Issue 9

ISSUE 9

SUMMER 2015

Croeso,Welcome to our Summer 2015 Newsletter!

Continuing the sporting theme started earlier in 2015, this edition gives a little of the footballing history of the Garw, and a profile of one of the Garw’s most famous players, Billy Rees.

Also in this edition: a football letter from the trenches 100 years ago, and a Garw sport from the Depression years.

Blandy Park - read inside for a little of its history.

What We Have Been Doing…

One of the projects that the GVHS has been working on is photographing every street in the Garw, starting at the top of Blaengarw down. It was the brainchild of GVHS lifetime member Keith Brocklebank MA, founder member of the society and the member who first set up the Society’s photographic base. Keith has been carrying out the task himself, and as of date of publication he has reached Tylagwyn, and other members may be called on to help! Once completed the streets will be transferred onto disc and copies made available on request, after being lodged with the National Library of Wales and the Glamorgan Family History Society.

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enquiry@garwheritage.co.uk

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ISSUE 9

SUMMER 2015 BLANDY PARK

Blandy Park is situated on the edge of Pontycymer, just after leaving Pant-y-Gog, and travelling up the Valley,with its entrance leading off the main road. It is built on land formerly owned by the Blandy-Jenkins family of Llanharan House. It was Colonel Blandy-Jenkins’ second wife who in 1935 leased the land to the Garw Stars F.C. for ‘recreational purposes’.

A soccer team had existed in the Garw for many years; they had tried to cut out a field from the mountainside behind Gwaun Bant but failed. This site later became the present-day rugby pitch in Pontycymer, constructed over the earlier efforts. Blandy Park , site of an ash tip, and venue for visiting travelling shows, then became the home of the Garw Stars. How the land was fashioned into a working football pitch is not recorded, but if anecdotal information is to be believed it was probably cleared by volunteers and striking miners. After the ‘Stars’ disbanded the local authority took over responsibility, renting it to the newly-formed Garw Athletic F.C. in 1945.

The ground itself is a testament to the common working man’s desire to construct a sports ground in the most unlikely of places and in the most difficult conditions. On one side is a clubhouse and a small seated stand over a 40ft drop down to the pitch, accessed only by a set of crooked concrete steps embedded into the hillside. From there can be obtained the most stunning views Welsh football can offer. A small stone wall at the bottom seems to be the only thing stopping the buildings from sliding onto the pitch. On the opposite touchline the valley side rises up covered nowadays with brooding conifers. Because of its position it has a natural acoustic facility in that abuse and/or tactical advice can be hurled and heard very easily!

Blandy Park is a spectacular legacy of monumental change in the Garw Valley. Were it not for the industrialisation of this area there would have been no call for this ground to have been built. As it is today, it stands as a reminder to current and future generations of how important it was for those who mostly worked underground to be able to enjoy sporting rivalry in the fresh air.

Abridged from an original article by Mike Bayley.

Please let us have YOUR stories and reminiscences of events at Blandy Park CAN ANYONE HELP? Author and researcher Phil Cope has written extensively on the wells and springs of the South Wales Valleys that were forgotten over the industrialisation of the landscape. Now that the Valleys are ‘reclaiming’ their former beauty, many of these buried and forgotten sites may yet be brought to light.

He has inspired GVHS members to look at their local surroundings, so: Does anyone have any information on the origins of the Garw areas Sweet Wells and Hot Wells? Could they refer to former springs, wells, places of pilgrimage?

Please contact the website, or telephone the secretary on 01656 856091 if you have any information, even if it is only to say that Sweet Wells meant the water was coal-dust free, and Hot Wells meant the water never froze in Winter!

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ISSUE 9

SUMMER 2015

BILLY REES Billy Rees was born in Pwllcarn Terrace Blaengarw in March 1924. He was spotted playing local football by Cyril Spiers who was the Cardiff City manager. Billy signed for Cardiff playing 83 war time games for them and scoring74 goals a record any player would be proud of. Billy also played in the 1945 Wales v England War International.

inside forward he was their top scorer the following season. In the summer of 1949 Tottenham Hotspur paid £14,000 for him but he only played 11 games for them scoring 3 goals as he suffered a series of injuries which had resulted in him struggling to get in the first team.. He was soon sold to Leyton Orient for £14,500 where he spent 6 years scoring 58 goals. Billy also played non-league football with Headington Town (later to become Oxford City in the Golden Age of Stanley Matthews), and Kettering Town.

Billy Rees was very proud of his 4 Welsh Caps for playing against, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Switzerland and Ireland where John Charles was one of his team mates.

After his football career was over Billy Rees returned to the Bridgend area working for a When the Football League restarted after World pharmaceutical company. He ended his life living War 11 Billy helped Cardiff City get promotion in Llangeinor back in the valley he was born in. from Division 3 South to Division 2. Playing

LOCAL SPORT DURING THE DEPRESSION A very popular street game during the Depression of the 30's in the Garw was “Cattie & Doggie”. It was a game that cost next to nothing to play. The 'doggie' bat was an old piece of wood about 4' long and the 'cattie' was another piece of wood about 9” long which was tapered to a point at both ends. The game’s method was very simple, your opponent pitched the 'cattie' towards a 12” diameter circle chalked on the ground. If it landed inside the ring without touching the edges, the 'batsman' was 'out' without a stroke being played. If however it landed along one edge of the ring the 'batsman' was allowed one stroke at it, but if it landed clear of the ring the 'batsman' had 3 strokes. The idea of this game was to hit the 'cattie' with the 'dog' on one of its tapered edges so that it flew up into the air.

While it was airborne the 'batsman' could give it an almighty swipe propelling it as far as he could. Upon completing his allocated strokes, the 'batsman' then estimated how many running strides (called 'carms') lay between the circle and the 'cattie' and then the opposing team had to stride the distance in that number or less. If they succeeded the 'batsman's estimate was added to their own score, but if they failed then the batting team were credited. Children played this game using old broom handles, while adults, usually in a club or colliery team, preferred to use the more manly, old mandrill shafts, and as the opposing teams were allowed to 'field' as in Cricket, many a brave man came to grief trying to stop a 'cattie' in full flight. Believe it or not there were leagues, championship tables, and all the paraphernalia nowadays associated with today's Football teams, but with the return of the 'prosperity' of full-time employment after WW2, the game sadly died out.

Taken from Reminiscences Of Life In The Garw Valley. by Wyn M. Price. & Rodney W. Jones.

Abridged by G.Jarvis for G.V.H.S.

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ISSUE 9

SUMMER 2015

LEST WE FORGET It is 100 years ago when WW1 started, here is an item from the archives: 12/3/1915 A Welsh sergeant in the Army Service Corps writes:-“Did I mention before that we have had Football league out here? We have had hard luck lately. Our General started us off by offering a silver cup. Our last match was against a Scottish Regiment, and we had to win a tie for the top place.

We lost, and so were out altogether.

We played our last match against a Regiment that was just going into the front line trenches immediately after the match. They paraded in full battle order and all their mates were there to cheer them on. I wish I had a camera, when the other team scored it would have made a great photo to see the crowd waving their rifles in the air with their caps on the bayonets. Most of the crowd had 'Teddy Bears'* on, as well, what a sight!

Our 'pitch' is just behind a little church and not far from the enemy front lines. Twice we have had to go and fill in shell holes before we could start a match? At the last match the German artillery put a crater plumb in the centre! About ten minutes before we kicked off?” * Teddy bears were the name given to Goat skin jackets issued to our soldiers against the cold, they did the job but got terrifically smelly, and lousy very quickly in the trenches.

MUGS AND CRYSTALS FOR SALE

£8.50

£3.50

On display at Garw Leisure Centre Free delivery to a Garw address, postage elsewhere on application, tel. 01656 856091 NEXT EDITION in the Autumn will feature some boxing stories and personnel, some angling reminiscences, and maybe some horses!

HAVE YOU VISITED OUR WEBSITE?

Full of photos from our archive and local stories and memories, the Garw Valley Society website is building up a collection of local stories of past events and personalities. www.garwheritage.co.uk

FORTHCOMING EVENTS

On June 18th & 19th in the Richard price Centre in Llangeinor the GVHS will be holding an exhibition of WW1 artefacts & stories from the Garw soldiers who went to serve, and will also include items of a more general Garw nature.

In Autumn, details to be announced, there will be an exhibition in Blaengarw Workmen’s Hall showing Blaengarw life over the last 150 years. We will be talking to people, recording conversations, researching archives and newspapers for any items of interest to add to our collection, so if you too can give any information or photographs of shops, churches, chapels, sporting events, transport, or just people, particularly relating to Blaengarw for this exhibition, then please get in touch via the website, or ring 01656 856091.

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