Free Patrick Jones poetry event tonight in Cwmaman…
When ? Thursday evening November 13th 2008 at 7pm.
Where ? At The Cwmaman Institute Lounge
What ? Poetry and verse
Who ? with Patrick Jones Mark Williams Emma Williams & Cosmo
Why ? Because YOU are worth it.
Photo : Miner by Robert Thomas, Queen Street,......
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Easily Wales’ most DRAMatic sculpture is Andy Hazell’s Wheel of Drams near the Hengoed Viaduct, Maesycwmmer, a village near Caerphilly.
Andy Hazell was commissioned to create a landmark sculpture to celebrate the refurbishment of the Hengoed Viaduct and its inclusion into the National Cycle Network. Wheel of Drams is a dramatic eight metre high circular sculpture of six curved steel coal drams that commemorate the original haulage companies that operated on the goods line that passed over the viaduct. The circular shape also represents the move from the route being used by coal drams to bicycles.
Although this is an eye-catching landmark sculpture it is slowly being obscured by trees growing in front of it.
See the Full Set of Photos here...
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Remember those Summer Outings when the whole village went by train or bus to Barry Island, Porthcawl, or Aberavon for the day ?
Perhaps you are too young to remember those bygone days when whole villages from the Valleys disappeared for the day.
Nowadays we are addicted to the package-holiday where we individually pick and choose our little stretch in the sun oblivious to what our neighbours will be doing.
Turn the clocks back thirty or so years to 1977 and it was a whole different universe… Here are two excerpts from the Aberdare Leader newspaper
Colliery Outing - front page of Aberdare Leader - 10th March 1977 - Sunday, July 3, is this year’s date for Penrikyber Colliery’s annual outing. It will be to Porthcawl this year.
About 1.800 people are expected to go on the...
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The People of this Valley will extend a warm welcome to Prince Charles who will be visiting today as part of a Royal Tour.
HRH Prince Charles the Prince of Wales is expected to visit the Welsh Whisky Company distillery in the village of Penderyn, set in the beautiful landscape of Brecon Beacons National Park.
Prince Charles takes a deep interest in the important things in life : the people, the land and the food we grow. He is a knowledgeable farmer who has championed the environmental cause for many, many years.
Thus we hope this Royal visit will encourage a greater interest in these subjects in Aberdare. We need to grow more of our own food in Aberdare and other former industrial areas and we need to husband and conserve the land and our resources more responsibly.
In the...
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Once again Groundwork Trust host another Green Dayz Weekend at the Fedw Hir Eco Centre near Llwydcoed. The event runs this weekend on Saturday 17th May and Sunday 18th May from 10am until 4pm.
There was plenty of activities to entertain the whole family including hands-on pottery and ceramic session, handmade twig pencil-making, felt-making, face-painting, willow weaving, hurdle fencing and … welly wanging.
For Saturday only there was grand show of eagles and owls, including the world’s largest owl who was, thankfully, quite placid and friendly.
According to the Groundwork Trust, Welly Wanging is a sport that originated in Britain, most likely in Yorkshire. Competitors are required to hurl a Wellington boot as far as possible within boundary......
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On Friday morning, upon hearing the news that much of Aberdare and Rhondda Cynon Taf would still be represented by the same old faces, our hearts sank.
With a bird’s eye view of the Official Count at Michael Sobell’s Sports Centre, near Aberdare, we witnessed sombre scenes.
The whole Local Election was a quiet, subdued affair. There was no ostentatious campaigning. With an economy unravelling and spiralling out of control, both the electorate and politicians were somewhat confused.
We left this scene of uncertainty for the rocks and hills of the Brecon Beacons, and a walk to Pen y Fan, the highest summit in South Wales.
This was a balm for a troubled Welsh soul.
We searched for metaphors as our muscles ached. But none came. Stealing rest after rest, we listened to the...
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In his book Chapels of the Cynon Valley (Gomer, Llandysul, 2004 Alan Vernon Jones presents an accountant-like view of the Chapels of this Valley.
He presents a ‘Chapel Balance Sheet’ thus :
Chapels of the Cynon Valley as at Autumn 2004 (the publication date of his book)
Active Chapels = 63 35%
Vacant Chapels = 11 6%
Converted Chapels = 50 28%
Demolished = 56 31%
Total chapels built = 180
So in summary, a third of Cynon Valley’s Chapels no longer exist after being demolished. The highest rate of demolition took placed during the period 1960-2000 when 45 Cynon Valley Chapels were demolished.
Then around another third have been converted (and those conversions have not always been sympathetic to the architectural integrity of the original chapel design).
The...
“I am sad at the decline of the village,” writes Kevin Addiscott. “It is the biggest village in Wales, and it has become a commuter village.
In a short while there will be nothing here but the Co-op and Hirwaun Stores.
There are people catching buses out of the village to go for a pint, when there [...]...
What would the late and great Phil Weekes have to say about the closure of Tower Colliery this week ?
In 1974 at a Conference held during the Year of the Valleys, Philip Weekes described himself thus :
I have all the contrasts, the contradictions, the cussedness, the emotions that you will find in the typical valleys miner, which is what I claim to be. My devotion to the Valleys has no logic that I can discover; it seems to be rooted in emotion. An emotion that made me demand that I be removed from an exciting job as Director-General of Mining in London - to run the largest, geologically-toughest, most unprofitable coalfield in Britain, and probably, Western Europe.
Weekes was a genius communicator but even he would now find it difficult to articulate his disappointment at the demise...
Would the last Employer to Leave Aberdare please switch off the lights.
It’s no joking matter … Aberdare’s biggest employer is apparently a plastics-factory now threatened with closure.
The news that Everwhite Plastics are in dire financial straits has triggered a predictable political response.
Start of the Funny Season
Politicians have started making wild promises.
Unlike Pinocchio their noses will not grow longer.
They will, however, attempt to out-lie each other.
We can smell your Cant
If you can smell the Cant from Cardiff Bay it’s due to one fact : In May 2008, only four months hence, there are elections for the local council. Nearabouts the factory threatened with closure are some of the most marginal and contested seats in the County Borough of Rhondda...
Better late than never… this Christmas we discovered the television comedy Gavin and Stacey, thanks to a gift from a kind uncle. The comedy was written by Ruth Jones and James Corden.
It was a thrilling discovery. We had to pause the DVD several times to try and recover from fits of hysterical laughter.
Gavin and Stacey is a lovely romantic comedy romp, with a strong Welsh flavour.
There were one or two scenes that really tickled the heart-strings in a big way. We fought (and failed) to hold back the tears watching the scene with Rob Brydon on the way to the Church with his niece.
Rob Brydon was absolutely excellent. He recently appeared in a one-man show in the Coliseum Theatre, Aberdare. How we now wish we had gone to see him!
The humour in Gavin Stacey is reminiscent of...
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Furniture reuse charity Valleys Furniture Recycling - known as Too Good To Waste - has been shortlisted for the Cylch Community Recycler of the Year Award.
The Ferndale-based charity which is supported by Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council is one of three Welsh charities shortlisted as Community Recycler of the Year and volunteers are hoping plenty of local people will help them secure the first prize.
Who wins the award is down to a voting scheme which can be found on www.cylch.org or by writing to Jasmine Brown at Cylch, 113 Cathedral Road, Cardiff, CF11 9PH. Voting will close at 5pm on Friday October 19th and a presentation ceremony will be held at the Marriot Hotel, Cardiff on October 24th.
Sponsored by Novelis, the largest recycler of aluminum cans in Europe, the winner of the...
According to Carolyn Jacob writing for the Old Merthyr Tydfil website : “The Dowlais Parish Church was built in 1827 by the most successful iron-master of his generation, John Josiah Guest, who is buried inside the Church. In an iron coffin.The Church was well known for its unusual historic stained glass window, dedicated to the coal-mining industry, ‘The Miners Window’, which was funded by the Martin family. Inside the Church there are a large number of memorials, many to great figures of the Industrial Revolution, who were employed by the prestigious Dowlais Iron-Works. In recent years the Church became far too large for a diminishing elderly congregation and a problem with insurance cover led to its closure in 1997 and it was then sold to Nazir Mohammed. The original parish...
The walls of the Disgwylfa Chapel in Merthyr Vale slowly crumble.
Cement and render peel away revealing the stone foundation underneath.
This Chapel was built one hundred years ago.
On this the Centenary year since it was built it seems to be ‘giving up the ghost’.
There is an eerie, ghost-like quality to this grimey old Valleys Chapel.
The Chapel is situated adjacent to the small village post office.
It is not difficult to imagine the former glories of this Chapel or what contribution it made to this village.
Climb the embankment a few feet from the Chapel and you can see the familiar site of a cemetery.
Therein lie the children’s graves in the nearby village of Aberfan.
Thousands of these Chapel buildings were built in Wales during the past two to three hundred years....
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Huw Lewis Merthyr Tydfil’s Labour AM publishes a pamphlet today entitled “Winning for Wales” in true fighting spirit. The pamphlet is written in plain English and offers an honest appraisal of some of the problems facing the Welsh Labour Party today.
He writes that “in order to create a party that can win elections over the next generation we must react to the 2007 result as though it were a heavy defeat – any other response will not be sufficient and we will sleepwalk to a very real loss in 2011 where the number of marginal seats we will be contesting will be unprecedented in modern electoral history. The only way to successfully combat these challenges is to create a self-sufficient genuinely Welsh Labour Party which can properly shape this next exciting...
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Here’s a video clip of a paraglider ‘jumping off’ Rhigos Mountain yesterday.
It’s near Craig y Llyn, the highest summit in Glamorgan.
There are splendid views of Rhigos and Hirwaun from this lofty ledge.
Tower Colliery is nearby, although it it expected to close this month.
Jill Evans, Plaid Cymru’s Candidate for Rhondda in the National Assembly Elections, chose this location to give a press conference yesterday.
The following statement was issued on behalf of Jill Evans’ office :
“Plaid Cymru firmly believes that urgent and effective action is needed to tackle climate change. But the top priority must be given to energy conservation and efficiency. Then, renewable energy must come from several sources – hydro, solar, bio-mass and wind....
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So it seems that to wear Burberry in Wales now is as to sport the Swastika in Germany.
Of course, not that I am complaining. I’m proud not to own a single checked baseball cap or polo-shirt, but the principle is what is important.
For the wife of an American diplomat to wear a coat by Burberry on Friday when visiting the National Assembly for Wales was headlined in the local rag as a ‘gaffe’ or a ‘clanger’.
I have every sympathy for those who have lost their jobs due to Burberry moving work usually done by the factory in Treorchy to China, but does this mean that for every company that moves out of Wales we need to boycott their products and services?
Lloyds TSB moved a substantial number of jobs from their Newport call centre to Mumbai, India with a...
Trish Law has picked up on Torfaen MP Paul Murphy's call to have a minister to deal with the wealth of problems that are prominent in Wales' poorest area.The more I think about it, the more it seems to make sense. There would need to be a close working relationship with the Economic and Social Justice portfolios, and yes, there would probably be some overlap in these areas but the idea should be explored further. Labour's Assembly Government is already implementing policies with the long term aim to bring jobs and prosperity back to the region. About two years ago, I was a panellist at a conference on the Strategic Framework for the Heads of the Valleys and it was evident that the passion and the vision for a better Valleys is there. The Assembly has gone a fair way in helping these...
Once upon a time there was a Welsh MP called Peter Hain who believed in socialism and devolution.
“Devolution must be given real teeth,” wrote Peter Hain, “it must not produce a series of talking shops.”
Peter Hain wrote this in his book The Democratic Alternative (A Socialist Response To Britain’s Crisis) (Penguin, London, 1983).
Peter Hain then discovered a pole lubricated with grease.
This was the largest pole Peter Hain had ever seen.
Peter decided to climb to the top of the pole.
And the higher he climbed the closer he came to the sun.
As Peter Hain spent more and more time in the sun his tan grew brighter, and brighter until he glowed like a juicy fat orange.
Soon Peter forgot he believed in socialism and devolution.
Books, Devolution, Disraeli,...
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The Cynon Valley Museum and Gallery in Aberdare is teaming up with Cardiff University’s Centre for Lifelong Learning to present a series of free Saturday morning talks from February 2007.
The ‘Valleys through the Ages’ lectures will explore the fascinating history of South Wales’ valley communities from the Middle Ages to the present day. The four talks planned for February 2007 are:
3rd February 2007 at 11am
‘Medieval Valleys: An Introduction to Rhondda Cynon Taf in the Middle Ages’ by Tony Hopkins of Cardiff University and Gwent Records Office – this first lecture will be followed by a reception and refreshments.
10th February 2007 at 11am
‘Am I not a man and a brother?’ South Welsh Communities and the Campaign to Abolish Slavery, 1790-1865’ by Dave Wyatt of Cardiff...
Fifteen years ago the Labour Party boldly claimed “New Year - New Government” in their member magazine. They printed a photograph of a confident-looking Neil Kinnock, the would-be Prime Minister.
The Commentary in that magazine exuded promise of better things :
This New Year is Special.
It is the year in which the Tories run out of time. They can dither and delay no longer. 1992 is the year of the General Election. 1992 will be the year in which Britain elects a Labour Government.
The New Year is a time for new ideas.
Time for new people, the energy, the vision, the policies to strengthen and modernise the British economy. Time for a new team with commitment to the values of social justice needed to raise standards of care and opportunity.
Time for a new government.
Three...
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It has been a quiet, muted, almost sombre Christmas in Aberdare this year.
Local independent shops are feeling the pinch as there is less money to spend in the Aberdare economy.
The biggest employer in the Valley, Ferrari’s Bakery of Hirwaun, went into administration a few days before Christmas. They employ several hundred people in South Wales, many of them from the northernmost villages of the Cynon Valley.
Workers feel betrayed by a glib and cynical political elite who prosper in their jobs-for-life in Cardiff Bay, whilst they battle for the very basics : a job for next year.
Buying cakes for Christmas at Ferrari’s Bakery shop this week, it was hard to ignore the conversation amidst the bakery workers concerning the current Assembly Member for Cynon Valley, who recently...
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Heed the whispered warnings of ghosts, listen to their advice and co-operate with them. They tell us about the past and foretell our future.
In the photograph there is a misty view across the Cynon Valley, from Cwmbach looking down the hill near St Margaret’s Church, towards Aberaman and Aberdare. The photographer has failed to capture a ghost, so instead offers to sketch some notes.
In Cwmbach the first Co-Operative Society in Wales was formed in 1860. On this little Welsh hill there was a magnificent Co-Operative store that lay at the heart of a vibrant Welsh community ‘growing-up’ in the era of industrialisation.
Borrow a Welsh Mam today
Find a Welsh Mam and ask her about the local Co-Op from fifty years. Beg or borrow a Welsh Mam if necessary. Cwmbach Co-Op...
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Aberdare throbs with installation Art exhibitions.
The Arts Council should take more interest in the Valleys.
A free installation art exhibition was held recently in Whitcombe Street, Aberdare, at the back of Woolworths and nearby Croci’s Cafe.
The name of the exhibition was ‘Labourer fills Skip… Brick by Brick’.
The Artist in question wished to remain anonymous. He spent around two days preparing his exhibit which lasted but a few fleeting hours.
Enjoy the photographs of Brick by Brick at Aberdare. An inspiring exhibition.
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Aberdare throbs with installation Art exhibitions.
The Arts Council should take more interest in the Valleys.
A free installation art exhibition was held recently in Whitcombe Street, Aberdare, at the back of Woolworths and nearby Croci’s Cafe.
The name of the exhibition was ‘Labourer fills Skip… Brick by Brick’.
The Artist in question wished to remain anonymous. He spent around two days preparing his exhibit which lasted but a few fleeting hours.
Here are some photographs of Brick by Brick at Aberdare. A truly inspiring exhibition.
aberdare, Aberdare Town, art exhibition, art exhibits, installation art, photographs, valleys, welsh arts council © 2005-2006 - Visit Aberdare Blog for more great content....
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The Assembly Government’s new multi-million pound offices were opened this week at Rhydycar, Merthyr Tydfil.
The new office in Merthyr Tydfil is the first of three being developed as part of the Assembly Government’s drive to spread the economic benefits of devolved government to the different regions of Wales and to locate services as close as possible to the citizens who need them.
At the official opening Rhodri Morgan said:
This major development will give Merthyr Tydfil and the wider Heads of the Valleys area a significant boost in public sector jobs and will act as a pathfinder to more private sector investment in the Valleys as well.
devolved government, merthyr, merthyr tydfil, private sector investment, public sector jobs, regions of wales, rhodri morgan,...
Leighton Andrews Assembly Member for Rhondda, you are hereby charged …
… with driving your website at very high speeds but with no Search Facility.
So your constituents can’t read what you’ve said in the past.
This is a dangerous way to drive a website Mr Andrews.
Being able to Search your website is very important, as you know.
As this is your first Internet Offence, you will receive a caution Mr Andrews.
Good day and safe surfing.
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It is thirty three years to the day that Max Boyce recorded the album that launched his career as a singer and entertainer. ‘Live at Treorchy’ was recorded at Treorchy Rugby Club. Is there any one in the Valleys who has not got an old copy of this ?
Max Boyce is of course alive and well and his career isn’t doing too bad either. The recent success of the Welsh rugby team has helped create a new interest in this talented entertainer from Glynneath.
So much so that a Max Boyce tribute band was formed - called Boycezone…
Boycezone has raised over £13,000 for charities such as Children in Need.
Boycezone will be playing at this Saturday’s International against New Zealand on Saturday November 25th 2006 at Queen Street 12.00 - 1.00pm, and Westgate Street...
Blaenau Gwent Labour Party have selected Keren Bender as the Labour candidate for next year’s Assembly elections. No Viagra salesman this time instead Blaenau Gwent have decided to experiment with a good old-fashioned socialist!
It is far easier to admit to being a crack-addict or sacrificing goats on Valleys mountain tops than to admit to believing in socialism in today’s Labour Party. All credit to Blaenau gwent Labour Party on electing some one who, at least, claims to be a socialist.
Fifty-year old Bender from Cwm is an official for the steel Union Community. After her selection she promised to “stand for traditional socialist values of quality jobs, rights at work and world-class public services here in the community”.
Will Ms Bender face an easy...
They’re so posh in Ponty… no graffiti on the walls, just the National Anthem.
Photograph of Mill Street subway in the centre of Pontypridd : “Hen Wlad fy Nhadau” - ‘The Land of my Fathers’ is the Welsh National Anthem. The words of the National Anthem are attributed to Evan James from Pontypridd, and his son James James. In May 2006 there was a concert held in Ynysanghard Park, Pontypridd as a celebration to mark the 150th year since the Anthem was written....
