Oil Painting – portrait of Cwmdonkin Park Keeper John Smallcombe

Oil Painting – portrait of Cwmdonkin Park Keeper John Smallcombe.

The painting is dated around 1900 and shows John Smallcombe in his high-ranking Salvation Army uniform. He was frequently teased by Dylan and his friends, who called him “Old Smally”.

Dylan’s radio piece, ‘Return Journey’, written after Swansea was partially destroyed by the Three Night Blitz, ends with Dylan trying to find his youthful self in Cwmdonkin Park and asking the Park Keeper if he remembered the young boy who used to taunt him. The chilling answer is “Dead dead dead dead dead dead”.

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