Charity No. 1187117
Born in the St Mary’s area of Brecon in 1897. He was working in Blaengarw in the Garw valley as a collier in 1914 when he enlisted in the 2nd Batt: Royal Welsh Fusiliers. After his initial training he was sent to France to support his regiment which had been badly depleted because of casualties…
Gerard’s Diary Notes from the Exhibition DAY 1 The set-up for this 3-day event went very well with the usual dedicated band of people helping out, and making it look all too easy. Giving the lie to months of work in the winter months up in the cold attic of Tabernacle Chapel. The weather was…
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…
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…
Back in the day when the Fire Brigade was just that, we of the Retained Fire Service used to have training sessions for shift workers on Wednesday mornings in Pontycymmer Fire Station yard. One morning we had just completed the particularly arduous drill of ‘slip and pitch to the 3rd floor and carry down’ (effectively…