Index of this blog

As the number of posts on my blog is now considerable, I am publishing a page index below so that visitors may go to a post that interests them by selecting the page it is on. The order is as they appear from the beginning of the blog. Alternatively the search facility, top right, may be used.

Hello Pontypool!

The Folly Tower

Arriving in Pontypool

Town School junior section

Tragedy at West Mon (Revised account)

Pontypool Boys’ Brigade – 9th Eastern Valley Company

Comics, magazines and other literature

The “Scholarship Class” at Town School

Pontypool in wartime: the start of rationing

When the sirens sounded in Pontypool

West Mon’s “Spitfire”

Osborne Cottage at Pontnewynydd

The good people of Pontypool help the war effort

Pontypool’s big freeze of 1941

Murder most foul in Pontypool

West Mon forms six and seven

The war ends, and Pontypool celebrates

Going to the pictures in Pontypool

Pontypool’s “Dad’s Army”

Fire at Wainfelin, and the slaughter of animals.

The Gregories of Cwmffrwdoer

Pontypool park for fun frolicks and fairs

The Grotto in Pontypool Park

Park Terrace Methodist Sunday School Pontypool

Climbing the mountain with the help of Watkins the tinsmith

Franketti’s Fish and Chip Shop

Christmas time in old Pontypool

World War II shipbuilders in Pontypool

The games we used to play in Pontypool

Pontypool’s great snow of 1947

Pontypool’s Secret Society

Drama in Pontypool

Tragedy at West Mon 2. Words from a key witness.

High Days and Holidays at Pontypool Town School

Pontypool Personalities

Two Broadways: Pontypool and New York

Decline in West Mon boarders

A great revelation on Haden Street

Accidents, Fatalities and Diseases

The book of the blog

Town School Centenary booklet 1938

Parts of old Pontypool that have vanished

News of Gibson Square

More nws about Gibson Square

Old photographs of Pontypool

Surprises in disguises

Old photographs of Pontypool carnival in the park

Information and a request

Old photographs of the Clarence area

More about the Robin Hood pub

Old photographs of Pontypool’s shopping centre

The Fowler family of Pontypool

Two interesting comments

The Queen’s Ballroom Pontypool

Fairfields of Pontypool crops up again

Is this how you remember the Donkey Steps and Gibson Square?

Donkey Steps & Gibson’s Square – a revised sketch and more information

A request from Pontypool Museum

The Parrot Public House Pontypool

Emerging information about about The Parrot and Gibson Square

Murder at The Parrot Inn and some old photographs of Pontypool

Photographs and more information about the Parrot Pub

A word map of Pontypool 1881

Further information on the Robin Hood, the Gregories and playing marbles

Further information on the Robin Hood and its proprietors

Ragtime comes to Pontypool

Tragic Peakes’ Coach Accident – two men killed

Photographs of Peake’s coach crash scene

Introduction to my Pontypool blog

Pontypool Home Guard on Parade in the Park

Do you remember Aubrey Hames?

Ponypool’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Three photographs of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Pontypool people really seem to be world travellers

See the video: “Who killed Dripping Lewis?”

Ponypool Town School’s great raffle

West Mon School Song

Severe Pontypool weather in 1940s

Pontypool Rugby Reminiscences

Some Pontypool Baptists in hot water

Free new e-book for visitors to this blog

Titch’s Secret Society  Chapter 1

Titch’s Secret Society  Chapter 2

Panteg Hospital, Pontypool and “Retlas” revealed

Interesting comments on Panteg Hospital

Titch’s Secret Society  Chapter 3

Another blog about some Pontypool cgaracters

Titch’s Secret Society  Chapter 4

Sports Day at West Mon School

Photographs taken inside West Mon School 2010

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 5

Catching taddies in Pontypool

Tragic drowning of nine people

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 6

The Swan Inn Freehold Land

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 7

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 8

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 9

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 10

Some close shaves in Pontypool

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 11

Titch’s Secret Society   Chapter 13

Heartless hoaxer in Pontypool

This index is by no means complete as I only index this blog from time to time.
There are a number of posts after the last item indexed above.
The latest post will be at the beginning of the blog. You can scroll down from there to find the latest posts.

Introduction to my Pontypool Blog

A FEW WORDS OF WELCOME BEFORE YOU BEGIN READING MY BLOG

Since starting this blog I’ve been pleasantly surprised at the number of visitors I’ve received which at the time of writing stood at well over 26,000; since then it has more than doubled.  I wasn’t expecting anywhere near this number. Another surprise has been the number of comments received, many of which have been helpful to visitors in tracing family members etc.

But the most pleasing result has been the number of emails I’ve received, some from friends I knew long ago when living in Pontypool. Many of those emails are private of course so don’t get put on the blog. A few days ago I even received a phone call from a lady living in Canada who’d bought my book when visiting relatives over here and wanted to say how much she enjoyed it. Just a reminder that my email address is:    david.hughes43@ntlworld.com.

If you would like to be emailed whenever a new post is added you can do this by clicking on the “+ Follow” sign at top right of the heading of the blog. This is relatively new but quite a number of visitors have already done this.

Finally, if the memory of any old friends need jogging (as mine does from time to time) I append below a 1947 photograph. I won’t scare you with the latest version !

Best wishes as you walk down memory lane.           David (Dewi) Hughes

PAST POSTINGS WHICH HAVE BEEN AMENDED

Since starting this feature I have amended so many of
my postings that the list would be very large and, the
more amended posts in the list, the more pointless
the list would become. Visitors can now assume
that the majority of the posts have been amended
in one way or another.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BECAUSE THERE IS NOW SO MUCH INFORMATION ON THIS BLOG
I HAVE ADDED A SEARCH FACILITY WHICH YOU WILL FIND
JUST UNDER THE COLOURED BANNER HEADING – TOP RIGHT
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

This blog is now published on CDs

I have now decided to make recordings of this blog and to put them on CDs. There are two main reasons for this. The first is that the stock of the book “Pontypool Memories” is now exhausted and the book is out of print. There won’t be any more but, if you would like to read a copy, they are available to take out on loan at most of the libraries in the Pontypool, Cwmbran and Newport libraries.

The second reason is that I have been informed for some time now that there are a number of people, mostly elderly, who do not have a computer with which to access the internet and who have to rely on family members or friends to download the blog posts, as they appear, in hard copy. Some people, however, who have very poor eyesight or who are blind, still cannot access the blog on their own even in the printed form.

Having already supplied a set of two CDs in a case to one keen blog follower, I am, in the first instance offering the same set to anyone else who might be interested. As you will see from the illustrations below, the two CDs cover the first 20 posts on the blog, very slightly edited and updated and with some sound effects and music.

Most of the people who read this blog live in the UK but some live in over 130 other countries. Because of the variation in postal charges the cost of the two CD set will vary depending on where you live. If you would like to order a set of CDs, either for yourself or as a gift for someone else, please see below.

The front cover of the case

The back cover of the case

Inside of case showing two CDs

The cost of the two CD set, including p&p, is as follows:

If sent to an address in the UK – £4.50

 If sent to an address in European Union – £6.80

 If sent to an address in the USA – £7.80

 If you wish to have a set sent to any other destination please contact me at
david.hughes43@ntlworld.com
and I can let you know what the cost will be.

 Please use the same email to order. Payment by cheque or PayPal are acceptable.

I am not anticipating a large demand for these items but if any interest is shown then I shall produce CDs of the rest of the blog posts.

Do you remember Archibald Carlyle Thompson?

ARE YOU ABLE TO HELP?

As I’ve mentioned previously, I get quite a number of emails from people who are researching their family tree. On a few occasions I have been able to help them personally but, usually it’s a visitor to this blog who is able to provide information. Today I received the following email from Jayne Ward. It’s quite clear and self-explanatory and her email address is also provided, so if you can help please contact Jayne direct by email. If you cannot do this for any reason then please send the information to me and I will pass it on.

Dear David

I am researching my family tree and I wonder if you could post the following on your Old Pontypool Blog please?

I am trying to trace the relatives of my maternal grandfather, Archibald Carlyle Thompson.  He was born in 1897 in Sebastopol.  He was the eldest son of Arthur Thompson and Mary Jane Phillips and they lived at 4 Moseley Terrace, Pontrhydyrun.  Archibald had 6 siblings, Edith May (born 1898), Maria (born 1901), Charles (born 1903), Bill (born 1905), Mary Rose (born 1907) and Harry (born 1910).

From my family tree research it would appear that Maria married Benjamin Butler in 1921, Charles married Annie Desmond in 1936, Bill married Doris Morgan in 1934, Mary Rose married Cyril Davies in 1928 and Harry married Ellen Probert in 1933.

The Thompson family have lived in the Pontypool area since 1861 when John and Sarah Thompson moved there from London.

After WW1 Archibald moved to the West Midlands, married and had five children.  He died in 1942 when my Mom was 4.

My family visited Archibald’s brother Bill and his wife Doris in 1974.  They lived in Tranch Road Pontypool.  I met their daughter Agnes and her husband Brian Roberts on that visit.  They had a daughter called Melanie.  Bill wroteregularly to my Mom during 1974, giving details about his brothers and sisters and I still have his letters.

If anybody has any information that could help me and would like to get in touch, my email address is jayne.manison@hotmail.co.uk

 

Many thanks for your help David.  I found your blog really interesting.

Kind regards

Jayne Ward

A Griffithstown enquiry

PETER DURMAN, ASHLEY COTTAGE, GRIFFITHSTOWN

 

I’ve just received the following enquiry from Mary Lurvey who, like many other visitors to this blog, is researching her family tree.

 

Hi David, 

I’m Mary,  I think your pages on Pontypool and surrounding areas are brilliant, I however am interested in Griffithstown for the reason my grandparents Percy and Nell and father Peter Durman were living there. My grandparents may or or may not have stood out from the crowd because of their accents originaly from Taunton in Somerset.  

My grandfather worked on the railways somewhere around Griffithstown in the later part of the 1920s and early 60s and I know they lived at 39 Oxford Street (which still exists).  

My father was born in 1927 at a place named Ashley Cottage and I know my Grandfather was on the railways at that time. 

I know this is going to be a long shot but does any of this info sound familiar to you? I only have this information because I’m researching my family tree.  Would you have any memories or know of someone that would? “THANK YOU” for taking the time to read this email.

Kind Regards

Mary

PS

I remember visiting a Great Aunt who had a shop near Oxford St, also from Taunton. Would this ring a bell?  Again Thank you.

 

I can’t remember anyone called Peter Durman. As he would be two years older than I it’s possible he might have gone to West Mon the same time as me; but, of course, he might have attended another school. If any other visitors to this blog know anything about Mary’s family, please email me with the details which I will pass on to Mary; or I can put you both in touch if you are both agreeable to this. I don’t publish the emails of visitors who contact me unless I get their permission to do so. I’m sure you appreciate the reason for this.

Poetic Memories of a Pontypool Christmas

Recently I received the following written piece about Pontypool Christmas memories of 1953 from Robert Miles. I added it a short time ago as a comment after my post about Christmas memories which was published some time ago but as there are 143 posts not many visitors might have seen it. Therefore I am adding it here as a separate post for all to see. Thanks Robert!

Memories of a Pontypool Christmas.
[1953]

Marzipan, a pirate’s name is marzipan.
Crushed almonds and sugar
laid gently on top of a spread of marmalade.
A cool, smooth even surface
turntable the cake slowly and
use a ruler to make the Royal icing.
The goose comes from the market,
like the ham for the slicing.
Four weeks before, the talk
was all about a piece of beef
or a leg of pork.
One year we had turkey,
then coughs and sneezes in January.
What good is brown paper without goose grease?

Pickled onions peeled, plunged into vinegar,
beetroot and red cabbage followed soon after.
A barrel of beer resting on the cold stone,
a bitter that is sweet to the thirsty man
and the inquisitive child.
Stuffing and sausage meat, ice and snow.
How many sixpences in the pudding?
None for you! Grampy don’t tell fibs
you always put a sixpence in,
sometimes two.

The Beano and the Dandy,
Desperate Dan and Cow pie.
Dennis the Menace and Lord Snooty.
The Eagle Annual for us
and the Giles Cartoons for Grampy.
A jigsaw and a selection box
of chocolates with a game on the back.
And gloves, don’ t forget the gloves.

Robert L. Miles

These lines certainly brought back many memories for me. The brown paper and goose grease reminded me of the times when I had these tied around my neck with an old sock to cure a sore throat. What excitement there was searching for the little sixpences or threepenny bits wrapped in silver paper in the Christmas pudding. Packets of cigarettes were always a good source of silver paper. I used to love receiving a selection box. They were fairly standard then and generally cost 2/6 – that’s 12.5 pence for those under 50 years old!

Annie from Penygarn – the book

Visitors might remember a post about Annie from Penygarn a little while ago. I’ve just received some further information from Steve Parry about the book and its availability.

You might like to look at the short video about it where you can see a good selection of photographs. To see it just click here:   https://vimeo.com/61086106
If for any reason this does not work, just copy the URL into your address bar.

Aerial views of Pontypool, Griffithstown and West Mon

AERIAL VIEWS FROM 1919 – 1955

I enclose below a selection of aerial photographs of Pontypool, Griffithstown and West Mon. They come from the massive collection of photographs now available on the Internet taken between 1919 and 1955. If you wish to see more of them just visit the website at: http://www.britainfromabove.org.uk/

General view of Pontypool

Another view of Pontypool

General view of Griffithstown

Railway at Griffithstown

West Mon School

To the wedding reception – by digger!

 

 

The winter of 1963 must hold memories for the people of Pontypool similar to those of 1947 when we had huge snowfalls and which are recorded earlier in this blog. I have to admit that the snow of 1963 was a “treat” I missed. I was working in the hot African bush of Nigeria training African teachers for the Nigerian Government. I was walking around in shorts and a sports shirt.

I vividly remember all the mail from family and friends from back home as they described in their letters and on the recorded tapes we used to use how very cold and snowy things were in the UK. I  recall a photograph, in one of the newspapers we received,  of Roath Park Lake in Cardiff being frozen over.

One of the regular visitors to this blog, Harold Clarke, recently sent me an account of his wedding at the time; Pontypool people will find it interesting. He says:

 

“Attached is a photo of the snow of 1963. After moving back to Pontypool, some six or seven hundred meters below where this was taken outside the cricket club at Pentwyn, I am surprised how many people in the area are not aware of how deep the snow can get up here. Cynthia is from just above where the picture was taken. It took her 49 years to get me to move up here but I have to admit I love it here now.

Harold’s wedding party

Left to right in the photo are: Brian Morgan Joan White nee Hayward, Harold Clarke, Cynthia Clarke nee White, Allen Mullings, Cliff Powell sat down, and Renee Tucker. This was not the only unusual vehicle that day. After leaving the church on St.Luke’s road by car to big arch a land rover was supposed to take over but it had broken down and a Rutter’s greengrocery lorry took over with Cynthia and bride’s maids in front and my new father-in-law and myself on the back. The digger working to clear snow up to the Blaensychan pit took over from the cross road to get us to the reception in the cricket club.

It was March before we got a car back to collect Cynthia’s things and only then via big arch. The plough was still clearing snow blowing off the mountain. The driver told us not to be too long as this was his last run for the day as the miners were on their way down from the pit. Did Cynthia take any notice? No, we got stuck in a drift by the brick works, long gone now; we could only just get out of the car. Cynthia took off for Ponewynydd to get a friend with a land rover to get us out of a drift. In the meantime, miners going home half lifted and half pushed and got the car out of the snow. We took off to intercept the four wheel drive car coming from Pontnewynydd but found Cynthia had not got to her friend’s house so I started off up the hill to Pentrepiod when I saw Cynthia with a miner on each arm leading her down the track in the snow. They had found her blown off the hard track in a snowdrift.” 

 

Thanks for this account Harold.

 

Two sooty episodes in Pontypool

 

 

As this blog deals mainly with things that happened in the 1930s and 1940s, many of the emails and telephone conversations I’ve had with people visiting it have been with a “then” and “now” perspective. Many things were different of course but the one thing that stands out for most people is the strong family life that existed in the 30s and 40s. It was accepted that the family was the building block of society which enabled positive progress to be made within a society, a country or the world at large. Today’s economists and politicians pay lip service to the family and then proceed to attack it in so many ways. It is estimated that, in the UK today, one quarter of the population live on their own. Such was not the case in the 30s and 40s.

Today many reasons are put forward for the break up of families, the obvious one being easy divorce, but I think one reason, which often gets away with it, is the advent of central heating. When I lived at Wern Terrace in Pontypool from 1929 to 1937 we had just one room which was constantly heated and that was what we called “the kitchen” or “the living room”. Dining rooms weren’t in vogue then. Everyone wanted to keep warm, particularly in the very cold winter weather, so that we ate, played, listened to the wireless, worked and chatted in the one room. The family stayed together and when the meals were served we all sat around the table and talked; thus we learned how to handle cutlery, pass food to others and talk about school and other things that might have happened during the day. Children did not have “their own room” which was centrally heated and where they could watch television or play computer games on their own. When it was bedtime we warmed our pyjamas in front of the fire, put them on and then dashed upstairs into a cold bed or one that had been warmed in places by a hot water bottle or a warm brick wrapped up in a piece of flannel.

There were fireplaces in some of the bedrooms and also in the “front room” or “parlour” but the bedroom fires were hardly ever lit and the parlour was treated to some warmth only on some Sundays or when visitors were expected such as at Christmas time or birthdays.

Because the large main fire would consist almost entirely of coal, a lot of soot gathered in the chimney so that every year or so we had a visit from the sweep who would clean the soot out with his long round brushes. If this wasn’t done on time there was a danger that the chimney would catch on fire and flames and soot would start pouring out of the top of the chimney.

Chimney sweep with brush and rods

When the sweep visited us at Wern Terrace, one of our jobs would be to stand in  the garden and shout when we saw the brush emerge from the top of the chimney. The sweep would then know he could push his brush up and down and gather the soot in the grate at the back of a tarpaulin sheet which prevented the soot billowing out into the room.

This is what we looked for

I well remember one occasion when we were doing this job; the sweep had put on what he thought would be enough rods to get his brush to the top. We couldn’t see it emerge so we shouted that the brush hadn’t come out yet. The sweep put on another rod but still no sign of the brush. He put on another and another and still – no brush. The sweep simply could not understand it. While he was puzzling over this my mother happened to go upstairs into the bedroom used by her and my father in the front of the house. On the inside wall of that bedroom, several feet up from the floor was a small metal inspection cover which gave access to the chimney. The sweep’s brush had knocked off this cover and the brush, covered with black soot, had wandered over to the other side of the bedroom in a large arc spreading soot all over the bed and everything else in the room. My mother was devastated and had to set about cleaning up the biggest mess I’d ever seen.

A year or so later we moved to Garfield in School Lane. The heating arrangement was marginally better there as we had one of the new immersion heaters which provided the luxury of a tap which actually provided hot water; also the storage tank was in the double bedroom which I shared with my brother Garyth. We both revelled in our centrally heated bedroom. But my eldest brother, John, had the single bedroom at the front of the house which overlooked the school field and allotments. Consequently, in the very cold winter weather, my mother used to use one of the black valor oil heater for an hour or two in John’s bedroom before he went to bed.

Valor oil heater

Valor oil heaters could be temperamental and, if the wick was not trimmed carefully, it smouldered instead of burning and gave off black oily smoke. On that day that was just what happened so that, when my mother went to the bedroom to put out the heater, everything, bed, furniture, walls and ceiling, were covered with a black oily deposit. My mother had a worse job than she did with the soot.

I suppose we are saved from such catastrophes by today’s central heating, but, as far as a cohesive family life is concerned, there’s a price to pay.

Pontypool personalities – the Pearce brothers

 

I’ve had a number of emails from visitors to this blog who have discovered information and pictures about their family. A lot of people these days are scouring the internet looking for such information and many have discovered this blog quite by accident when engaged in this activity.

The Pearce brothers were well known and active in the Pontypool area over 70 years ago so I am publishing below an article about them which appeared in the Weekly Argus of 26th July 1941.

“SOUTH WALES ARGUS” SPECIAL

 

“Five Pontypool brothers known in South Wales athletic circles as “The Pearce Brothers”, are serving in the Home Guard. They stick by each other in all they do.

“They were all educated at the same school, work in the same colliery and live within a radius of half a mile of Upper Race, Pontypool. They are seldom separated by any great distance, go about together and find brotherly tolerance second nature to them.

“Known to many as “The Inseparables”, John, Will, James, George and Bert Pearce are the sons of Mr and Mrs R. Pearce of Race House, Pontypool. Their ages range from 24 to 36. Before they went to work underground at Glyntillery Colliery they were educated at Pontymoel School.

“James, the third brother, who ran for Wales in the 1938 cross country championship in Ireland, told a South Wales Argus reporter other interesting facts. The brothers all work the day shift in the colliery where they are employed as miners, and when they hew the coal out of the mine they are never separated by more than three-quarters of a mile.

“‘We all decided to join the Home Guard soon after it was formed,’ he said. ‘We are in the same company. Until recently we performed our duties together and did our training at the same time as each other.’

FORMED A CLUB

“‘Before the war we started running to train for football. Then we formed the Upper Race Athletic Club and the five of us with Reg (another brother serving in the RASC and reported missing from April 28th) competed at many athletic meetings. Two years ago Bert won the Argus Road Walk. Last year he won the mile in the Pontypool Hospital Carnival Sports. We are always together. Christmas mornings we celebrate in each other’s company.’

“Eldest brother is John aged 36. He was 31 before he took up running. At Newport he won two non-harriers events. He is also a pigeon fancier.

“Will, aged 34, is secretary of the Upper Race Pigeon Club. James, 32 lives with his parents. George 28 likes to be known as ‘just one of the crowd’. Bert is 24 and has won many racing events in the Eastern Valley.

“Mrs Pearce is proud of her sons. ‘They never have a cross word’, she says.

 

 

Pontypool might become a giant Cluedo site

Visitors to this blog will be well acquainted with the murder of Dripping Lewis in Pontypool and will have seen the accompanying photographs. You will also have seen the information about the book “Who Killed Dripping Lewis?” by Monty Dart. I have to thank Monty for alerting me to the following article in the South Wales Argus. Residents of Pontypool might possibly see some of these activities going on.

 

Students to turn Pontypool into giant Cluedo game

by Hayley Mills

PONTYPOOL could be turned into a life-size version of Cluedo with participants trying solve a real murder.

The idea is the brainchild of three photographic art students, Lauren Clithero, Rebekka Gill and Jodi Westmacott, who study at Newport University.

They submitted their idea for review, after 43 students were commissioned by Torfaen County Borough Council to create artwork as part of the Townscape Heritage Initiative (THI).

Miss Clithero, 21, and her two class mates thought about using the murder mystery game, after hearing of the unsolved Pontypool murder of William Alfred Lewis in 1939.

Miss Clithero said: “Author Monty Dart wrote a book last year called Who Killed Dripping Lewis?

“After reading the book and speaking to her, we thought participants in our version of Cluedo could try and work out which one of them killed him.”

In the girls’ game, eight participants would sign up and be given clues that will lead them around the town, where Mr Lewis had been seen before his murder.

Actors would be in place to hand out clue cards and objects found at the murder scene to the players at key locations, and slowly the team would work out which one of them could have been the murderer.

Miss Gill said: “We’re all fascinated by the famous Pontypool story but didn’t want to tell it in a dark, morbid way – instead we want it to be interactive so that the community can get involved.”

Back in 1939, Mr Lewis’s body was discovered by builder Thomas Brimble, who had been carrying out building work for Mr Lewis.

The blood-soaked body, which had received repeated blows to the head, was laying across the bed in his house.

He was a rich bachelor who owned approximately 200 houses in the Pontypool area.

Initial investigations led nowhere and four detectives from Scotland Yard were called in. Despite interviewing hundreds of people the police got nowhere.

The students have pitched their ideas to a panel of judges who will decide which projects to take forward later this month.