The Cardiff Book of Days (46 page)

1894:
Holy Trinity, the new church in the rapidly-expanding community of Cogan, was consecrated by the Bishop of Llandaff. (Roy Thorne,
Penarth: A History
, Starling Press, 1975)

2006:
The Medina Mosque in Woodville Road, Cathays, was destroyed by fire. The City Council offered the Muslim community the use of Roath Community Hall instead. ‘We are very grateful to the Council,' said Mosque spokesman, Taher Majral. However, the hall was not ideal as it was in a busy shopping area and had no car-park. Worshippers were advised to car-share or walk where possible. About 500 worshippers attended at the new venue to celebrate Eid ul-Adha, the festival marking the end of the pilgrimage to Mecca. In the next few years, ownership of the mosque site was the subject of a protracted legal dispute that prevented work being done on a replacement building. (
South Wales Echo
)

1898:
‘Ex-priest Slattery delivered another anti-Catholic lecture at the Andrews Hall, the progress of which was punctuated with a number of exciting scenes and incidents. The lecturer said at the outset that arrangements had been made for the expulsion of any person who might disturb the meeting. He hoped Protestant gentlemen would assist in the ejection of brawling neighbours. He enlarged upon the alleged evils connected with mixed marriages, the celibacy of the clergy and the confessional and was continuing in that strain when someone said “Boo”. The lecturer, amid some excitement, said the least said the better, but the obstructive person in the gallery continued his interruptions. Then there were cries for the police, who shut up the objector and summarily dismissed him. Soon afterwards the interruptors were in the ascendant. The lecturer, taking the bull by the horns, rushed from the platform and up to the gallery where a disturbance lasted for about five minutes. Christians on both sides were engaged with police in the melee and the whole lot fell struggling pell-mell over a flight of stairs.' (
Western Mail
)

1868:
The General Election held on this date was the first after the Reform Act of 1867 which had greatly increased the number of men eligible to vote. Nationally, the result saw the Liberals, led by William Ewart Gladstone, increase their majority over Benjamin Disraeli's Conservatives to more than 100 seats. The campaigning in Cardiff had led to some disorderly scenes, including a magistrate being felled by a stone while reading the Riot Act. The Liberal Candidate, Lieutenant Colonel James Stuart, polled 2,501 votes. Hardinge S. Giffard QC, the Conservative candidate had 2,055. The result at the 1874 election was much the same: Stuart 2,780, Giffard 2,771. In 1885 Hardinge Giffard was created Lord Halsbury and became Lord Chancellor. (W.R. Williams, ‘Members of Parliament for Cardiff')

1898:
A new chapel was dedicated at Nazareth House, Cardiff. The
Western Mail
's architectural critic clearly approved of this addition: ‘The architecture, which is in the Early English style, is in keeping with the rest of the structure,' he wrote. ‘The general effect is excellent: an air of warmth and comfort being imparted. The ventilation is in the most approved style and the whole building is one of the best of its kind in the town.'

1945:
Cardiff City hosted the famous Russian football team Moscow Dynamo in a special match at Ninian Park. The Cold War had not yet come into existence and there was still great admiration for the heroism displayed by the Russians during the war. The Lord Mayor of Cardiff gave the team a Civic Reception and there were visits arranged to the National Museum, the docks and a coal mine. They were entertained by a Welsh choir. Before the game the Russians presented the Cardiff captain with a bouquet of flowers and in return received silver-plated miners' lamps. The Dynamos beat Cardiff 10-1 and afterwards the
Echo
's sports cartoonist J.L. Walker suggested that the flowers might have been dipped in chloroform! (Dennis Morgan,
Farewell to Ninian Park
, 2008)

1967
: A bomb planted by nationalists opposed to the Investiture exploded at the Temple of Peace in Cathays Park on the eve of the first meeting of the committee set up to plan the 1969 ceremony at Caernarfon. Shrapnel from the shattered window-frames smashed windows in offices 600 yards away. It would have caused considerable loss of life but was timed to explode at 4 a.m. when there was no one about. (John Humphries,
Freedom Fighters: Wales' Forgotten War, 1963-1993
, University of Wales, 2008)

1986:
Welsh National Ice-Rink opened. It was home to the Cardiff Devils ice-hockey team until September 2006 when it was demolished. In April of that year there was a special ‘end of era' game between Past and Present Devils. (
South Wales Echo
)

2010:
Glamorgan cricket captain Jamie Dalrymple and President Peter Walker quit the county club in acrimonious circumstances. Dalrymple had been replaced as captain by South African, Alviro Petersen, and Walker left after Cricket Manager Matthew Maynard had chosen to leave rather than accept demotion to coach. They both criticised the way things were being run by chairman Paul Russell who responded by saying that he ‘had determined that the club can no longer accept the poor playing standards that have been the case for the last five years.' Glamorgan had been challenging for promotion from Division 2 of the Championship only for a poor run at the end of the season – and results elsewhere – to cause them to miss out. (
South Wales Echo
)

1740:
Charles Wesley preached at Cardiff and got a much-better reception than he had just received at Newport, where he described the crowd ‘as ill-behaved as ever I have seen in Wales'. As William Rees describes in
Cardiff: A History of the City
, there was a need for reformation in the eighteenth-century Anglican Church. In 1729 the Sexton at Llandaff had been suspended for a year due to drunkenness. In 1771 the Senior Vicar-Choral at the Cathedral had to be disciplined for ‘persistent evil-living'.

1883:
All shares in the Glamorganshire Canal linking Cardiff and Merthyr were purchased by Lord Bute. The canal was then closed and traffic diverted onto the Taff Vale Railway. (John Richards,
Cardiff: A Maritime History
, The History Press, 2005)

1954:
The death of Bart Wilson, ‘The Father of the Bluebirds', who had developed the former Riverside Cricket Club into a football club in 1899. Riverside FC ultimately became Cardiff City, joining the Football League in 1920. (Dennis Morgan,
Farewell to Ninian Park
, 2008)

1721:
The south-west tower of Llandaff Cathedral collapsed during a storm, followed by about 50 foot of the nave roof. The building was left open to the sky and remained in that condition for over a century. (Llandaff Cathedral guidebook)