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Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School

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Headmaster’s Annual Report for the academic year 1949–50
delivered at the 1951 Speech Day

from The Aberdare Leader, 21st July 1951
 

Newspaper Headline

IN his annual report at last week’s speech day, Mr. Gwilym Ambrose, the headmaster, said that during the past year 21 pupils had entered the university or training colleges, five had left for the Forces, 15 had taken up posts as clerks, 14 had entered the distributive trades. Of 22 in the “unclassified” category, some had taken up engineering.

Other points dealt with in the report were:

CHANGES IN STAFF

Monsieur Jacques Andre Valette took up duties as French assistant in September 1949. At the end of Christmas term, 1949, Mr. H.I. James, B.Sc. (biology master)1 resigned to take up post as biology master at Market Bosworth, Leicester. His place was taken by past pupil of the school, Mr. D.D. Davies, M.Sc. (St. Julian’s High School, Newport). At the beginning of the school year, Miss Marie Howells became part-time teacher of instrumental music.

EXAMINATION RESULTS

In the Welsh Joint Education Committee examinations, 34 pupils sat the School Certificate Examination, and 27 passed, obtaining a total of 27 “very good” marks. 12 of these boys obtained exemption from matriculation. 31 pupils sat the Higher Certificate Examination and 24 passed. One boy, Alec James Smith obtained distinctions in geology and geography, and Graham Jenkins a distinction in chemistry.

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At the Aberystwyth University College Entrance Examination, Alec James Smith2 obtained John Hughes Open Scholarship of annual value of £40 (supplemented by the Ministry of Education to make the emolument equal to that of a State Scholar). He was later awarded a State Scholarship, but could hold only one of the two, and Graham Jenkins won the Rendel Memorial Open Scholarship of the annual value of £15 and tenable for three years. Later, the holder of a Price Davies Scholarship relinquished it and it was awarded to Graham Jenkins. The Price Davies Scholarship is supplemented by the Ministry of Education, making it equivalent in value to a State Scholarship. John Tennant passed the Civil Service Examination for appointments in the Executive Class.

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Graham Arthur Jones (viola) and Philip Jones2 (oboe) were selected to attend the National Youth Orchestra of Wales course at Caerleon in April, 1950.

CORPORATE LIFE

Radio Construction Club (weekly meetings under . supervision of Messrs. D.C. Jones and Francis): Literary and Debating Society (weekly meetings in Autumn and Spring terms, under the direction : of Mr. Matthews); Chess Club meetings (Messrs. E.C. Jones and Griffiths); film shows (weekly under the direction of Mr. Towler).

Several excursions were held as follows: A party of VIth form geology and geography boys accompanied by their master visited Ystradfellte to study the geological and geographical features of the district: VIth form geology boys, with their master, visited the quarries at Penderyn; the same form visited and studied the Hepste and Mellte valleys; a party of students of architecture, with their teacher (Miss Smith3) visited Brecon Cathedral; form VI geology collected specimens from the Rhigos opencast workings; 238 boys and 12 masters made a school excursion to London (motor tour of London and visit to the Zoo); chemistry, geology and geography senior pupils, with their masters, took an excursion to Penarth, Lavernock, St. Mary’s Well Bay, Barry, Cowbridge, Port Talbot, Neath and Llansamlet.

DYFFRYN RESIDENTIAL CENTRE COURSES

Course for senior Welsh-speaking pupils, attended by three form VI boys; general culture course for sixth form pupils, attended by three boys; course for older Welsh-speaking pupils, attended by three boys; general culture course for sixth form pupils, attended by one boy.

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At the beginning of the school year, an advisory officer from the Ministry of Labour and National Service gave a talk on careers to the senior boys of the school. On September 14, the West Country Children’s Theatre Company, 70 boys and 70 girls, performed “Christopher Columbus,” by Louis MacNeice; a carol service (for the boys’ school) was held at Bethel on December 22; on the same day the form VI Christmas Party, attended by girls and boys, members of the staffs of the two schools, and by governors, was held in the Boys’ School.

The 1950 school concert was a performance of “Merrie England,” under the conductorship of Mr. T.R. James, the choir having been trained by Messrs. T.R. James, Phillips, Matthews and Miss Smith.

At the request of the school, the Central Office of Information (Cardiff Branch) instructed lecturers to address the form 6 geography form: Mr. E. A. Robson, J.P., on “Developing Colonial Resources”; Lt.-Col. Frank Williamson, O.B.E., on “World Food Resources”; Mr. J.W. Massey, on “Britain’s New Forest.”

PAST STUDENTS

Mr. Alun Thomas, B.Sc., A.R.C.S., who is on the research staff in chemistry of the Imperial College of Science and Technology, was awarded the degree of Ph.D. of the University of London. He gained a State Scholarship from this school in 1942.

Dr. Ezer Griffiths, F.R.S., a past student of this school2, was award-ed the O.B.E. in the New Year Honours List, 1950.

Mr. Elfed Wilson Thomas, an ex-pupil of the school and now art master in Clapham College, had his picture “Study of a Head,” exhibited at the London Group Exhibition in December 1949, at the New Burlington Galleries.

Brynley Francis Roberts2, a past student, was awarded at Aberystwyth University College, the Cynddelw (Internal) Scholarship of £21 for one year.

Mr. Howell Ryan Davies, BEM., for heroism in saving a girl from drowning.

GAMES, ATHLETICS AND SWIMMING

Rugby (captain, D. Baxter): First XV, matches won 9, drawn 3, lost 7. Welsh Secondary Schools Rugby Union Trials: D. Baxter, M. Lloyd, R.A. Evans, J. Gwilliam.

Cricket 1950 (captain D. S. Bird): First XI, matches won 4, drawn 1, lost 3. Welsh Secondary Schools’ Cricket Association Trials: D.S. Bird.

Swimming: Winner of championship race (D. Bowen Cup), Leonard Williams.

At the Glamorgan County Amateur Association championship meeting, held at Port Talbot, on May 27, D. Roger Williams4 won the mile walk.

In the Glamorgan Secondary Schools Amateur Athletic Association championship meeting at Tonypandy, in which 67 schools competed, our senior team gained the 12th position, the middle school 7th, and the junior school 6th. The best individual achievements for this school were: D. Roger Williams, 1st mile walk (senior); Jeffery Evans, 1st junior walk.

Footnotes

1 Harold Ivor James has an entry in the Teachers section of this website

2 These boys have an entry in the Former Pupils section of this website

3 Miss Meudwen Smith was on the staff of the school 1947–1953, teaching primarily music. She attended Neath County School for Girls, and then won a first-class B.A. degree in Music at U.C. Cardiff in 1946. She married Neville Davies of Nantcaredig in 1952 at Capel Soar, Seven Sisters. She later moved to Cardiff where she attended Eglwys Annibynnol, Minny St. She died aged 89 at Shire Hall Care Home, Cardiff, in June 2014.

4 David Roger Williams of Godreaman attended the school 1944–52, and was Head Boy in his final year. Following school he entered the School of Medicine at Birmingham University.

 

In addition to the Headmaster’s Report, the newspaper also
reported some university degree results of former pupils

UNIVERSITY NEWS

TWO GO TO OXFORD

WILLIAM B. LLEWELLYN,5 former Aberdare Grammar School boy, has been accepted as a student at Balliol College, Oxford, and Colin Davies,6 also a Grammar School boy, will be entering St. Edmund Hall, Oxford, soon, on completing his National Service.

Bill Llewellyn is at present at Cardiff University College and is well-known to Aberdare churchgoers as organist at St. Elvan’s. Colin went to Aberystwyth before his Army call-up.

Other outstanding results for Aberdare boys are the M.Sc. degree gained by Ronald Cook, Jenkin Street, at Aberystwyth, and the success of Peter Callaghan, The Grove, Aberdare, in qualifying as a doctor at Cardiff Medical College.

Brinley F. Roberts, Stuart Street, Aberdare, has won his B.A. with first-class honours in Welsh. He won an entrance examination to Aberystwyth, and followed this by winning an internal examination, the Cynddelw scholarship.

Other results: Elwyn Evans, Elizabeth Street, Aberdare (B.Sc.); Hugh Ll. Dennis, Weatheral Street, Aberdare (B.A.); Aeron Davies, Maelgwyn Terrace, Gadlys (B.Sc.); Lyndon Harries, Gloucester Street, Aberdare (B.A.); Walter Ryan, Tudor Terrace, Gadlys (B.A.); Terence Phillips, Cardiff Road, Aberaman (B.A.); Howard Bowen, The Grove, Aberdare (B.Sc.).

No detailed list of degree winners has been published this year, and we would be glad to hear of further successes.

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Another ex-pupil of the Boys Grammar School, Geraint Walters, Glannant Street, Aberdare, will be entering Loughborough College (the premier physical-training college in the country) in the autumn after finishing his term in the Air Force.

 

Ph.D. DEGREE AT 22

Mr. Emyr Williams, younger son of Mr. and Mrs. Danny Williams, Jenkin Street, Aberdare, has obtained his Ph.D. degree at Nottingham University.

Only 22, he won his B.Sc. with honours in Geology at Cardiff University College and he has twice won the scholarships enabling him to attend the British Association for the Advancement of Science.

His brother, Dr. Alwyn Williams,2 is a lecturer in the Department of Geology at Glasgow University, and his sister, Miss Ann Williams, B.Sc., is doing research with the Medical Research Council at the National Institute, Mill Hill, London

Footnotes

5 William Burgess Llewellyn, of Pendarren Street, Aberdare, was an accomplished rugby player and captained the school’s First XV 1946–47; he was Head boy in those years also. Bill studied Classics at Cardiff University and Music at Oxford, where he was an Organ Scholar at Balliol College. He then joined the common room at King’s College Junior School Wimbledon in 1956. He remained teaching at King’s until his retirement in 1991. He died in 2018.

6 David Colin Davies transferred from the Gadlys Secondary School to ABGS in 1942 and left in 1948 with CWB Highers in Economics, History and Geography. He entered UCW Aberystwyth with an entrance scholarship, but in his first year there he sat the Oxford entrance examination and gained a place in St. Edmund Hall and transferred there to read Politics, Philosophy and Economics. Called to the Bar at Gray’s Inn, he practised, until his retirement in 2007, as a criminal lawyer in the Crown Court on the Wales and Chester Circuit. In 1962, he married Menna M. Roderick, elder daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Dilwyn Roderick, of Maen Gwyn, Penderyn. At this time he was also skipper of the ABGS Scout Troop. Colin died at Prince Charles Hospital, Merthyr, April 2024, aged 93, leaving his wife Menna and three children: a son and two daughters.

 

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