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Aberdare Boys’ Grammar SchoolSchool Photographs |
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Peter Edward Phillips’ Class, 1939
from School records via Mark Jefferies
Peter Edward Phillips and his class; he was known by all in Aberdare as PEP. Sitting next to him, with the mortar board, is the headmaster W. Rees Williams who was about to retire.
PEP attended the school 1915–20 as a pupil, and as a staff member at ABGS 1925–64. He was for many years senior French master, and ended his career as Deputy Headmaster. He attended U.C. Cardiff where he gained a first class B.A. degree in French. Later in 1932 he was awarded an M.A. As well as teaching French, he also played a significant role in the musical activities of the school, not least as conductor of several annual school choral concerts held in the Coliseum in Trecynon. His wife Blanche, whom he married in 1938, was assistant Medical Officer of Health in Aberdare; she was the daughter of Daniel Thomas a monumental sculptor of Trecynon.
PEP came from a very well-established Aberdare family. His father Arkite Phillips was an accomplished musician and kept a music shop in Canon Street. He also ran an orchestra for classical concerts and a dance band for hire in south Wales. As an oboist, he played in orchestras in England and Wales, under the baton of conductors such as Coleridge-Taylor, Hubert Parry, Sir Henry Wood and Malcolm Sargent.
PEP’s aunt, Jennie Phillips, was a member of staff at the school from 1905. His mother was a member of the Halewood family that had boot and shoe shops in south Wales as well as a factory for their manufacture situated between Canon and High Streets in Aberdare.
Peter Edward Phillips: 1903–1985.