An account of Wales's newest city in an offbeat exploration of Newport - old and new - and its people. From the splendour of Tredegar House to the towering presence of the Celtic Manor Resort, from the bland sixties shopping centre to the delightful Transporter Bridge, from the decline of the soccer team to the continuing proud tradition at Rodney Parade.

Golwg ar ddinas fwyaf newydd Cymru mewn cyfrol sy'n edrych ar Gasnewydd, yr hen a'r newydd. O ysblander Plas Tredegar i fawredd gwesty'r Celtic Manor, o'r ganolfan siopa ddi-lun i'r bont newydd wych, ac o ddirywiad y tîm pêl-droed i barhad clodwiw y traddodiad yn Rodney Parade.

'. . . No one likes Newport, probably because
It’s always defined by what it's not,
Compared with something that it never was
And classified by what it hasn’t got.
I shall adopt the city’s attitude –
Two fingers to the guidebook on the shelf –
And call upon Saint Woolos and Saint Jude
To show me how to make it sing itself.'
('Newport Song', Drysdale)

I like Ann Drysdale’s attitude. Her achievement in this concise book is that she does make Newport sing for itself. More conventional guidebooks hold the mistaken belief that certain parts of rural and urban Wales have nothing of interest for the visitor. They deal perfunctorily with these places by describing the delights of the surrounding countryside, the nearest available public transport to get you out of there, the beautiful city lights or mountains you can see in the distance – just about anything other than a useful description of where you actually are. Worse still, as the author notes, are the increasing number of travel books and articles which celebrate the negative, like the sad publication Crap Towns, or Worst holiday destinations. What has become of us all?

Seren’s innovative new series shows us is that if we bother to take the time to get beneath the skin of a place and slow down enough to make anything other than the shallowest of observations, it may well be the unique blend of beauty, mystery, culture, history and downright ugliness that makes a place so special.

The author is under no illusion that Newport presents a challenge, having fallen from its glory days during the Industrial Revolution. By the 1830s, it had become the largest town in Wales, with a worldwide reputation for the accessibility of its modern docks, shipping some 6 million tons of coal at its peak. Today the docks are almost gone, other major industries have been relocated and the steelworks have been pared down to employ a fraction of their earlier workforce. In spite of this, things are changing, pride is stirring and the author sets out to explore the four corners of the city and bring us the real Newport: ‘When the tide is in, a glistening brown ribbon divides the place neatly in two. When it is out, there is an impressive acreage of mud. Both are beautiful.’

Ann Drysdale takes us on a ‘warts and all’ tour of the city, celebrating the mud as much as the magic, and revealing a deep affection and loyalty for the place. With her oblique wit and a freshness which characterize the book, she brings us: Newport’s pigeon thugs; the finest Ladies’ toilet in the city; a hilarious description of the old combined arts and leisure centre where the smell of chlorine overpowers Haydn’s trumpet concerto; the council’s efforts to subdue aggression in the bus station by playing music including the theme to Schindlers’ List; the two ‘cranes’ of the Usk footbridge reminding her of synchronized swimming; the beech trees and graffiti in the Jewish cemetery; and fond memories of the erratic lighting festooning the Transporter Bridge before its refurbishment in the 1990s. Sometimes, the warts are just too much – like her entry for the structure erected to pay tribute to steel and water as the sources of Newport’s wealth, the ‘Steel Wave’. ‘I wanted to write a poem for the Steel Wave,’ she writes, ‘but I couldn’t. I didn’t know where to put the pity and I didn’t know what to do with the fear.’

There are other buildings and structures, however, in which she finds ample inspiration: the impressive Celtic Manor Resort; Tredegar House; the Roman remains at Caerleon and the window from which Tennyson reputedly used his vision of the River Usk as inspiration for Idylls of the King; the Feibusch paintings in the Civic Centre; the old market hall, and the towpath along the Monmouthshire Canal where she enjoys walking with her dog, Otis.

Alongside her observations are some moving accounts from her personal experience, such as Caerleon and its college where she and her husband, who was already suffering from a terminal illness, took up a degree course. Along with these are fond and funny memories of her time at the South Wales Argus where a frosty Features editor took great delight in assigning her to follow ‘A Day in the life of a Sewage Worker’. Typically, this turned out to be one of her most enjoyable working days (that two-fingered approach again).

If you do visit Newport, this is the book you must take – forget the other guide books. This will tell you everywhere you need to go, everywhere to avoid and entertain you with poetry along the way. The chances are that once you’ve read the book, you’ll want to have the author by your side as well, as you take the tour of the city. She must be one of Newport’s liveliest characters and she would make such excellent company.

Jane MacNamee

It is possible to use this review for promotional purposes, but the following acknowledgement should be included: A review from www.gwales.com, with the permission of the Welsh Books Council.

Gellir defnyddio’r adolygiad hwn at bwrpas hybu, ond gofynnir i chi gynnwys y gydnabyddiaeth ganlynol: Adolygiad oddi ar www.gwales.com, trwy ganiatâd Cyngor Llyfrau Cymru.