Reports on visits to Aberdare in 2003

Since we left Aberdare in 1964 the town has changed a lot, and if you no longer live there it is well worth a visit in its own right, not just for nostalgic reasons. There has been a dramatic transformation from the days of the phurnacite plant, polluted rivers, and there has been an explosion of green vegetation on the hillsides. The scenery is especially nice in the spring and early summer as shown below. Here are some pictorial reports of past visits, with emphasis on items relevant to our school days. If anyone has any other modern photos and captions, relevant to the old school, that they would like to add please send them in — contact details are on the Home Page.

Click on the thumbnails to view the full size pictures.

April 2003 Dylan Morgan

On Easter Monday 2003 Dylan Morgan met some old friends from the Welsh Language School, Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr. Those present included Hywel Davies, Susan Dennis, Arlan Jones, Martin and Helen Evans from Broniestyn, and one or two others. While there Dylan took these photos of sites around the old school.

April 2003 Steve Hammonds

Later in the same week, by coincidence, Steve Hammonds (also 1957-64) visited Aberdare to do some research in the library and to visit various sites around the old school. The weather, and the time of year, were excellent for photography so here are some images from the visit.

August 2003 Steve Hammonds and Colin Rees

Early in August Steve and Colin Rees met for a walk around town, hoping that a joint trip would stimulate our fading memories a bit. We met in the Aberdare Library where we intended to look up some old maps and books. From there we strolled into town and stopped for a coffee at Servini’s cafe, much bigger than I remember it. We then walked down to the site of the old low level station, now replaced by the new road which by-passes the town centre, then walked on up to Gadlys Road. We stopped for a few photos of the old school, walked through the park, around to the Coliseum where we managed to get a look inside the splendid auditorium, and then down Tudor Terrace, Bridge Street and the sports field. Here are some photos from the trip. We hope you like them. Colin took most of them on his digital camera but I’ve also used some of mine, taken with a compact APS camera and scanned into images, in a few cases where the composition or the colour was better. Expensive technology is no substitute for talent!

It was a very hot day, so after all the effort (which was noticeable at our age) we stopped in the Gadlys Arms pub in Robertstown, at the bottom of Bridge Street, for a drink and a sandwich lunch. The pub was very pleasant and the staff very friendly so we can recommend it to anyone going down that way. When we left after lunch it was pouring with rain outside (typical Welsh weather, I remember it well). However, a taxi had arrived to take the barmaid home and she was kind enough to allow us to share her taxi back into town. She was a lovely person of 67 years who referred to Aberdare as “my valley”, and was happy to talk about it. She was right to be proud of it, it seemed cleaner, brighter and more prosperous than I remember it from my childhood. To cap it all, when we got back to the library the taxi driver refused to accept our extra fare for the journey.

After a short time more in the library we went on to visit Jennie Williams, former secretary of the school, who still lives in Gadlys Road. She had given Colin an open invitation to visit when he was next in Aberdare so we decided to take up the offer. We rang first to warn her that we were coming, rather than turning up unexpectedly on the doorstep like a couple of missionaries, and explained that we wouldn’t bother her for more than half an hour. In the event she kept us entertained with her memories of the school for over two and a half hours, complete with tea and biscuits. She told us a lot in that time, but sadly our memories aren’t as good as hers and we’ve already forgotten some of it. We were very grateful for her help and were sorry to have to leave.

More photos of Aberdare and its surroundings

These were taken by Colin on the day after the previous set.