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A group in the Biology Lab, Christmas 1959

from Alwyn Griffiths
 

The picture below was taken in the Biology Lab at Xmas 1959 when we were in the lower sixth form. It was our way of saying thanks to D³. He liked a drink and we used to tease him by saying that he had a private pipe line from the Aberaman Hotel to his home in Margaret Street (which was about 100 yards away). Hence the reference to Double Diamond Daily in the photo and to his DDD name. On the bottom half of the board were the names of the first year sixth doing Botany and Zoology. Childishly now maybe in retrospect (but the photo was taken back in 1959 when we were all about 17 years old) we didn’t put our true surnames, just a corruption of them, and for some reason the first names we used were the names of our current girlfriends at the time (that is except Hugh Clatworthy). For some reason Dai cube always called me an old woman.
 

In the picture going from left to right: Hugh Clatworthy, Roger Davies, me (Alwyn Griffiths), Byron Pugh and Dewi Powell.
 

Former Biology students will no doubt recognise the plastic amoeba hanging beside the blackboard, it was there for years! Also note the rabbit skeleton, some unidentifiable skulls, the model heart, etc. The glossy poster on the right of the photo was one of a series of Shell Nature Studies published in 1957. Shell sponsored the publication of several such series in the form of books in the 1950s, and the pictures and keys were also made available as glossy posters, each with a metal bar at the top and the bottom for wall hanging. One of the editors has a copy of the book which contains the original picture and the key for this poster. Click here to have a look at it.
 

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