A PORTSMOUTH man who spent ‘a very happy two years of my life in Cardigan’ is hoping to trace a group of childhood pals from a faded black-and-white snapshot.

Alan Wallbank was a nine-year-old schoolboy when his family moved from Hampshire to Cardigan’s Cnwc y Dintir estate in 1955 after his father received a posting to RAF Aberporth.

He has since paid three nostalgic visits to the town in recent years and wonders whether his friends from those now-distant days still live locally.

“My mother brought my younger brother Peter and myself to Cardigan by train and I clearly remember entering the cottage and seeing a fridge for the first time,” Alan, 76, who still lives in the house in Bedhampton where he was brought up, told the Tivy-Side.

“We went to the Cardigan Junior School which I understand has since been demolished.

“It was there that I recall doing joined-up writing and fractions, both of which were not taught in Bedhampton.

“It seemed to me that Wales was far ahead of the English schools.

“I went to Sunday School at the Mount Zion Church and still have the Bible they gave me on my departure in March 1957 when we all returned to Bedhampton.

“I have to say that the two years I spent in Cardigan was a very happy time in my life.

“The main photo shows a group of children with my brother and I second and third from the left and I was wondering if anyone recognised themselves?

“Another shows my brother outside our cottage in Cnwc y Dintir. A conservatory has now been added to the front of the house.

“The third photo is of my brother and I at Penbryn, our favourite beach, where I remember the sand was too hot to walk on.

“It was there on our final visit that I sadly forgot my submarine that you see in my left hand.

“I’d be grateful if you could print the group photo in the hope that some of these youngsters can be identified after a lapse of almost 66 years!”