Ken Griffiths was born on September 3rd, 1937. Over a period of 50 years Ken was, at various times, a pupil, teacher and governor of the Boys’ school.

He was brought up, an only child, at 58 Oxford St, in the Gadlys, and after attending Park School, he was admitted to ABGS in 1948 on his eleventh birthday. He was an active sportsman at school, participating in athletics and swimming. Also, he played in the 1955 School Tennis Team, and captained the School Rugby 2nd XV in both the 1954-55 and 1955-56 seasons. He is pictured in the team photographs on this website for each of these teams.

Ken took his O levels in 1953, and A levels in 1956. Later that year he left for University College, Cardiff where he read French. After teaching elsewhere in the county, he returned to the school as a member of staff in January 1965, when he was appointed to the Grammar School to teach French and English; he also had a responsibility for a junior rugby team. He became a School Councillor, and also took on work in the Careers Department. When the school reorganised to become a comprehensive school in 1978 he became Head of Middle School, Years 9 & 10. Ken was a loyal member of staff, and carried out his responsibilities in a very competent and reliable fashion. In his role as Head of Year he had the remarkable gift of being able to defuse difficult situations, with either parents, boys or staff. When an individual had backed himself into a corner, he was invariably talked into acting more calmly and reasonably by Ken. He seemed to be able to charm, where others had failed to make any impact at all.

He was the editor of the Centenary Anniversary Booklet published in 1996, and was also active in the Past Students Association (PSA). He helped in the organisation of social events and in the fund raising for the trophy cabinet. In the last PSA event in March 2008, he was a member of the group that organised the commemorative dinner for past student and olympic athlete Ron Jones. Ken retired early, in 1995, due to ill-health having suffered a heart attack in 1987.

It was only recently in 2009 that Ken relinquished his position as a school governor due to deteriorating health after serving for fifteen years.

When he was 11-years old Ken met his future wife Christine Edwards. They were fairly inseparable apart from the time when Ken was at university in Cardiff, and Christine in Swansea. They were married in the summer of 1960. They brought up two sons, Christopher and Jon, and both were pupils at the school. Ken and Christine’s home was at ‘St. Davids’, Merthyr Rd, Llwydcoed.

Ken died on February 27th, 2011 at the age of 73, after a long period of ill health. His funeral took place at Llwydcoed Crematorium on Wednesday March 9, 2011. It was officiated by Fr Bernard Jones, and the present Head Master of the school, Ian Machin, took part in the service.

We are most grateful to Ken and his wife Christine for the photographs and information they have donated to this website over many years.