Tag: Treharris

Merthyr Gliding School

by Laura Bray

During the Second World War an initiative was introduced in the form of Gliding Schools.  The schools came out of the Air Training Corps, itself a successor to the Air Defence Cadet Corps, which had been founded in 1938 with the aim of training boys aged between 14 and 18 in “all matters connected with aviation”.

The ADCC was a huge success – it organised itself into squadrons of 100 boys subdivided into 4 “flights” and within 5 months of its foundation, 41 squadrons had been formed. During 1939 more than 16,000 boys and 700 officers were members of the ADCC.

Indeed, by 1940, ADCC was making such a contribution to the recruitment for the RAF that it was decided by the War Cabinet to establish an organisation to provide pre-entry training for candidates for aircrew and technical duties for both the RAF and the Fleet Air Arm. Thus the Air Training Corps was born. It became one of the most important pre-service training organisations, providing the RAF with recruits who were “air-minded” when they enlisted.

Merthyr, it will not surprise you to learn, had an ATC, founded in the summer of 1941, and on 5th August 1944, a gliding school was opened, by Air Marshall Sir Robert Brook-Popham. The Gliding School was situated at the top of the Swansea Rd, and the opening was attended by the usual civic dignitaries. Before the presentation ceremony, the officers of the various squadrons in the area, the cadets and members of the Women’s Junior Air Corps were inspected by the Air Marshall. It was noted that Merthyr had sent several hundred boys into the RAF from the ATC and that they had benefited hugely from the training they had received there, training which would now include gliding. Indeed, so committed were the ATC to this that the boys had worked all winter to build a hanger for their glider, without any help from the Air Ministry or Council and squadrons from Aberdare, Treharris and the surrounding area would be using the base as part of their training.

It is clear from the Merthyr Express report of 5 August 1944 which covered the opening, that the ATC sent boys into the army as well as the RAF, as Air Marshall Brook-Popham was keen to stress that the skills learnt in the glider school were just as valuable to that branch of the armed services.

The Gliding School was disbanded in 1945 and is now largely forgotten – unless perhaps you were there…..

Merthyr Historian volume 33

The Merthyr Tydfil and District Historical Society is pleased to announce the publication of Volume 33 of the Merthyr Historian.

Contents:

  • A Local History Appreciated (‘The Story of Merthyr Tydfil …’ 1932) by Huw Williams
  • Merthyr Tydfil & District Historical Society: helping the historians of the future (The Welsh Heritage Schools Initiative Awards) by Clive Thomas
  • The history of Garthnewydd House by Lucy Richardson
  • Creating Merthyr Tydfil Educational Settlement (1930-1949): a view from behind the scenes by Christine Trevett
  • “Eisteddfod Merthyr Tydfil a’r Cylch”1958-1962 by John Fletcher
  • Japanese naval commander at Merthyr 1902 (transcription) by T. Fred Holley & John D. Holley
  • Mary Emmeline Horsfall, the lady of Gwernllwyn House: art, philanthropy and the workless in Dowlais by Christine Trevett
  • A Merthyr man’s wartime service in His Majesty’s Royal Navy by Brian, Peter & Barrie Jones
  • The dark side of convict life: an account of the career of Harry Williams (b. 1876), a Merthyr man by Barrie Jones
  • The White Horse, Twynyrodyn in the 19th century by Richard Clements
  • The first Aeronaut (balloonist) in Merthyr, 1847 (transcription)
  • Evacuees in the Borough’s Wards: ‘Merthyr welcomes evacuees…’ (transcription, 1940) by Stephen Brewer
  • Putting Merthyr Tydfil on the map by Clive Thomas
  • ‘Honouring a Dowlais Musician. Complimentary Concert …’ John Evans (Eos Myrddin) 1841-1905. A transcribed report from the Merthyr Times 1893 of ‘A Grand Performance’ by T. Fred Holley & John D. Holley
  • Gurnos Farm and the Cyfarthfa Estate by Alison Thomas Davies
  • Treharris pit-head baths and The Lancet 1908 (transcription)
  • The Lavernock tragedy 1888 and its Aberfan memorial by Stephen Brewer
  • The ‘earthly Eden’ which was dry and rustic Trelewis (newspaper items and editor’s commentary)
  • Chess in Merthyr by Martyn Griffiths
  • Lewys Glyn Cynon, Merthyr Vale poet by T. Fred Holley & John D. Holley
  • Calling local historians: banking and boxers by Stephen Brewer & Christine Trevett

This 324 page book is available to buy from the Merthyr Tydfil & District Historical Society for £13.

If you would like a copy, contact me at merthyr.history@gmail.com and all orders will be forwarded to the Society.

New Pithead Baths for Treharris

by Laura Bray

It was 90 years ago (1st November 1933) that the new pithead baths at the Ocean Colliery (Deep Navigation) in Treharris were opened, at a cost of £20,000 paid for by the Miners’ Welfare Committee. The baths replaced those first opened in 1916 – the first pithead baths in the country.

The original pithead baths. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

It is hard at this remove to appreciate what a radical effect the pithead baths had on miners and their families. Imagine coming off a long shift underground, caked in coal-dust, mine-water and sweat and then getting yourself as clean as you can in a tin bath, which you wife had hauled in front of the fire and filled. See her steeping over and around children underfoot, carrying hot water in big, heavy jugs, water sloshing over the rim. Indeed, one South Wales coroner claimed that he conducted more inquests into the deaths of children who were scalded than he did into miners who were killed underground.

And then emptying the tin bath outside, carrying it through the house. Imagine the coal dust that wasn’t shaken off, settling around the house, like sand, getting into every nook and cranny. Imagine having to wash those clothes, by hand, and hanging them to dry over the fire. And this is your life day, after day. Miners themselves were prone to rheumatism, pneumonia and other respiratory conditions; the women, to back-breaking and heavy work, often leading to miscarriages or premature births.

Now move your mind forward to 1916: you, a miner in Treharris, are able to use the first pithead bath in Britain. Now you have proper changing and washing facilities; you go home clean. Your wife now longer has to cope with the dirt from the pit, no longer has to fill the bath. You are both heathier, your children less at risk of injury. Can you imagine the difference that made?

It took 30 years of campaigning to get pithead baths into every colliery but in 1926 the Mining Industry Act allowed for a “Royalties Welfare Levy” of 1 shilling in the pound, paid to the Miners’ Welfare Fund, which was instructed by the fact to make provision for the baths. From 1921 to 1952, over 400 baths were built across Britain. The Miners’ Welfare Committee’s own architects’ department established the most cost-effective way of constructing, equipping and operating baths buildings and by the 1930s, a ‘house style’ had developed, based on the ‘International Modern Movement’ of architectural design, which used flat roofs, clean lines and the plentiful glass, to give a natural light and airy feel.

The new pithead baths opening in Treharris in November 1933, are described as being 145 x 96 feet, built of red brick and able to accommodate 1824 men. Each man had 2 separate lockers, one for clean clothes and one for dirty, and a jet of hot air was passed through lockers to dry the clothes, wet towels etc. The baths boasted 112 cubicles, in white glazed brick, with adjustable-temperature showers, mirrors and electricity. The building also housed a first aid room, boot cleaning machine, drinking fountains and “lavatory accommodation”.

The new pithead baths. Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive.

The opening was a prestigious event, attended by the great and good of the Borough, including the manager of the Deep Navigation Mine, the Director of the Ocean Coal Company, the Mayor, Aldermen and a crowd of 100s, of which about half were women. It is noted that they were the 18th baths to be built in South Wales, and the 121st nationwide, with another 35 in construction. The speeches acknowledged the difference the baths made to the community and particularly to the ladies, as the baths “stood for cleaner homes and a higher standard of life”. It is interesting that the speeches were directed at the women, who should use their influence to get their men to patronise the baths; and that the men, if they had any regard for their wives, would do so. As if to reinforce the message, the baths were opened to public viewing before they were put into use. So clearly, there was reluctance in some quarters still, to use them, despite baths having been available for 20 years.

The Miners’ Welfare Committee retained responsibility or the pithead baths until the nationalisation of the coal industry in 1947, when its remit passed to the National Coal Board.

The baths in Treharris are long gone now, but if you want to see a example of the pithead baths today, the one in Big Pit in Blaenavon is open, and is worth a visit, standing as a testimony to a revolution in colliers’ lives.

Merthyr Historian Volume 32

What’s in the newly-launched 50th Anniversary volume of Merthyr Historian?

The answer is more than 450 pages about the history and communities and notable people linked with the lower end of our Borough.

It’s called Troedyrhiw Southward and Taff Bargoed. Glimpses of Histories and Communities.

This is what is in it …

FOREWORD: Lord Ted Rowlands

REGIONAL MAP       

WELCOME TO OUR 50th ANNIVERSARY VOLUME

 I. THE ROAD THAT RUNS THROUGH IT …       

  • Clive Thomas, ‘History, geography and the construction of the new A470 from Abercynon to Abercanaid’. A photographic account with commentary

II. PUBLIC HEALTH AND WELFARE

  • Christine Trevett, ‘The Idiot of Cefn Fforest farm: learning disability, lunacy and the law in 17th century Merthyr parish’
  • Transcription, ‘Visit to the Merthyr Sewage Farm’ (1872,South Wales Daily News)
  • Huw Williams, ‘A North South divide and the Troedyrhiw Sewerage Farm: a case study in local history’
  • Bleddyn Hancock, ‘Fighting for breath, fighting for justice: how a small Welsh Trade Union took on the British government on behalf of tens of thousands of coal miners suffering and dying from chest disease’

III. WAR, COMMEMORATION AND  PEACEMAKING      

  • Eirlys Emery et al., ‘Treharris remembers – Treharris yn cofio: a recent community project to record the past’
  • Gethin Matthews, ‘Honour to whom honour is due’: reports of First World War unveilings in the Merthyr Express, with special reference to those in the south of the Borough’
  • Craig Owen, ‘Born of Bedlinog – the man who united nations. The Rev. Gwilym Davies, world peacemaker’

IV. COMMUNITIES AND PROJECTS

  • Mansell Richards, ‘The Gateway to Merthyr Tydfil Heritage Plinths project’
  • David Collier, ‘The Saron graveyard project, Troedyrhiw’

 V. LOCAL POLITICS AND WORKERS’ EDUCATION

  • Martin Wright, ‘Aspects of Socialism south of Merthyr and in Taff Bargoed in the 1890s: a window on Labour’s pre-history’
  • Daryl Leeworthy, ‘Workers’ Education in the lower County Borough: a brief history of an enduring idea’

 VI. BALLADMONGERS AND MUSIC MAKERS

  • Stephen Brewer, ‘Idloes Owen, founder of Welsh National Opera’
  • Alun Francis, ‘Getting your timing right at Glantaff Stores – and what happened next’
  • Wyn James, ‘The Ballads of Troed -y-Rhiw’

 VII. SPORT AND OUR COMMUNITIES             

  • Alun Morgan, ‘1950s football rivalry between Merthyr Town and the Troedyrhiw-Treharris clubs’
  • Ivor Jones, ‘A community and its sport, a short history of Bedlinog Rugby Football Club’

 VIII. THIS BOOK WOULD NOT BE COMPLETE WITHOUT …  

  • John Holley and T.Fred Holley, ‘Troedyrhiw Horticulture 1876 –’

IX. OUR HISTORICAL SOCIETY: SOME HISTORY

  • Clive Thomas, ‘Before heritage began to matter. Only the beginnings’
  • The Society’s Archivist: an interview

CONTENTS OF Merthyr Historian vols. 1-31 (1974-2021)     

BIOGRAPHIES OF CONTRIBUTORS      

Volume 32 of the Merthyr Historian is priced at £15. If anyone would like to purchase a copy, please get in touch with me at merthyr.history@gmail.com and I will pass on all orders.

Jimmy Edwards, Nancy Whiskey and an 11 year old Boy

by Brian Jones

The  atmosphere  in  the  red  double-decker  bus  was  a  mixture  of excitement and apprehension – the experienced pupils were pleased to renew old acquaintances, whilst the nervous first year boys and girls tended to quiet reflection. The bus, with the conductor keeping a watchful eye, meandered down Twyn hill, up the High Street to Pontmorlais, then skirted Merthyr General Hospital and finally reached its destination at Gwaelodygarth, near the  top gates of Cyfarthfa Park.  A mass of buses disgorged hundreds of Cyfarthfa Castle Grammar School pupils, 120 of whom were about to begin the first day of a new adventure.

The ten minute walk through the park would be repeated innumerable times over the next seven happy and eventful years. Amongst the wave of children, some marched at a brisk pace, others moved slowly and deliberately, whilst a few set off on a hurried race ignoring the beauty of the park. Soon each of the four seasons would pass leaving each of their distinctive colours and smells lingering in the memory – the odour of wet leaves crushed underfoot in autumn, the snow and ice of winter, the showers of  rain  that  heralded  a new  spring, and finally the shade of the trees providing some relief on the occasional hot days of summer.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive

The girls peeled away – on the path to the rear of the school while the boys from 11 to 18 years of age followed the gentle downward slope to the front of the school. Only the sixth form and teaching staff could enter through the quadrangle, while the Lower and Middle schools walked a little further through the yard and into the long school corridor.

In 1957 Jimmy Edwards (left) was the star of the B.B.C television comedy series “Whacko” which was shown on small black and white television sets with poor picture and sound reception. Jimmy’s trademark handlebar moustache, mortarboard and black academic gown marked him out as the incompetent schoolmaster, forever jousting with that errant pupil “Taplow”. Their fictitious school mirrored some of the features of “The Castle” – the academic dress of the staff; the occasional corporal  punishment;  the management of the pupils by the school prefects, all of who seemed like giants to that very small 11 year-old boy. The prefects would dish out lines for the slightest perceived misdemeanours saying “100 lines by tomorrow boy” then to rattle off at breakneck speed, “Deep harm to disobey seeing as obedience is a bond of rule”.

In other respects the school where Jimmy Edwards ruled the roost was very unlike “The Castle”. There all pupils were “posh” whereas at Cyfarthfa the school was a delicious mix of children of professionals, tradesmen and unskilled workers – the sons and daughter of teachers, · electricians and fitters, production operatives at Hoovers, I.C.I, B.S.A and Triang Toys. In the comedy series all of the children were English through and through, with appropriate English surnames. In my class there were Bernstein, Lozano, Jones, Walsh, Robertson, Olsen and Muller reflecting the local ethnic mix, as a result of immigration spread over the previous century.

A few months earlier the 120 new entrants to the school had passed the  11 Plus Examination whereas on that first morning of term they assembled in the old school hall, which would soon be converted into extra classrooms. The stern looking Headmaster, Mr W.  Lloyd Williams M.A. (right) began the introductions and commenced the allocations to forms by asking, “All those who wish to study Welsh hold up your hands!” Then thirty or so pupils were placed into form 2A and the remainder allocated into three streamed forms of 2B,  2C and 2D.

Mr Bernard Jenkins (English) took charge of form 2B. A lover of golf he proved a humorous, if strict form master. Later that day we would meet our new teachers such as May Treharne (Latin); Mr  J H Davies (French) a short man nicknamed “Twiddles”; Mr  A G Harris (Geography) known as Gus who prior to World War II  had married a former school P.E mistress, Miss Florence Price, and set up home near Penydarren Park; Maud Davies (Biology) who lived in Treharris and was a cousin of the Headmaster; the History teacher, Mr G L Williams nicknamed “Nero” and Mr Trevor Jones (English) who lived in Twynyrodyn and who joined the staff in 1952.

Mr Harvard Walters (Welsh) (left) had been at the school since 1936 and much later became the Deputy Headmaster. One of his tasks was to begin the long and frustrating attempt to teach the Welsh National Anthem and school song, the first 2 lines of which were:-

Ienctyd y Castell, Caer I Ddysg a Hedd,
Gloewn Ein Harfau I’r Gad Ddi-gledd.

Many a time he would despair at the “Wenglish” of most of the pupils moaning that they were “a lot of Dowlais Cockneys”.

At lunchtime we marched to the canteen sited in its own ground to the rear of the school where under the keen eyes of the prefects we were taught dining room etiquette. Each pupil was careful to walk slowly to each of the afternoon lessons with leather satchels becoming heavier as the day progressed. New friends were quickly made and by the end of that school day new groups ambled back to the buses, however most of the pupils soon had their school tie askew, and gold trimmed school cap set at an angle.

The journey home on the bus was light-hearted although the prefects still remained in firm control. The older boys whistled the catchy tune of the song  “Freight  Train”  which  had  been  recorded  by  the  singer  Nancy Whiskey, just at the end period of the Skiffle craze. The new boy alighted from the bus at Penuel Chapel on Twyn Hill, with his school satchel seeming to “weigh a ton”, however as each of the years passed it lost its shine and became as “light as a feather”.

I remember with affection Jimmy Edwards, Nancy Whiskey and that first day at “The Castle”.

Photo courtesy of the Alan George Archive