The Flying F.R.O.G. or Flight of the Phoenix

When I was about 13 years old I remember getting for Christmas what I considered the best present ever. This was a F.R.O.G. model aircraft kit, a huge step up from the Airfix type kits made of plastic which had adorned my bedroom ceiling for years. The model Spitfires, Stukas,  Dorniers and Lancasters hung from cotton threads, and at night…

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Football Fines

A serious crime in April 1915…. FOOTBALL FINES Ernest Watts (15), 57 Victoria St, Pontycymmer. David Morgan (16) Amos Wood (15), Prospect Place; Llew Harries, Mount Pleasant, (16),Rees Coles: (15) Garreg Rd; and Daniel Harris (15), Garreg Rd, were each fined two shillings and sixpence ( £10) for having played football in Prospect Place ‘ to…

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Sapper Howard H. Rees (542)

Sapper Howard H. Rees (542) and his letter to his brother D. J. Rees, Pontycymmer P.O. “After a long and favourable voyage from Mudros, we arrived in Alexandria on the 18/12/1915. We laid in the harbour until 10 a.m. then went along side the quay.  I was much struck by the number of ships in…

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Lest We Forget: World War I

Here is a poignant reminder of how the young boys of a hundred years ago were eager to join up, not realising the full horror of what was to happen. Ernest Watts, fined for playing football in the street as recorded on page 2, appears to have been a ‘delinquent child’. He was sent to…

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Pte Moses Phipps.

Pte Moses Phipps: Well Known Pontycymmer Footballer Killed In Action. ‘Much sympathy is felt throughout the Garw with Mrs. Mary Ann Phipps, of 8 Gwaun Bant, Pontycymmer. With the sad news that her son Pte 16771 Moses Phipps, D.C.L.I. was dead. Pte Phipps was a haulier with the Ffaldau Colliery, and at the outbreak of…

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