our ‘den’. And Mr Chips the park-keeper whose bark was worse than his bite.

Whilst the park has much changed over time, my image emanates from a myriad of childhood memories and underscores my sense of ‘belonging’ which I still feel when I go there with my grandchildren. When I moved home in 1950 I missed the park I knew… and still do.

Following three years’ service in the RAF, Alan Figg enrolled at Swansea College of Art in 1959, where he studied stained glass design and lithography. He taught for 35 years, retiring in 1998. He has exhibited across Wales since becoming a member of Swansea Print Workshop in 2002.