.. Memory Lane continued ..

Croesyceiliog isn't the place it used to be! I went to school on The Highway until I was eleven. There were fields opposite and fields behind. North Road didn't exist, neither did the Comprehensive School. Woodland Road was known as Black Road - why? Chapel Lane was really country. I often visit and remember the past. Those were the days!
  • Date: 7th October 2006

Graham Skuse (Ianto) formerly of Cwmbran, now residing in Guernsey C.Islands, relates:-
As I fast approach the bus pass age (three weeks in fact) I have been thinking for a long time now about a 'Memory Competition's who can produce the best memory of the town I left in 1963 to live on the beautiful island of Guernsey and who knows, since we lost mam a few months ago I might never see again.
 
I was lucky enough to meet several friends today from the world of football and as they will not be on the island on the 29th we had a little celebration in advance, and during the course of the afternoon several good malts were consumed.
 
Anyway I digress this competition has been in my head for some time now and on returning home I switched on to the film channel, the film 'She Wore A Yellow Ribbon; a film I saw at the old fleapit in Cwmbran so many years ago I am scared to think how long, so you drunken old fool (I can hear people say) what are you on about, well to start the competition off how about these.
 
(1) Tiller Griffin
 
(2)  Harry Scud
 
(3) Kelly's chip shop
 
(4) John Wayne when he makes that immortal order, Bugler Sound The Charge.
 
I would love to hear other entries from folk who remember what the old Cwmbran was like in the days that I remember.
 
Graham Skuse (Ianto) D.O.B 29 10 41 St Dials School 1946/1954  Llantarnam Secondary School 1954/1956 email: [email protected]

St.Dials school  (demolished circa 1979) Oak Street - Old Cwmbran

..  built in 1883 by Mr. Henry Parfitt (Pontnewydd) ..

Graham Pattimore relates:-
  • Date: 15th September 2006

I went to this school from 1952 / 1958, I have very fond memories of my time at this school, myself and my school mates used to walk along the canal bank from Forgehammer to Old Cwmbran, it was safe to do so in those days.

I vividly remember most of my teachers at the school, especially Reg Smith, who was a great inspiration to most of the children who attended the school; he was very strict but also very fair.

I remember every morning Mr. Smith, would ask all the class to hold out their hands so that he could inspect them to make sure that they were clean, and if they weren't, then he would send you to the toilets to wash them and re-inspect them when you got back to class. He was a great teacher who was liked by all.

I also remember Mr. Bassett and the head master at that time who was known as `spike` Jones, he was a great character, who insisted all pupils would visit his room at least 4 times a year for a spelling test. I recall that he had a very strong welsh accent and insisted that we all pronounced our rrr`s to the extreme.

I can also recall the huge pile of coal next to the head master's office which was used to run the boilers for the school heating, this was wheel barrowed into the boiler house by Mr. Len Brinkworth, who was everyone's friend,

Gerry King recalls: The Cwmbran Youth Band used it as a rehearsal room at one stage.

Stuart Roberts recalls:  A Youth club being held there.

Andrew Cruickshanks recalls:-

  • Date: 23rd August 2006
I lived opposite the entrance to the Brickworks, on Two Locks Road; Bowkett`s lorries took the bricks from the yard all over the country starting about 6.30 in the morning.

.. Photographed circa 1971 ..

In the background you can see the "Iron Bridge" which carried the railway from the `White yard` pass the cottages and Doble`s wood yard over Llandowlais Street into the Wire works.

Ralph Williams (Living in Pontnewydd) recalls:-
  • Date: 16th August 2006
I was born in Bellevue Road 1933. When I was a boy there was a tip at the back of the street where they tipped the ash's from the Brick works at the back of Two Locks road, they called it the `White Yard`.  We used to pick the cokes and take them home or sell them.

We used to play cowboys and Indians, cricket and football.

Every year we had a bonfire on November 5th, with baked potatoes. We collected old car tyres and branches to make the bonfire.

Can anyone remember Tony's Ice-cream horse and cart. I used to follow him up the street to collect the manure in a bucket for my father, we had an allotments at the front of the street.

Some of the people up the street kept pigeons. On the race day when the birds came home they took the rings off their legs put them in a clock and took them to the Abbey Hotel in Abbey Road, the first one to clock in was the winner.  

We had Sweet coupons in those days, used to take them down to Eddy Thomas's shop at the bottom of Abbey Road.

Those were the days, where are all the Boys and Girls that used to live in Abbey Road, Bellevue Road and Star Street ?

Margaret Williams nee Woodman recalls:-

  • Date: 16th August 2006
I was born in The Crescent 1938, went to St Dials School with all the girls in The Crescent.  Us girls used to go to the Pictures in Cwmbran and to St. Gabriel's dance on a Saturday night.

In the summer we used to go down the Sandy brook to paddle in the water and play games.

We used to have street parties in those days, out came tables and chairs, mothers made cakes and sandwiches jelly and ice cream. Mrs Bird made toffee dabs which were like lollipops.

Where are all the girls today?
  • Date: 15th August 2006

Nigel Holmes (now living in the English Midlands) recalls:-

I lived on the edge of Pontnewydd (Ty Mynydd) for all of my childhood. Having read all of the memories on the site it sparked no end of recollections. I certainly remember `Ivor the bread ` coming to our back door with his wicker basket every lunchtime, lovely chap. We also had milk from `Morgan the milk ` from over Croesyceiliog way.

 

The dustmen used to come and empty the aluminium bins and the lorry would tip up in the air to move all the rubbish to the back-very exciting to a young boy! I also remember a tramp who would appear some bin days pulling a long loaded trolley, my mum used to give him a drink of tea sometimes.

 
Our favourite shops were `Watkins's ` which had a great selection of sweets all contained behind a glass cabinet - so we would carefully point out to Mrs Watkins's what we wanted-took forever. We loved their dog - `Monty`, a black and white long eared hound who spent most of his time sleeping in the cabbages.

In Pontnewydd, we bought comics at `White's ` which was located where the present day newsagent shop is. It was foreboding place to go all shiny wooden counters, nothing was actually out on show and they always appeared to have virtually nothing to sell. At `Horton's `we bought sweets from Miss Ivy Horton who sold all manner of groceries, she would carefully weigh out every last sweet.

I had my hair cut for years at `Fred the barber ` who, my dad said had learned his trade in the army, I used to sit on a special chair on top of the big adult chair. I think it was sixpence a go ... his prices never really changed in all the time I went there.

 
Summer time was spent in the long grass down near the old Pontnewydd station re enacting Zulu or building rafts  at the back of the Tin Stamping works where they were some big ponds. Endless games of cricket over the park at the bottom of our garden or on the rugby field at the back of the Kings Head pub. The `slippery slope` was also a favourite  clutching bread wrappers or cardboard we whizzed to the bottom then desperate trips to the Mountain Air pub to plead for a drink of water.

We were even allowed to play bowls at Pontnewydd park, the park staff seemed a very friendly bunch; golf (putting) by the side of the canal was also popular.

 

My only real memory of Pontnewydd station was the dark ticket hall and the bridge over the platform which seemed scary. I recall loosing my sandal between the train and the platform and having to wait until the train departed before it was recovered. Journeys seemed lengthy and very exciting-however I was only going as far as Griffithstown on most occasions.
 
Pontnewydd cinema was very popular I remember seeing Dr Who movies, Norman Wisdom films all for 4d. As soon as the film started everyone headed for the tuck shop at the back and many times the sound was turned of until everyone behaved. On the way home we stopped at the chip shop (Meaker's) and asked for scraps-these were usually provided.

 

Does anyone remember the `Ty Phoo events` in the summer we free bits and pieces were given away - not sure if we ever saw the chimps.
Happy days!
  • Date: 13th August 2006

Lawrence Skuse recalls :-

As a child Richmond Road Baptist Chapel, was one of the chapels I went to for Sunday School.  Back then, most parents would get rid of their children on a Sunday afternoon by making them go to Sunday School.  Each chapel would have a Christmas party, and afterwards, we would compare notes with friends who went to other chapels on their parties, presents etc, switching allegiance to whichever seemed to offer the best Christmas party deal. 
  • Date: 9th August 2006

Bob Evans (name changed from Robert Hickman) recalls :-

I remember the old Home and Colonial shop at Maendy Way shops (West Pontnewydd), and does anybody else remember the other shop (I forget the name) that was situated where the chip shop is, or was, is it still there?

The shop used to sell biscuits from glass topped tins, and you could mix up any assortment you liked!

I got married it Holy Trinity and we had our reception in the Community Centre just off Maendy Way.

As a kid I went to the little primary school near Holy Trinity Church and then to Llantarnam, which was nowhere as `rough a school` as it was often made out to be! Except perhaps when you got on the) wrong side of Terry Cobner or Mr. Paley, (or even sometimes Mrs. Paley who taught PE to the girls) I can remember the slippery slope path by the golf links in Upper Cwmbran, what a wonderfull slide!

The old graveyard in Pontnewydd was a wonderfull place to hang on the railings on dark evenings and boo! people that walked past. I got into trouble with PC Russel for swinging from the large oak tree right across mount pleasant hill. he was a great fella who knew all the kids by name and gave me many a clip across the ear, then he told my father who did the same! Pity police of today can't do the same.

Don's `chippy` was the best, old Fred Williams, the barber gave perfect crew cuts, and everything else somehow came out the same!

My family was one of the first to have one of the new houses at cedar walk in West Pontnewydd.

I remember well the many times that I sneaked into Old Cwmbran flea pit to see films, I saw Clockwork Orange several times and never got caught.

Tony's ice cream van used to come to our street every week as did the chip van that was ran by my uncle. Does anybody else recall Ivor `the baker` from Cedar Walk, he used to deliver bread from his van every day, his wife was Thelma ... lovely people.

My dad was Alan Hickman the coalman, my parents also owned the shop in Chestnut? Walk in West Pontnewydd or as we called it Upper Cwmbran.

I have fond memories of Millies shop in Upper Cwmbran where we used to stop and buy penny mix ups on the way up to the old mine/brickworks and the res(ervoir) where we would stay for days sometimes camping out, often daring each other to go down the old mine, but I don't recall any of us actually doing it.

I remember being a member of the Air Corps in Pontnewydd and one xmas party where I lost my virginity on the way home!!

Fine Fare and Kibby's  wonderfull memories come flooding back when you start to write ,don't they, My sister had her wedding reception at Kibby's cafe! on a cup final day too, no wonder she felt left out all afternoon, perhaps she should have made them turn the telly off!!

Oh and I too remember old Harold Walters at Llantarnam, he was a perfect shot with tomatoes, chalk and the odd tri-square, he always kept his huge old golden retriever dog in his battered Rover, all day in the car park

I will sit down and write some more soon.
  • Date: 7th August 2006

Shaun McGuire responds-

The post by Jon Sanders about the cinema�s brought back a memory of Cwmbran to me.

Back in about 1961/1963 myself and another friend from Newport were visiting a school mate who lived in a large house off Crown Lane, Llantarnam..

At sometime in the evening we were in Old Cwmbran and desperate to use the loo, we spotted the toilet building of the cinema which was separated from the cinema on the railway embankment.

 

Well somehow I can�t remember how, we were in the toilets relieving ourselves. I remember it well because the fly of the trousers I was wearing had a fairly new fangled invention called a zip fly and not buttons!!

 

Pulling the zipper up, it immediately became detached from the garment, flew out of my hand and went straight down the urinal!

Well there was nothing I could do about that and the next suggestion was that we should sneak into the cinema and watch the film that was currently showing and had been showing now for quite a number of weeks, the film was GiGi.

So one by one at staggered intervals we crept into the cinema and sat together and started to watch the film.

 

It was not long before we were lit up like daylight by the torches of the usherettes and manager and frog marched to the front entrance.

We were given the opportunity of paying up 9d (about 3p in today�s money) and being allowed back in to continue watching the film or being ejected from the cinema.

 

Well, we paid up and went back in, not that we originally intended to go into Cwmbran to the cinema, so there may have been other threats offered by the management as well!!

 

I don�t think that we saw the whole of the film that day and I still don�t think that I have seen it completely today even though its been repeated many times on television since then.

 

All that happened with my fly�s fully open!

 

  • Date: 6th August 2006

Jon Sanders responds-

Its amazing how this site conjours up old memories, the most vivid for me is not what you would consider SPECIAL, but with regards to Jo Griffiths letter. We all used to attend both the scene 123 and "fleapit" cinemas both in the town and Old Cwmbran, particularly Old Cwmbran as we used to climb in through the toilet windows, but you always knew when you went across the road for some chips after the film there in neon glory was DEREK PUGH A NAME YOU CAN TRUST.........
  • Date: 4th August 2006

Jo Griffiths recalls:-
I was born on Coronation Road (no.48), in 1944  (- my name then was Josie Williams).
My family were the Pugh's`--- Ron, who owned a furniture shop in Victoria St., and Derek, who was a very successful bookie. My mother helped her brother Ron in the shop.
I went to St. Dials from the age of 6-(I`d previously attended St. Albans Convent school), and later went to the County.
 
We used to have a fantastic time during the school holidays ( did it EVER rain?), playing over the "chems", walking up to the reservoir in Upper Cwmbran, and for me the best time was when I went to my grandmothers. She lived in a bungalow on the canal bank, just above GKN. Behind her house were "the woods", and I'd wander around them for hours.
 
Also, on Coronation Road we had "the brook", where the boys on the street would make rafts, and then make ME try them out for the first time!!!
 
I go to Cwmbran occasionally ( I now live in Caerleon ), and every time-- I remember the halcyon days of summer (scrumping apples from Johnsies farm, and being "locked up" by Sergeant Perriman for pinching all the good flowers from the cemetery  on Llantarnam Rd. and telling everyone I'd "found them". 
 
Happy Days Eh??? ..... Does anyone recall Tony's Ice-cream Van, who  used to come around on Sundays and ring a handbell to let us know?
  • Date: 28th July 2006

Sue recalls:-

My family came to live in Upper Cwmbran in 1959. Dad had a job at Llanwern  steel works. We moved here from Deri (it seemed like another country) .. Children asked me why I spoke Welshy.

Did I then? dew, dew.

I recall those hot summer days of my youth.

Were the summer school holidays always sunny then?

We would go up the golf links, to the slippery slope, cardboard in hand or maybe if you were lucky an old tin tray. It was hard work walking up there, but oh the joy at the top it was like being on top of the world.

Sliding down that slope was great. Many a time I just missed the huge tree at the bottom.  

On the way maybe one of us would call in ( Lewis`s shop)  Anyone remember 2d worth of mix up in that paper bag? You would have mostly broken sweets but they tasted good.

Not many cars about then we played skipping in the street.

Kick- the- can was another game we played until it got dark, and then Mam would call us in for bed.

When did it become unsafe on our streets for children to play until dark?

Just a few things I remember for now.

  • Date: 18th July 2006

Gwyn Davies relates:-

I was born in Court Farm and was among the first residents of the new Oakfield Park Estate when my parents moved into The Highway. I also attended the prefabricated nursery in Two Locks Road and remember being marched down the canal bank from St. Dials when Oakfield Junior first opened. I also remember playing over �The Chems� and the Acid brook which flowed a rusty coloured brown. Summer holidays swimming in the quarry at Ty-Coch. Going over the �Lighthood� (now the flower gardens) and sailing a raft through the tunnel under Llantarnam Road to the old pipe-works. Can anyone remember the wooden statue of �Robin Hood� down by Llantarnam Abbey and what happened to it?

Looking at the map (click here) sent in by Mrs. Winifred Lewis I recall on the left of the canal bridge, as you head for Commercial Street, was a butchers shop owned by Don Cameron. Down some steps under the butchers level with the canal bank was a small workshop which I believe made headstones or name-plates for coffins? There was also a butcher on Victoria Street owned by Don�s brother Len whom I worked for as a boy.

Great site, keep it up!

Regards Gwyn  
  • Date: 30th June 2006

Susan Rolfe relates:

I lived in Holly Lodge road Croesyceiliog from 1956 to 1966 and went to North road Primary School. I spent a year at the old victorian school on the Highway which was used as an overspill to the main school; my parents moved into their house when it was just completed in march 1956.

 I remember the highway being the only main road to Newport and a field opposite the victorian school where cattle were kept.  I also remember the first supermarket we had ever seen - Fine Fare in Cwmbran ....  Happy days! now living in Hertfordshire and only come home to Wales now as a visitor.

 [email protected]

Judith Bidgood (nee Parrish) relates:

One of my earliest memories of Cwmbran was moving into a new house in Llanyrafon.  My family and I had moved from Bridgend when my Father got a job helping to design the new steel works in Llanwern. I was just 4 years old, and the estate was brand new. We had no garden at all.
 
All the neighbours were in the same situation.  The town centre was also quite new. Fine Fare grocery store had a cafe upstairs, and I remember going to MacFisheries every week for fish. I only remember a few of the stores, Kibbys was one as I was in school with one of the sons. The Autumn Rooms were considered to be fine dinning if you could afford to go there, which we couldn't.
 
The bus stops were not covered, so if it rained you got wet. Going to the pictures in Old Cwmbran on a Saturday morning with lots of other kids, that was a treat. My Father once told me that when they first moved there the only bridge across the river was either in Croesyceiliog or down by the biscuit factory (Westons). The one in Llanyrafon was built later. The police house was up on the Turn Pike as it was called, and I remember it being painted cream. Now they have that big centre.  If you wonted to go to Newport you caught the bus where the Police Headquarters are now. I remember waiting until The Jones bus came as it was cheaper that the red and white, but by the time it got to us there were no seats left, and we always had to stand.
 
Remember when Police Men walked the beat? I do, as I left my bike outside my house, and a Police man knocked our door to let us know it was outside. He was huge to me, and I will never forget looking up at him all scared he was going to take me away, but all he said was to remember to bring my bike in or some one my take it.
 
There are so many more things I could write about, but I must say that the Cwmbran of the past was so much nicer I think. I'm talking about the shopping centre. I know they have lots more shops there now, its a sign of the times, but these days there are so many more people shopping there even in mid week I find it overpowering. One thing I will never forget is going to Pretty Miss to buy our school uniform. If they didn't have it there then you had to go to Newport and shop at Wildings. I thought it was like shopping at Harrods. They even had a lady or gentleman in the lift WOW !
 
These days when I go to the town centre I don't see anyone I recognise. I know its been years since I left to go and live in Canada, but just once I would love to bump into someone  I knew from school. Who knows maybe next time I come home for a visit.
 

.. One of the `Rolling Machines` at Avondale Tinplate works ..

  Photograph circa 1935, provided by Norman Nicholas (Greenmeadow) who relates ..

The gentleman at the top of the `Rolling machine` was my grandfather - Bert Nicholas who was born in 1900  - I remember him telling me that they used to go to the Oddfellows Inn in Pontnewydd, have half a gallon "to replace the body fluids after work", go home for tea and then go out in the night for another session.

 
I also remember visiting the works once when I was off school recovering from chicken pox. I was about 7 years old - circa 1954/55. There was a blacksmith there called Mr. Lippot. I recall, with his help, removing a small red hot billet of steel from the forge using a tongs and then holding it under a steam hammer to beat it into shape, which scared the living daylights out of me. Mr. Lippot went on to carve an ash wood handle and made that billet into a small garden spade (junior version to suit a 7 year old) which I used to help my grandfather in the garden.

Ken Read (formerly of West Pontnewydd) :

I have read through all the "memories" and I knew 98% of what your contributors refer to. I am 77 yrs. old Welshman. 

I worked for the GWR. (Great Western Railway) in 1943, employed as a `fireman` on the footplate, working the Eastern & Western Valley line,

I also remember a Tommy Jackerson, who was born with no hands; he lived in the stone cottages by G,K.N. (Guest Keen & Nettlefolds) .. I have also worked for Guest Keen & Nettlefold, Girlings, Ron James, and Alpha Laval... I used to belong to Alpha Laval & Panteg House Table tennis team.

I played keyboard in most of the pubs & clubs in the area, My music days in Pontnewydd were between 1950-1973..at this time I was living in West Pontnewydd (Church Wood Road).

Also looking over "watering holes" it brought back a few other memories ......
Cross Keys:   5  Locks Road, by the canal bank, bottom of Maesgwyn,( Lennie Manser my fishing buddy used to live at  No. 43 with his wife Annette) I also played piano there.
Yew Tree:  used to play here with my trio Saturday night..."problem with teenagers trying to get in for the pop music we played"........Had motorbike stolen from here at one time.
The Queen:  Now this placed used to be run by an ex cop ( Danny Watkins),also I think it was the first place to put a small electric organ in the singing room, anyway  I played it.
Terrace Inn:  I used to get my haircut in this place by one of the locals ...also on their dart team. They also had a stone shed in their back yard, where I used to store & collect scrap brass and copper & lead, for a few extra shillings. ( no piano in this place)
Pontnewydd Working Mens Club:  I always remember this place, high stage with a`baby grande` piano, used to play on a Sunday for Guest Artists.... really  screwed up one Sunday when the Guest artist was a striptease female....I was so busy looking at her that I wasn't paying enough attention to what I was doing on the piano, beside that and the music copy falling on the floor.......I guess I spoiled her act... oh well,!!!!
British Legion: Booked as a trio in this place.....Piano/clavelene...(yours truly)  Steel / Hawaiian guitar, (Ron Hall,from No. 5 Porthmawr Rd)  & Drums, (Len Price from New Inn)...
G.K.N. Social Club:  Another place with dancing for members.......also when I was in work one morning,, I used to be a "fettler" (which is chipping the burr's from castings after they have cooled) about 7.30 am, the return overhead ductwork which was carrying all the chippings and dust away, collapsed on to the head of a polish worker (John) who was sweeping the floor underneath....Needless to say he was killed outright; we picked him up and took him to the ambulance centre, it seemed at the time the only thing to do. John's funeral was very well attended (Polish Orthodox ) I think, I know I was one of the pallbearers.
 Also there was another Pub, it used to be run by Charlie George...it was where Ty-Trappa hill used to go over the canal bank, the Old Bridge End.

I can also remember fishing in the old disused reservoir (Upper Cwmbran) with Lennie Manser (deceased) who used tolive in the old stone cottages (Brickyard cottages) with his mother..... I am now living in Florida U.S.A.  I emigrated in 1973 and have been back twice.... nothing in Cwmbran is the same anymore .... .... But I still remember how it used to be ...

 Ken Read from Interlachen - Florida...U.S.A

.. Five Locks canal scene .. Pontnewydd ..

 The cottage in the photograph belonged to Charlie Beniam, the Lock Keeper at Five Locks,Pontnewydd in the 1940s,The Bridge adjacent to the the `Cross Keys Public House` is in the distance.

..The photograph was taken adjacent to the recreation ground..

Charlie Beniam`s son Tom was also a  Lock Keeper at Pontnewydd; he had a cottage on the Canal bank further down the canal, adjacent to the lock near Cae-yr-Ebol.

(Photograph and details provided by Colin Bowen, formerly of Chapel Street, Pontnewydd)

Photographed in 1934

.. Pontnewydd Church School ..

I was interested in the memories of Pontnewydd on your website, particularly the memories of the Church School. The mention of the headmistress was interesting as the writer couldn't remember her name. Well it was Mrs Gale.

I used to ring the big brass hand bell at the start of play time.
I can also remember vividly my first day there.

.. click here for more Pontnewydd Church School memories ..

The mention of the Bumford's vault brought back memories too. I can also remember stories of it being haunted. The surviving family member was Manny Bumford. He lived in the village near to the police station.
We were also terrified of the large Yew tree that over hung the vault. We believed that the Devil lived in the tree, so we used to run passed it so that he couldn't catch us. I can also remember stories of the statue of the winged angel in the new part of the church yard. It was said to move ...
The old steam engine in the coal yard was my first introduction to railways as a hobby. I became a member of the society that tried to restore it, and spent many hours working on it.
Later on I joined British Railways and drove trains up the line to Blaenavon and Hafodyrynys collieries.
 
Happy Days.
 
Julian Bracchi ex Richmond Street.

.. Photographed circa 1981, shows `Great Western Railway` Engine No.5643 awaiting restoration at the Old Coal Yard - Adjacent to Cromwell Place - Pontnewydd ..

A Brief History

Engine No.5643 was one of 200 of it's class and emerged from the Swindon Works in October 1925; and spent its entire working life in and around South Wales operating out of the Coke Ovens shed at Pontypridd; Abercynon shed and the Barry shed.

... Fully restored 2005 ..

After 38 year's service, 5643 was withdrawn in July 1963, and was moved to the now famous Dai Woodham's scrap yard in Barry.

It was originally purchased for a now defunct steam operation in its native South Wales, but was soon transferred to Lancashire, and the now also closed Steamtown Railway Museum at Carnforth, near Lancaster.

It was bought in 1986 by members of the Lakeside Railway Society, moving to Haverthwaite, three years later. The L.R.S later set up the Furness Railway Trust as a charity to manage its assets, and so 5643 passed to its present owners.

For more detailed information concerning engine no.5643 and it's restoration visit The Furness Railway Trust website

.. Related Memories ..

Colin Bowen (formerly from Pontnewydd and worked at Pontypool Road Station, as a `Goods Guard`) recalls:-

When our shift came around we had  to work the Cwmbran Pilot the local pickup/drop off train, which would leave Pontypool Road at 8am and steam down to Pontnewydd to pick up or drop off any goods; then we would leave Pontnewydd and go down to the Brickworks at Ponthir.

After that it was on to Caerleon, to shunt at the goods yard, from there we would return to Cwmbran and the Abbey Road `goods sidings`. When we had finished our work there, we would move up to Cwmbran `main sidings` outside G.K.N. (Guest. Keen and Nettlefolds) where there was plenty of work to do, sorting out all the goods wagons we picked and also the goods wagons coming out of the G.K.N. factory and foundry and check all the destination labels on each wagon; by then it was 5pm.

 

We still had to form the train to go back to Pontypool Road; I spent many a happy hour at Cwmbran
Sidings shunting with the locomotive. By 6pm the train was ready to go back to Pontypool Road, `south junction`, where our train would be shunted all over again onto other made up trains, with destinations around the United Kingdom and the rest of the world.
 
Jane Cairns (nee Barton) recalls:-

The old Train was parked on the old rail line (which is now Cwmbran Drive) near the bridge on Station Road which took you into the Pontnewydd village. I had cousins who lived in Station Road and we used to play on the train; it was always covered in thick grease to stop people climbing all over it! 

Graham Pattimore believes and recalls:-

It was a `Prairie tanker` in the railway sidings at Pontnewydd which was known as the `coal yard`, most of the local coal merchants picked their coal up from there. I can remember as a boy standing on the bridge in Pontnewydd and looking down into the coal yard and watching the local workforce unload those railway trucks by shovel and filling up the coal sacks for local deliveries, I used to notice how they hosed down the coal; I thought to keep the dust down but later found out it was to add extra weight to the coal, they worked hard for their wages in those days.

Steve Morgan recalls:-

This is a tank engine pictured in Pontnewydd. When I was young I used to stay with my gran in Harold Street. The railway ran along the end of the street where Cwmbran Drive runs now.  There were coal yards there (behind the gardens of Cromwell Place) where the trains used to unload coal from the pits in the north of the valley. The local coal merchants would fill their lorries here to do their daily deliveries. Our mam's coalman was Joey Jones from Park Avenue. There was also a signal box at the bottom of Stanley Place. Happy days!

.. A Question from Shaun McGuire ..

Was the Moon Inn in later life known as the Forge Hammer pub?

My Uncle and Aunt (Jack and Anne McGuire) ran the Forge Hammer in the 1950's.

 

A response from Sharon Jones :- I read your memories of the Moon Inn at Forgehammer Cwmbran, my Great Grandparents ran the Moon Inn in 1901 and were called Emily & Daniel Playsted.  Not sure of the date they left here, but they went on to run the Pineapple in New Inn Pontypool. 

A response from Graham Pattimore (Formerly of Woodside Road)  The `Moon Pub` was on the canal bank between The Forgehammer Hotel and the old Gasometer, it was demolished before I was born; but when I was young, my grandfather showed me where the pub was situated and where the pub door was from where he used to stumble out of most nights...

.. The Moon inn closed in 1914 - Beer at that time was 2d a pint  ..

.. Enjoying a `tipple` in the 1870`s ..

Graham Pattimore recalls:-
The Forgehammer Hotel was situated on Forgehammer Row. It was quite a large premises and it also had very large gardens which your aunt and uncle utilised to keep chickens and most of the local children were allowed to play in and around these gardens, which also contained a large orchard which came in very handy. I remember your aunt and uncle, they were kind people and their daughter Carol used to put on puppet shows in the garden for all the kids and in the summer your aunt used to make toffee apples for the local children. Your family were liked very much as the always had plenty of time for all of us `little ones`, we were all very sad when they moved from the hotel.

Shaun McGuire :- This is a photograph of my mother (Gwynneth) aged about 6 months, sat in rocking chair and her brother and sister, Jack and Anne Gillard. Anne went on to later run the Forge Hammer hotel with Jack McGuire my father�s brother who she married. I believe this photo was taken at the Wooden house�s and the date would be mid 1911 as my mother was born 27th December 1910.

 The previous Landlord and his wife of the Forgehammer Hotel, Haydon and Nellie Dixon and on the right, Anne and Jack McGuire going out to celebrate the change over..

(Photograph contributed by Shaun McGuire who adds that Anne was his Mother's sister and Jack was his Father's brother )

.. Forgehammer Row ..

 

(Photograph originated from Rex Hopkins)

Graham Pattimore recalls:-
The group photograph was taken in Forgehammer Row, and I think this was a street party to celebrate the Coronation of Queen Elizabeth the 2nd. My mother remembers the red white and blue paper flowers around the windows, also the curb stones were painted in the same colours.

The woman on the left of the photograph is Mary Cunningham (nee Meehan); next to her is Violet Smith now deceased, the lady next to her, Mrs Thomas, lived in the last house on the left of the photo; next to her is Lily Fisher deceased, her late husband Tom can be seen in the doorway on the right of the photograph.

The lady 7th from the left with dark hair is Pat Smith deceased, on the extreme right of the photo is a lady called Evelyn Probert, next to her is Ena Thomas who lived in the last but one house on the left.

In the background you can see two men standing on the canal bank and behind them you can see the old Guest keen and Nettlefolds club where most of the locals had their pint on a Saturday night, sadly this old club was demolished when I was quite young. It was situated next to the G.K.N works canteen which is now the Raffa club. On the extreme left of the picture you can see the last window of the Forgehammer hotel.

Rex Hopkins and his Sister, Joy also recalled `faces` on the photograph :- including Phil Richards, Mrs. Phillips

.. The Co-Op Pontnewydd ..

Colin Bowen (formerly of Chapel Street - Pontnewydd) recalls :-

In the 1940`s, dances were held in the hall above the Co-Op, my mother used to cut sandwiches for the dance. We also held the Chapel Street Christmas parties in the hall; and I recall at one time they had an evangelist come to the Co-Op hall, I did not know  what one was, so I went to have a look; I do recall their was loads of food there.

The manager of the Co-Op, was Mr. Thomas, a few others on the staff I recall were; Syd Hobbs and Lyn Carr; Miss Jones worked on the  cash desk and there was a Mr. Mason who used to drive the bread van for the Co-Op.

In the field behind the Co-Op, before the houses were built, there were some air raid shelters up near the canal.

 John Jenkins (now living in South Africa, formerly of Old Cwmbran) recalls:

When I was a kid many years ago, directly below the "Clock Tower" in Old Cwmbran was a bus shelter, it was a small tin sheeting building used as the main bus stop for the village. But prior to this there existed on the same spot another building which was a Public Convenience known as St Paul's, according to the book `In Those Days` page 64, it was possible to stand in there and watch people passing by whilst attending to the calls of nature.

... Why was it called St Paul's, I have no idea? ...

Webmaster:- Ref;-Page 65. Although the photograph taken in the 1920`s  is a little dark, you can just make out a domed roof and that must be the connection with the `Domed Roof `of St.Paul`s Cathedral, London.

Mrs. R. Evans - On the edge of Southville stood a large detached house, always with a boat standing in the garden which our children used to look out for, but the house was pulled down to make way for the subway on St.David`s Road.

Mrs R. Evans refers to the house that I often played in as a child while at St Dials School.  My �best friend� Felicity Hoskinson lived there for a time in the late fifties.  It was called Pant-y-Berllan and Dr. Jones lived there in years gone by.  It was much nicer, I thought, than the similar house that is now Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre further up the road.  We used to walk there, sometimes from school, via my house at the bottom end of Coronation Road (when my name was Maggs), 4 doors away from �Price the Printers�. We usually walked across the Burma Road from Coronation to Grange Road past the remains of the farm at the bottom that used to be owned by the John family I think.  Sometimes, in the summer, we took the back gate, out of her garden and ran across to the back of the houses on the opposite side of my road as a short cut when playing.  I often wonder where she is now because her family moved to Karachi in India because her father was a factory inspector and we had �the Empire� then! Happy days!

The shop pictured at Grange Road was owned by my mum�s aunt Lizzie (Elizabeth Clarke) and Stanley the little boy pictured then went on to keep a fish and chip restaurant in Cricklewood.  Joan Barker who sent this in is my mum�s cousin, Stanley was my Granddad's brother and he had a son Laurien who is no longer alive, .

(Pamela Cameron (n�e Maggs) - formerly of Cwmbran )

.. Clarke's General Store - Grange Road 1910 ..

The Lady on the left is my paternal Grandmother Elizabeth Ann Clarke nee Turberville, with her youngest child Stanley outside her shop in Grange Rd in 1910. With her is her son William's wife Polly with her baby who I think died in infancy. I was born in Shamrock Villa which may have been in Thomas Row, off Grange Rd.

(Contributed by Joan Barker - formerly of Pontnewydd )

   Webmaster: Does anyone have memories of Pontnewydd - Church infants school?

Photographed in 1934

.. Church School-Built in 1862 (now demolished) - adjacent Holy Trinity Church - Pontnewydd ..

.. First Headmaster Mr. Richard Baker ..

Mike Drury recalls :-

I was prompted by Lawrence Skuse's memories of the school to remember my first days at the school.
My mother would take me to the steps above the triangular playground and usher me down the two steps into the playground. She would point to the metal figure of a  policeman on the stone wall there and say "don't come out of the playground, the policeman will be watching you"  it worked, I never did leave without permission.
I remember Lawson and Lawrence and many others.

 

I remember playing in the sandbox in the prefab classrooms, I remember the savings club, with names read out and the children who could afford to, walk forward with their threepences or sixpences to have the amount put in a large register.

 

I remember sitting on hard wooden seats listening with rapt attention to the wonderful storytelling by Mrs Bees or one of her fellow teachers.

 

I remember the harsh winters, walking from Maendy Wood Rise to school in my wellies, Mackintosh and Sou-wester hurrying to get into the warmth of the classroom with, the smell of coal burning in the stove.

 .. I remember enjoying those schooldays ..    

Lawrence Skuse (formerly of Pontnewydd and West Pontnewydd) recalls:-

 

I started at this school in about 1956 when we moved from Oakfield to the Prefabs at Pen-y-Parc.  I remember the triangular playground and outside toilets.  There was a playground bully (who will remain anonymous - no names no pack drill!) who picked on me in the playground one day.  I "lost it" a bit, and he ended up being thrown off the rough wall and getting a grazed arm.  He never bothered me again, and never complained about it.

 
I can remember also the "portacabin" style classrooms as well as the ones in the main building.  They were heated by coke fires in the middle of the room, protected by fireguards.
 
The only teacher I can remember is Miss Bees, one of the Bees sisters the other of whom taught at West Pontnewydd Junior School, where I moved up to.
 
One of our favourite pastimes during play breaks was to look at gravestones in the churchyard, sometimes there was a funeral - bonus!  The Bumford vault always fascinated us, we were convinced it was haunted.
 
I can also remember the Christmas parties to which you took your own crockery and also the mothers provided food.
 
I enjoyed my time at both schools there and was sorry to come home on leave one year to see the Church School fall victim to Cwmbran's obsession with eradicating the past, we've lost so much from when I was a child, much of it our heritage, albeit some of it industrial.

Nigel Jones (webmaster) recalls:-

I attended there in 1960. I can remember each day a free bottle of milk (one third of a pint) and in the winter the teacher would place the crate of milk bottles close to the classroom heater to melt the ice that had accumulated at the top of each bottle and in some cases had `lifted `the foil cap. The warm milk tasted YUCK !!!!!!.

I can also remember each day at `break time`, running out of the class room into the yard to play football or `British Bulldog 123` in the triangular shaped play ground opposite the `outside toilets` (there were no `inside` toilets back then); and on one occasion just getting a few yards before slipping, falling down and scraping my bare knee....Ouch!!! (shorts in those days).

Photographed in 1934

.. Although the school has long gone the `Triangular shaped yard still exists (as a car park for the Holy Trinity Church) ..

Andrew Taylor (formerly of West Pontnewydd) recalls:-

 I too bare the mark of wearing shorts in those days. My mother dropped me off at the top end and as I ran towards my mates took a tumble over a channel of tar that had been dug up through the middle. No nanby panby state in those days. Even though my knee was a mess they put a plaster and rudimentary bandage............which by the time I went home had started to go septic. I can vividly recall sitting on the end of the table at home while my dad and granddad used needles to pick the stones and loose tar out of the wound.

 
I can also recall the Assembly given for when the Headteacher retired but I cannot remember her name. There was also a prefab type building in the courtyard which they used for classes...........I was in it, when in the 2nd year there ( Mrs. Ball I always thought her name was but I think it was actually Boare or something like that). My first teacher there was Mrs. Selby who remained my favourite throughout my school years ( would love to have a photo of her). For the third year they moved us up to the new school where I was in the equally lovely Mrs Evans' class ( anyone out there who has a photo I would love to see that too).

.. I remember enjoying those schooldays ..    

Lawrence Skuse - (formerly of Pontnewydd and West Pontnewydd) recalls:-

Having moved to `the Prefabs` at Pen-y-Parc around 1955 when I was about five years old, two features provided in the years to come, endless entertainment and a `World of Magic` - the canal (The Nal) and `the Mountain` (Mynydd Maen or Stony Mountain). Both were on the doorstep and, in those innocent far off days, considered safe for young children to freely roam, although perhaps not when we first moved there from Fields Road (Pontnewydd).

Regarding the mountain, our family always liked walking and most weekends and during the summer holidays, we would often go up the mountain, often for picnics. The favourite route from Pen-y-Parc was up Five Locks Road, past Deakin`s shop and Cwmbran House ( known then as `The Old Mans` Home ) , across the hump backed bridge, over the canal and up through the fields and Cocker's Farm and the Golf Links. We would always stop at Cocker's Farm to buy `little`, third of a pint bottles of orange juice and milk for the tea.

If on a picnic, we would generally stop in the trees below the `Slippery path`, immediately past the Golf links, on the left hand side in the tree line along a stream, long since dried up. Here, my father would boil water, using sticks we gathered. he always put a match with the head removed , in the water, "to take away the smoky taste", he would say.

We would amuse ourselves playing cricket, looking for birds`  nests or just generally running around.. My father used to teach us about the different birds and their nests, and taught us how to `blow` eggs, using a thorn to pierce the top and bottom - highly illegal today ( and probably then, certainly for some species ), and certainly very non- Politically Correct. ( Today, I consider it highly immoral, but regard it as part of a more innocent youth, and we had a strict code, never  take than one egg, and stay by the nest for a short at time as possible ).

When I was older, just my father and I would often go  much further afield, on up past the `Slippery Path, past the Mountain Air inn and on to the mountain proper, to the top to enjoy the view of the Bristol Channel and Newport, or around the plantation and reservoir.

When I was older still, it was of course much more fun to wander the mountain alone or with the children from the Prefabs - the Pattimore and Powell brothers, Peter Davies  and others. Later, I much preferred it alone and during the summer holidays, when at West Pontnewydd Junior School, I would get up about half past five/six o'clock in the morning, cook some sausages in the pan( in Lard of course!) , eat some and wrap up some `for later` , call our dog ` Trixie`, a black and white mongrel terrier, and be up the mountain all day, returning in  the evening. It is a sign of those halcyon days that my parents would just say "oh Lawrence is up; he`ll be up the mountain. He'll be back when he's hungry", In the season I would take a plastic bag for whimberries, (windberries), coming back with a large haul and purple mouth and clothes, especially the back of my shorts where I would sit down amongst the whimberries - and there was only the original` slimy, gritty Persil then! (washing powder). I used to enjoy the jams and crumbles my mother would make out of these `fruits of the mountain`.

A few more years later I saved up my pocket money for a pair of binoculars to enhance my walks and bird watching. Eventually, lured by the `Charles Frank` advertisement in the newspapers - "these binoculars were designed to detect an enemy periscope or aircraft, - the difference between Life and Death!", I bought a pair of ex naval Barr & Stroud binos, 7 x 50 with three internal filters. Despite the melodramatic advert they were a superb instrument. The only drawback was their size and weight in their solid hide case, fine for the `bridge` of a warship, but bulky for hauling around the mountain, but it never bothered me. They were invaluable for spotting Ring Ouzels, Kestrels, a host of `songbirds` and even the odd Golden Oriole, and I never tired of watching the valley down to Newport and across the Bristol Channel on long, clear summer evenings.

All good things come to an end and I eventually grew up and moved away, but on returning on `leave` to Cwmbran , I took great pleasure in taking my own children up the mountain, the wheel turning `full circle`.

.. Left  to Right -My twin brother Lawson, our  Dad and me ( Lawrence)  Skuse on Mynydd Maen ..

 .. A young boy's recollections of Cwmbran circa 1950 ..

Cwmbran Village was always referred to by `grown ups` as The Halfway, not because there was a pub there by that name, but because of it's location between Newport and Pontypool. As a kid living in a Cwmbran suburb during the early 50`s, playing on the road presented hardly any problems, as there was very little traffic about. I can't remember ever seeing a police car, the local cop would walk his `beat` or use a bicycle, as did the village cleric, a popular man called Vicar Donn.

I well remember our road being repaired and levelled with a steamroller, the first I had seen. The steam engine's massive spinning flywheel, the piston moving back and forth, the smoke and the noise intrigued us kids, no end.

It's surprising what is taken for granted today but which the majority of households in the area of Cwmbran where I lived did not have. They had no car, no TV, certainly no PC, no phone, (mobile or otherwise), no fridge, no electric or gas stove, no washing machine, and no running  hot water, but a piano or even an organ were a fairly common possession. The one and only toilet on the property was in a brick building in the back garden, and during winter the water cistern would often freeze solid over night.

Most `terraced` houses had two rooms and a kitchen downstairs, and two bedrooms upstairs, commonly referred to as, "two up and two down" . The rear downstairs room was referred to as the `living room` and the front room as (surprise surprise), the `front room`; this had better furniture and was generally reserved for visitors. The cooking and the boiling of water was done on a coal stove in the living room, or on a pressurised paraffin stove in the kitchen, and if your house had no bathroom then bathing was done in a large tin bath placed in front of the fire.

As the Second World War had only ended five years previously, food was still rationed; so most people made use of their garden to grow as many vegetables as possible and to keep a few chickens. There were no supermarkets and no frozen foods; fresh food was bought as and when required from the main shops in the village, shops that operated outside of the village were often located in the front room of a terraced house.

The coal man would make his deliveries once a week, luckily our coal was kept in a bunker in the garden, but other houses had their `coal house` situated under the stairs in their living room. Nobody worried about the coal dust on their fitted carpets because they didn't have any, just bare flagstone floors, or linoleum, or loose mats.

Catching a bus to St.Dials school from the surrounding area's would cost 1d. (one `old` pence), and if an adult boarded the bus we were encouraged to sing something in Welsh. We weren't taught Welsh in school, but we knew quite a number of songs in Welsh  from memory.

Corporal punishment in St.Dials school was metered out for the slightest offence, which included the infant's school where kids aged five to seven years were struck across the hand by Miss Jones, the headmistress using the thin edge of a twelve inch rule. In the junior a cane, (official government issue no less), was used, and you could expect to get four or six `cuts` on the hand if caught chewing gum, even if it was during your lunch break in the schoolyard.

In those days murderers were often sentenced to be hung, and although we were just kids, we knew this would happen at 9.00 a.m and on what day. On the day of execution a group of us boys from St.Dials junior school would watch the post office clock opposite the school until it showed 9.00 a.m, and then all shout out, "He's a goner!".

Having no TV we either listened to the radio or went to the Olympia Cinema in Old Cwmbran, affectionately known as the `Bug House`; the front four rows of seats were actually wooden benches. To watch the two-film show on these benches the price was 9d, for the `real` seats 1s 6d, and at the very back, (generally for courting couples), 1s 9d. Smoking was not regarded then as being anti social, so it was not unusual to see `clouds` of smoke rising from the audience, how the projector managed to get the film on the screen through that lot , I will never know! At the end of the show there would be a mad rush to leave, not just to avoid standing for a couple of minutes whilst the  National Anthem was played, but to be first in the queue at Kelly's chip shop on the opposite side of the road. As a matter of interest, to show how prices have changed, a standard size bag of chips was 3d, a large bag 4d and cod and chips 1s 0d, (5`new` pence).

A popular day out for the kids and parents alike would be a walk to Twm Barlwm, or The Pimple as we called it, for a picnic. On the way water would be collected from a spring in Henllys Village to boil in a kettle later for the adults to have a cup of tea. I'm guessing now, but a kettle was used probably because thermos flasks weren't available or were perhaps too expensive.

Another popular event would be a trip on a paddle steamboat that came up the river as far as Newport Bridge, it would then turn around in midstream with only yards to spare from hitting the riverbanks on either side. Passengers would board and be taken for a cruise up the River Avon, (I think), as far as the Bristol Suspension Bridge, or maybe Western Super Mare, returning later that day.

Steam engines were seen regularly coming through Cwmbran from Newport on the `goods line` where Cwmbran Drive is now, pulling wagons filled with wooden `pit props` to support the roof of the coal mines further up the valley, later they would return with their wagons full of coal.

Entertainment for kids was in short supply, so train spotting was a popular activity with the boys, not only for the names or numbers of the steam engines regularly servicing the Eastern valley stations but also the mighty express that also passed through Llantarnam station. These were heading for or coming from the Midlands, and when they passed by pulling a full load of coaches and doing about 70 m.p.h, not only was the noise and smoke unbelievable, but the platform actually shook! 

Another popular hobby with boys, which now quite rightly would be frowned upon, if not illegal, was the collecting  of bird's eggs. Also the making of bows and arrows, throwing arrows, and catapults, I knew a couple of kids who `lost an eye` through misuse of a `catty`.

Where Cwmbran Stadium is now, was previously the council rubbish dump, and many years before my time a Vitriol works was located there making acid, even after the works were demolished the area was still known as `The Chems`, (as in chemicals). The Vitriol works must have really polluted the ground as a fresh water brook run in but then exited the area coloured orange; it was then referred to as the Acid brook. It stayed that colour for years; passing on down in a open gulley at the rear of of the houses in South Road Oakfield Park, where it joined the Dowlais Brook, killing all the fish and plant life in it, On the opposite side of the Dowlais Brook was land belonging to Ty Coch Farm, and some years corn was planted in the fields, which made a great place for small boys to play Cowboys and Indians, or Cops and Robbers, much to the displeasure of Farmer Davies, the owner.

A couple of years after the advent of Cwmbran New Town, my parents were allocated a new council house, which came complete with a gas stove, running hot water, a bathroom, and two toilets, one actually inside the house, what LUXURY !

(Name and email address of contributor supplied )

Graham (Ianto) Skuse formerly of Grange Road Fields Road and then Pen-Y-Parc and now residing in Guernsey, Channel Islands ... A youthful 63 and a bit...

 .. Remembers ..

 
 
 
 
 
 
 

Well at least nearly all the memories were good!!

       John Jenkins (now living in South Africa, formerly of Old Cwmbran) recalls:-

When I was a kid many years ago, directly below the "Clock Tower" in Old Cwmbran was a bus shelter, it was a small tin sheeting building used as the main bus stop for the village. But prior to this there existed on the same spot another building which was a Public Convenience known as St Paul's, according to the book `In Those Days` page 64, it was possible to stand in there and watch people passing by whilst attending to the calls of nature.

... Why was it called St Paul's, I have no idea? ...

Webmaster:- Ref;-Page 65. Although the photograph from the 1920`s is a little dark, you can just make out a domed roof and that must be the connection with the `Domed Roof ` of St. Paul's Cathedral, London.

Webmaster recalls:-

I  remember bars of milk chocolate with a picture of Five boys on the wrapper which I bought from Forboys Sweet shop in West Pontnewydd; Mo-Joe's, Black Jacks (Black tongue) and Fruit Salad chews, Bazooka Bubble gum and Gob stoppers.

Collecting `Pop Bands photo cards` with a thin square of bubble gum... the aim was to make a photo from the cards, my favourites were obviously; The Beatles, Dave Clark 5, Gerry and the Pacemakers etc. If you had doublers etc; `Swapping` was a favourite pastime in the school yard at playtime and if you had any that you didn't want they usually ended up `Pegged` to your bicycle fork or frame to make a `clicker` ... the sound from the card as the wheel rotated past it.

Jubblies .. ( A `Jubbly`, was a pyramid shaped ice block of frozen orange juice) on a hot summer's day ... Bliss!  ... a chocolate flavoured ice lolly for 3d ... Sweet tobacco and Sweet cigarettes in packets of 10 ... Sherbert Fountains ... flying saucers !!!

With my mates, in the Summer and usually the `hottest day`, trekking up the mountain (Mynydd Maen) with a  packet of crisps and a bottle of `Kalee`, a concoction of lemon flavoured Sherbert, mixed with `Council Pop` (tap water). If we didn't have the pop then we would head up to the `Bus Terminus` at Upper Cwmbran to quench our thirst from ` our Secret Spring` that only `our Gang knew about`.

I  also remember every Summer, setting out for `The Slippery Path` .. just below the Mountain Air Public House, with my mates and a collection of grease proof Bread Wrappers  .... Just sit on the Bread Wrapper, get a push from your mates and Aaaaaaaaarrhhhhhh, ....  it was one of the best ways to travel down the slippery path at a `hair raising` speed.

My first  skateboard was a Beano Annual balanced over a skate and it was great fun sitting on it and hurtling down the pavement of Maendy Way ... when we mastered that, we would set up ramps etc. Oh yeah, now I can remember all the cuts, grazes and bruises ! !

 Webmaster recalls:-

I can remember back in the late 1960`s on a Saturday morning, standing in a long queue, hanging on for dear life to my Brooke Bond PG Tips tea packet ... and the reason?  Because the Tea packet was my special entrance ticket to see the performance of  our `heroes` at the ` Chimps Tea Party` held at the White Rose Cinema ( `Flea Pit` ) in Pontnewydd ....... Great Fun ! !

 Mr. Mike Drury recalls:-

The Kibby brothers had a smaller supermarket where MacDonald's is now, but took over a purpose built supermarket, the first of it's kind in Wales, where W.H.SMITH is now.

 

 In the supermarket was a bakery, deli and butchery counter, a  launderette, cafeteria and of course the Autumn rooms restaurant. The  chef was named Spinetti, brother of the actor Victor Spinetti.

 

I can remember some of the friends and colleagues who I worked with at the time. Mr. Foster the manager, Jeff Thomas the shopfloor supervisor, Trevor Jones, Bernard and Jean Kenzler in the bakery, Marge and Maureen on the bakery counter, Sue, Helen and of course Roz on the checkouts, shopfloor and warehouse lads Ken, Kevin, and Dennis, Pearl and Wesley on grocery, the three generations of Jones's in the butchery, Phyllis, Doreen, June and Jackie on the deli/butchery counter. These are the ones whose names immediately spring to mind, but there were others whose faces you can picture, but names I cannot bring to mind, so please accept my apologies if you are not named. Good times, lots of fun.

It was whilst working at the store that I met the love of my life and my now wife of thirty two years, Jacqueline. We both left Kibby's shortly after meeting, but both still hold fond memories of the store and the friends we made there. 

  Memories of Cwmbran New Town  

Compiled by  Marguerite Shaw ... Writer in Residence

in conjunction with 

Torfaen Libraries & The Arts Council of Wales

During the course of the last twelve months, I have enjoyed meeting many of the residents of Cwmbran, through whom I have been able to assemble this collection of material. From all walks of life and all parts of the New Town, they offered their help in compiling a record of the town's creation and growth.

Many had lived in the original villages around which the town was built, others had come to live in the first of the new houses, delighting in having modern facilities. Some removed from other countries to take up jobs here, while others were born and educated in the new town, Their memories and opinions are individual and varied.

It has been a pleasure to meet them at the library and to visit some older residents in their homes. In recording their memories, they have made a place for themselves in history I thank them for their cooperation and hope their contributions will inspire other people to record something about their own lives, for each person is unique. Whether  factual, anecdotal, complimentary or critical, each has something worth telling about the town where they live.

Permission kindly given by Ms Shaw to myself, webmaster on January 30th 2004 to include extracts from her publication;

  Memories of Cwmbran New Town  

November 1977

Mrs. R.Evans recalls:

I remember when, with our three small children, we came to Cwmbran from Port Talbot in September 1962. My husband had a new job at the newly-commissioned Newport Steelworks and it seemed such an adventure to move so far away, to a New Town.

We were given a house in Llanyrafon, at that time one of the many houses allocated to industries in the new town area. It was to be a long time before there was a local bus service from Llanyrafon, so it was `Shank`s pony` to get to town. The road had not been completed across the river and railway bridges, so it meant a regular walk with the pram via Croesyceiliog for a while.

There was waste ground where the Crow's Nest (Public house) stands today and a `Mr Whippy` ice cream factory where the Commodore Hotel stands. Mr. Willis, Family Butchers, lived in Llanyrafon  Farm and the present Golf Club car park was a small orchard paddock, where mares grazed with their new foals ion the Spring and early Summer and we would go for a walk through the fields, crossing the Boating Lake and the new road.

There was one telephone box and we had two doctors, Dr. Graham Cook (dec) and  Dr. Joy Luck. The Clinic was in town and there was a bus terminus in Caradoc Road nearby. Mr.Tagg had a dental surgery in a house at the bottom of Llewellyn Road. Only North road was completed, finishing at the Town Stores. Fine Fare had a supermarket with a large restaurant upstairs, there was an old- fashioned  Woolworths and next door a small Boots chemist.

Mac Fisheries sold every sort of fresh fish and  later on came Kibby`s and the Autumn Rooms (later Menzies, now W.H.Smith) where we held wedding receptions and private functions. The Moonraker (Public House) was built on rough ground and there was a salon Marc the Hairdresser on the side of  Pretty Miss children's shop.

On the edge of Southville stood a large detached house, always with a boat standing in the garden which our children used to look out for, but the house was pulled down to make way for the subway on St.David`s Road. For some things, we still relied on Old Cwmbran, like the Library, the Council Offices (later the Center Hotel) and the train to Newport from the old railway station (now the Health Center) .

Mrs. Diane Taylor recalls:

I discovered  Cwmbran in 1955 when I visited the area with my fianc� whose home was here. We were both on leave from the RAF. I was a native of Middlesex and he brought me home to meet his parents., who lived in Springvale in a little row of cottages with outside loos.

I thought this a bit primitive but as I walked along Clomendy Road, Springvale I gazed up at the surrounding hills and fell in love with the place. Later as I got to know the friendly community, I fell in love with the people also.

We married soon after and lived for a short time with his grandparents, where I remember taking short cuts through the Chem (now the Stadium) from the village when Gran sent me on an errand to Mr. Cameron the butcher for the weekend joint.

We then left the area. After two years living in a caravan in Buckinghamshire, we came back to the new town, to West Pontnewydd, then moved nearer Upper Cwmbran to our new house, where we have lived for 40 years. I never tire of walks up in the hills.

The shopping facilities were not like they are now. We had our local row of shops an Post Office at west Pontnewydd, Tranter`s Store  on Ty Pwca Road, also the Post Office and Millie's Store at Upper Cwmbran, but mostly our groceries were brought from a large Mobile Store that came twice a week from New Inn. All the neighbours piled on and got to know each other. We also had a Credit for bedding etc., from the London House of Newport man who came around once a week with his van. My husband had a hard but well-paid job in Guest Keen`s Iron Foundry on Clomendy Road, so we were soon able to furnish our house from scratch. We are now pensioners, although I am still working part-time cleaning Cwmbran Library where I have been for 18 happy years.

I have seen the town grow and I love it even better now than I did 40 years ago.

Mr. Sweet recalls:

Living in Pontnewydd and remembers the Palace, the cinema made of wood. There were saw mills there too. Like several others, he considers the New Town has become too big. Mrs. Sweet's father worked in the Chemical Works before the War  and they lived in Tranquil Place off Llandowlais Street. She used to take his dinner to him, crossing the railway line to get there.

Mrs. Tonks recalls:

Coming from Erdington, Birmingham in 1941. She lived for nine years in one of the Pre-fabs in Court Farm, where condensation was a major problem. Later she moved to Fields Road, Oakfield. Her two younger  children were born there and,  with the older two, played happily in the builder's sand while houses were being built all around. Girlings was then in the middle of fields,  next to Saunders Valves. It used to cost 1d on the bus to school in Old Cwmbran.

Mrs. Barbara Williams recalls:

Living in Pontnewydd before the new town was built. I went to Pontnewydd Church School. I looked forward to the changes ahead and liked the town center with its clean and modern shops. Now there is access for the disabled and always something going on, the shops are under cover and the Library is spacious.

I remember Ashley House opening as a Youth Club. The old Burma Road leading from Old Cwmbran to the Girling`s factory. Walking to Pontnewydd from the dances at St.Gabriels Hall on a Saturday evening and from Pontnewydd to Wesley Street in Cwmbran to the Ante-natal Clinic.

Sunday School picnics in the field's behind Ebenezer Chapel, where there was an old cottage. The lady who lived there used to let us draw water from her well to make tea. Miss Poulton always gave all the children who had been in the  Anniversary service a shiny new three penny piece.

A New Town for South Wales

The New Town concept had it's origins in the Garden Village societies of the 19th Century. Before the Second World War, the government set up a committee ( the Reich  Committee) to examine the feasibility of a New Towns policy to deal with the problem of dispersal of population from large cities such as London. The post war Labour Government was responsible for the legislation in the form of the New Towns Act of 1946. 

The idea of one of these New Towns for South Wales came from the problems of travel to work caused by the establishment of new factories in the late 1930`s in the so-called  Depressed Areas. Although these helped to solve some of the severe unemployment problems they could only be treated in a few areas where the narrow valleys widened yielding enough surface space for their construction. 

In mining villages the bulk of jobs were located underground and so surface space had not been considered a problem. The consequence was that there had grown a huge travel to work problem with the new factory employees having daily journeys up to 40 miles, many along the poor inter-valley links. This was a  problem and a New Town seemed a perfect solution provided a suitable site could be found. A number were considered, ultimately coming to a choice between Islwyn and Cwmbran with the latter becoming the final choice. This was formalised in 1949 and a New Town Development Corporation was established, recruiting staff from the end of 1950.

I knew Cwmbran in the 1930`s. Having attended the Grammar School at Abersychan, numbers of the pupils came from Cwmbran and, as an Ambulance Cadet, I often took part in First Aid competitions in Cwmbran and  Pontnewydd. I also remember cycling down the valley on occasions to watch the blacksmith at work in his forge opposite the Upper Cock Inn at Croesyceiliog. 

There was great excitement, especially among long term unemployed when the first first new factories we established . These included ROF, Glascoed, Lucas, Alfa Laval and Saunders Valves at Cwmbran  and Weston's Biscuits at Llantarnam. 

The Second  World  War  began on 3rd September 1939 and many of these became Shadow factories , producing for the effort. I remember seeing RAF bomber gun turrets in the storage areas at Lucas. That event   caused  me to revise  my educational career and I left to begin a professional career in late 1939 in surveying in the office of the Surveyor and Estate Agent of the Great Western Railway. 

After 5 years R.E. war service I was able to complete my qualifications in March 1950 just before the first advertisements for New Town professional staff appeared.

Interviews were held in the Corn Exchange at Newport and in November 1950 I was offered the post of Assistant under the new Chief Estates Officer, Clifford W. Park, ARICS, AMIMun. This was a fortunate appointment for someone whose career had been interrupted by the war as he was a man of great ability and experience, having been involved in the massive development at Wythenshawe, Manchester.

In January 1951 our office begun to take shape in the top floor of the Corn Exchange at Newport, consisting of C.W.Parker, his secretary, Terry Wyman and me. The General Manager was the redoubtable  Major General. Wynford Rees, Commander of the wartime 5th Indian Division and victor of Mandalay. Chief Legal Officer was W.K. Morris, late  of Whistable, Chief Engineer L. Col. Arthur Berlase, Financial Officer Norman Skeats. 

The  Architect/Planner was J.C.P. West FRIBA who had been a pupil of Louis des Soussions at Welwyn Garden City and was an undoubted gain for the New Town programme. He designed new offices to be built at Victoria Street Cwmbran (now a hotel) . He also commenced an appraisal of the early scheme for development. 

The Corporation had retained as consultants Minoprior and Spenceley who produced an outline Master Plan (the red book) and revealed their ideas at a public meeting  at St. Gabriels Church at that time was uncompleted and had a corrugated iron `wall` at its western end. 

The idea was popular with  people travelling a long way to work but not so popular with many in Cwmbran, Pontnewydd and the villages, especially the farmers who would lose land  One extra burden came from the Town and Country Planning Act of 1947 which meant that land would be compulsory acquired at existing used value only.

Two important tasks had to be tackled  immediately and the Corporation decided to appoint Minoprior and Spenceley as architects for their first housing project at Tynewydd Avenue, Pontnewydd. This turned out to be a very elegant project with houses of up to 1,000 square feet each, the generous standard laid down by the government of that day for public housing. 

It did not remain there for long. With a change of government in 1951 and the political pressures to promise the electorate more and more public housing for letting, part of the increase in units was obtained by reducing individual sizes.

The second urgent talk was to assemble land for a major scheme. the first neighbourhood  unit to be built would be West Pontnewydd above the old town. Referencing of ownerships began and spread rapidly to include the rest of the town. The first Compulsory Order was made, affecting three farms at West Pontnewydd and contracts began to be let.

One event overshadowed the town in those days. In 1950, the Llandow air crash had claimed members of victims from Cwmbran. The landlord of the Greenhouse Inn at Llantarnam had  organised a large party for the trip to Dublin who were all lost. The tragedy affected many of those who were the subject of our early work. Perhaps it helped that many of the New Town staff were ex-servicemen who had experienced their own tragedies just a few years before.

As the work moved into gear, houses began to near completion and the Estate Office expanded with a Housing department led by Cecil Dant. Reg Rowley was recruited as a Deputy for Cliff Parker, returning home (he came from Ebbw Vale) from his post as Chief Estates Assistant at Manchester Corporation. 

Other recruitment was needed to provide the large numbers of staff for engineering and architectural work. Numbers of the new architects were newly qualified from the School of  Architecture, reflecting the urge in post war Britain to produce large numbers of new qualified professionals to meet the demands of the post war years.

The Corporation under its Chairman T. H. Huckley Turner now faced the problem of street naming. Law and practice provided that names could be put forward by the developer for approval by the local authority after conferring with the Post Office. 

The Corporation decided that street names should reflect the character, history and traditions of the area with an equal split between Welsh and English names. For West Pontnewydd, suggestions were invited from the inhabitants. There were not many suggestions from outside the numbers dropped as the numbers of new roads increased but between the Corporation staff, especially in the Estate Office and outside help the supply of names never dried up.

In West Pontnewydd, Ty Pwca (Gobkiss  House Farm) suggested  Heol -y-Pwca, and the mill at Maendy Farm suggested Rhiw Melin. Not every change imposed by the local authority was fully welcome. Plas Ysgol (school Place) at Upper Cwmbran was changed by the UDC to Ysgol Place making it neither one thing nor another. 

At Two Locks, the estate was developed on land of the former Manor of Magna Poste or PorthMawr (the Great Gate-taken from the Great Gate of Llantarnam Abbey). The title deeds we acquired were written in Latin on pig skin. It set out the names of the stewards of the manor in 1720 and dealt with Two Locks farm as a (now extinct) Copyhold title. We decided to use their surnames for a series of `Greens` ( the houses were approached by footpath instead of roads). Poor old Thomas Fettisplace who would have inspired Fettisplace Green would be very annoyed to find that Cwmbran UDC changed it to Fetty place!

The main neighbourhood roads were called Ways after the direction in which they led - Maendy Way, Edlogan way, Llanfrechfa Way, Henllys Way but something went wrong with Llanyravon and I think it should be spelt Llanyrafon.

The Corporation took over a Pontypool RDC housing scheme at Yew Tree Terrace, Croescyceiliog. However its new Compulsory Purchase Order ran into trouble because the RDC objected to the inclusion of RDC land because of the low compensation rules. The matter had to be decided by the Minister.

Both in West Pontnewydd, Croescyceiliog and Llanyravon, the hand of the Architect can still be discerned. Before putting pen to paper he always walked the area to be developed and envisaged in his mind's eye, the layout which best fitted the landscape. The success of  this approach is still obvious from a detailed comparison with schemes after he retired (early) through ill health.

The last major task I performed before leasing was in making the studies necessary to assess the size of the New Town shopping centre. I had already recorded on maps all the old field and other names obtained from farmers and local residents before they were dispossessed, (Several years after leaving I was saddened to find this irreplaceable record had disappeared).

Cliff Parker supervised my work on the shopping assessment. first of all we obtained from very co-operative local employers the numbers of employees and average wages. from the Ministry of Labour a national analysis showed how each pound (�) was spent in different trades. From these facts it was possible to estimate the amount of spending money for each trade or activity for the (then) projected population of 35,000

Complex calculations were needed to assess (a) the amount spent in the neighbourhood shops (then mostly day-to-day needs) (b) the `pull` of Newport and Pontypool (c) the amount of expenditure to support each unit of shopping (it varied wildly from trade to trade) (d) the relationships  between potential income and the cost of building premises. Our calculations suggested the equivalent of 90 shopping units against a ministry guesstimate of 200 shops! They compromised at 120 units but we decided only to build up to 90 units unless indications showed the ministry were right leaving space for the others.

Ultimately of course the shopping centre changed entirely from this earlier concept with a much larger population, the development of superstores, changed expenditure habits and a large dormitory population. for the time, however, it provided a sensible guideline.

I left the Corporation staff at the end of July 1953 to become Estate Surveyor for the South Wales Parts. Since then my new town experiences have been merely as a resident. I still enjoy it.

Mr. E Takel

Ruth Lydia Daly recalls:

I first came to look at Cwmbran in 1959 with my fianc� and my parents. I lived in the little village of Fleur-De-Lis, near Blackwood and I had heard all about the exciting prospect of Cwmbran New Town!!  How posh it sounded ! Well, we liked the look of the place, and all the new ides that were broached, so my fianc� and I put our names down for a house -obviously we didn't know where it would be situated at that time.

We married in 1960 and had a little terrace house in Llanhilleth, near Abertillery. We lived there for four years and had two children, when out of the blue in 1964, a letter arrived from Cwmbran, offering us a new home. My husband went to have a look at the place, liked it and signed there and then! Soon we moved to our new home with our daughter and son. The house was in Fairwater. Quite a few houses were on this smart new estate -we put our key in the wrong door at first, they virtually all looked alike -`Little Boxes` - as the song goes, but to us, coming from little mining villages, they were heaven. I soon had another son in 1965!

There were no shops in Fairwater at first, a van used to come around regularly. Eventually, a shop was opened in a house in Fairhill, as was a playgroup -that place was a godsend, we `New` mothers used to meet each other, and the children learned simple skills till they were old enough to go to school. A library van used to come around once a week, and I really looked forward to that! Of course, we lived only a mile or so  from Cwmbran New Town, so it was no hardship to walk there and enjoy all the new shops, Everything was changing before our eyes, it was a very exciting time ....

Years went by, I had another son in 1969 who sadly died in 1975, but life went on. My daughter and the other two sons went to lovely new schools. My husband worked at the then BNS (British Nylon Spinners) at  Pontypool, a works bus took him to and from work.

Years went by, things changed, not only for the better. Shops opened and closed, green fields became housing estates and industrial estates -Cwmbran New Town has been virtually joined with all the outlying districts we still have a few parks left though. The Boating Lake is still there, though not as good as it was. In the 70`s and 80`s the Town Centre has changed out of all recognition, I don't think it's as nice as it was, though the present owners are doing their best... My family have now grown up and have families of their own -they still live in Cwmbran -they must like it! For the last sixteen years I have been living in St.Dials in Old Cwmbran, in a small terraced house -life has virtually come `full circle`! My first husband is still in the same house we moved into in 1964! I still like Cwmbran, but the atmosphere of excitement and newness has worn off-perhaps it's just me getting older!

Mrs. Winifred Lewis (nee Davis)

This map has the names of shop keepers trading in Commercial street area just before the start of the New Town Centre. At first the first shops to open did not effect trade too much-few of the traders moved to the new shops. One or two opened a new branch until they eventually moved out of the village.

By 1965 many of the old names were starting to close down mainly due to loss of trade or simply retired. commercial Street was only half of the shopping area. Victoria Street was where the banks were located. there were four banks at one time-one by one they closed and relocated  in the Town Centre. Victoria Street was the first street visitors to the village entered. The railway station was at the top end of the street at it's junction with Commercial Street. The bus stop was also in Victoria street. The picture house, run by the Davies family, was here as was the Rose and Crown Pub and the only chip shop. There were several grocers in the street. W.T.C.Jones which was one of the last shops to sell food - they remained trading long after the arrival of the supermarkets.

The Police Station was a large building as were the Council Offices - situated at the lower end of the street. From the early sixties the bus company started to run through Commercial Street, until then they passed through Victoria Street onto Forgehammer and onto Pontypool. I myself had been born in Commercial Street, No.7, which was owned from the early 1900`s by my parents William and Mary Davis. They owned shops which were later sold to become the British Legion Club.

My Mother bought land at the bottom of the street, which at that time ended at No.29.they built three new shops. The largest No.35 they moved into themselves. From 1948 I took over the shops with my husband  Herbert Lewis. His family also ran two other shops in the village. We closed in 1969.

By this time new traders were moving into the shops which once supplied food for Cwmbran - now hairdressers and insurance offices. Road widening had demolished many small shops in Wesley Street, Abbey Road and Oak street. Many small shops which had been housed in  people's front rooms were now turned back into private houses.

Family names were going fast. Jarret's the Bakery. Eastman`s, Mr. and Mrs. Jenkins who both had shops in Wesley Street. Alderman Bill Brown the undertaker. Tottle and Boddenham`s remains but it is now called South Wales Ironmongers.

Names which are now replaced by Boot`s,  David Evans's, Top Shop etc. I was happy to have been part of the Old Cwmbran. We both have so many happy memories of the old village.

.. Old Cwmbran circa 1958/62 ..

  • Date 13th December 2008

Bryn Jones formerly of Penywaun Road, now Llantarnam Road responds: With regard to Winnie Lewis (my mother always referred to her as Winnie Davies), I am surprised that on her map of the village she seems to have forgotten the names of the two most well known shops � Jarretts the grocers at the end, just near their bakery, and Clarkes, opposite the Wesleyan Chapel

  • Date 28th January 2007

Andrew Cuickshanks recalls:- The closest to the canal bridge of the two un named shops, was run by the Cameron brothers (one Don) who were butchers. I remember walking with my Mother from Two Locks to the village and going into the shop. The floor was strewn with saw dust and both brothers wore bloody aprons.

They had what seemed then a huge meat safe in one corner from which they brought out the meat and carved it into cuts and chops in front of you. They also delivered meat to the door and had a delivery boy who rode a typical butchers bike with the pannier on the front. 

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