THIS week’s From the Archive looks at a curious festival event.

While Penarth’s Summer Festival still holds quirky events, like the iconic downhill derby, the 60s may have them all beat.

The Penarth Times covered the “Penarth Great Pram Race” as part of the July 1969 Holiday Festival.

The article notes that while many people had looked forward to the Coronation Club’s “novel” Pram Race as one of the week’s highlights, many people had missed it.

It was unfortunate, but the event had started nearly half an hour before the programmed time and “hundreds of people who had gathered en route were disappointed”.

But, the paper adds, “The success of the event was not in question.”

The event involved pairs of pram-pushers and “babies”, many with amusing names - including the all-male groups of “Sister” Petherick and baby “Dimples” DeClare, and “Mother” J. Pitman with baby “Dishy” R. Dodson. Pram-pusher Albert Reed and “Whiskers” Corbett took an early lead, but their vehicle collapsed under its own weight shortly after.

The winners of the race were “Miss Frances Hudd” and baby Tony Williams, both Cogan Coronation football players.

They received their trophies from Mrs Karen MacLeod, of the Penarth Ex-Service Club.

The chairman of the festival, Cllr Quentyn Lewis, held a reception at West House to mark the beginning of the holiday week on Saturday July 26. He was flanked by numerous dignitaries and prominent residents, including Miss Penarth.