BEFORE Jeremy Clarkson declared war on cyclists and began blaming all the evils of the world on the two-wheeled, lycra-clad fiends. And before the likes of Greta Thunberg blamed the unassuming Nissa Micra owner for destroying her future, there was a place in Monmouth where a soul could quite happily admit they liked both cars and bikes without fear of reappraisals. It was called Fred Bevington and he was both a motor and cycle mechanic. (Monmouth Museum )

ALTHOUGH the phrases “Amateur night at the big top” and “Too many clowns and not enough circuses” spring to mind when one’s thoughts turn to the current government, it’s worth remembering that way back in the 1990s a former Conservative Prime Minister ran away from the circus to become a politician. His name was John Major and we only mention it because his parents, who were British music hall and circus performers lived for a short time in Monmouth’s Agincourt Square in the property above estate agents Coles Kanpp &. Kennedy,. Here it is pictured in all its early eighties glory. (Tindle News)

BEFORE civic planners systematically destroyed much of the character of any town, city or village with a belief that modernism and progress were one and the same, Abergavenny’s Byfield car park was once a quaint little street where people lived they lives thinking nothing much would ever change. But the only permanent thing is change and as this picture poignantly proves, when that big wrecking ball falls it leaves no stone untouched. (Albert Lyons )