Diving Off The Donkey Rock

A Memory of Mumbles, The.

We moved to Thistleboon, Mumbles from the East End of London in 1968 when I was 7 years old and I fell in love with the sea. A fond memory of those far off summers is my friends and I jumping from the Donkey Rock at Rotherslade at high tide. You had to time your launch just right to catch the crest of a wave as it rolled up the beach. Too soon and the water would be too shallow, many a scraped knee or ankle was had from these escapades. It was particularly good if there had been a storm the day before and the surf was choked with seaweed. This would act as a cushion upon landing! Mind you... it was a bit of a struggle getting out to the beach. Today's Health & Safety police would have a fit if they saw what we got up to. Tying old washing lines together and abseiling down the cliffs at Lambs Well and Doctors Mine. One Bonfire Night we collected as many fireworks as we could, packed all the gunpowder from them into an old Coke can, piled pebbles from the beach around and blew it up under the old Rotherslade concrete promenade... the resulting boom left me deaf for 3 days afterwards.. and I've still got the scar on my head where the blast knocked me over. Ahh...happy days and a charmed childhood.

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