A PEMBROKE Dock native has written a book based on growing up in the town.
Robin Campbell grew up in Pembroke Dock and went to Lanion Primary School and Bush Grammar.
He remembers growing up with a view of the station and gas works and his dog chasing seagulls through the mud flats, as well as the sea coming right up to the wall opposite the police station and playing at Hobbs Point.
Robin decided that he wanted to write the book – called A Better Hole - during the covid lockdown, turning some of his memories into a fictional story that is loosely based on his upbringing.
“Believe it or not, the story just flowed,” he told the Western Telegraph.
The story takes place in Cleddau Dock (Pembroke Dock), an English-speaking town in west Wales. It is narrated by Gareth Mathias, a child in his last year in primary school and takes place between 1959-61.
Gareth lives with his mum, dad, sister and three brothers as well as his Nanna Mathias, his father’s mother, with occasional visits from Mamgu, his mother’s mother. The house is rented from Mr Gad.
Gareth is obsessed with buying a penknife with meagre pocket money that he scrimps and saves but is never able to get the full amount of three shillings and sixpence needed for the gadget.
During the book, readers learn all about Gareth and his siblings Hywel, Leonard and Mike and how a stranger saves the latter after he gets into trouble swimming in the estuary, but after speaking with Mr Gad when he delivered the rent money, Gareth finds out that the mysterious stranger is not a very popular man.
It is a book about growing up, including all the fun of being part of the ‘Cleddau Rocks’ little gang and how they play and are involved in local events, as well as the insecurities of a child, including becoming besotted with a gypsy girl and life in a town with drunks. It also follows how Gareth loves learning about history from his schoolteacher and much more.
A Better Hole is dedicated to Robin’s wife who died a month after the book was printed following a battle with breast cancer.
A Better Hole is available to purchase at Cwtch Café, Pembroke Dock as well as Waterstones.
He is already working on two new novels, with The Moonlit Mr Spring set to be out this year through Cambria Publishing, and a new book called The Message, which is also expected later this year.
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