PEOPLE appeared not to be overly keen on a new-fangled invention that had arrived in Barry’s shops.

Colour television arrived in the town on Monday evening but it seemed no-one was interested because demand was low for this new production.

The Barry and District News reporter at the time surveyed the majority of the television dealers in the town and was unable to find a colour television on display.

There had been one or two orders but most managers agreed that although there had been a few inquiries there was “no real demand and nothing definite”.

The general manager of Seccombes said the high price of colour television was deterring people.

A 25-inch television set would be £358 guineas with a rental deposit of about £80 and weekly payments of approximately £2 4s. A 19-inch set would be cheaper with a weekly rental charge of £1 8s, 9d.

Mr Len Bearpark, of Broad Street, believed that colour television had come to Wales at a bad time because it was in the middle of a holiday period.

“People are more interested in having a holiday in Majorca, rather than having a colour television,” he said.

l A proposed children’s paddling pool site was branded a ‘waste of money’ when the ex-mayor and alderman of the borough spoke to auditors.

Stringers Park, in Weston Square, Cadoxton, became the cause of Mr H. W. Durman, chairman of the local Vigilantes, appearing before the District Auditors.

The scheme, started the previous year, had become somewhat of an “eye-sore” because work had been suspended because of an under-estimation of the cost.

In March, the Town Council passed a resolution that an application be made to the Secretary of State for Wales for permission for the council to borrow a further sum of £1,300 to complete the existing development scheme.

Mr Durman told the auditor: “As a local government elector, I exercised my right under the 1933 Act to object to what I consider to be a waste of public money.”

He questioned whether there had been maladministration and felt a need for delays to be investigated.

Subsidence was visible and stacks of tiles remained on the site - some visibly broken.

New trees had been engulfed in coarse grass, there were piles of dirt, and litter had blown into the park.

Mr Durman said the deterioration meant that further public money would be wanted to remedy the problems.

Cllr Darwin Hinds, chairman of the parks and open spaces committee, said the scheme cost had been under-estimated and there was also some trouble over the purchase of one of the houses to the rear of the park.

l Ten Cardiff youths were set to appear at Barry Court after police intervened in a disturbance at the fairground in Barry Island.