80 years ago today…..
Tag: Castle Cinema
Remembering Merthyr’s Cinemas
Do you have memories of going to the cinema when you were younger?
Merthyr and the surrounding area had almost a dozen cinemas in years gone by, and Dr Steven Gerrard of the Northern Film School at Leeds Beckett University (and a Pentrebach boy) is working on a project to collect people’s memories of them.
To achieve this, Steve will be holding a drop in session at Canolfan Soar between 10.00 and 12.00 on Monday 20 November for people to come along and share their memories.
If you would like to take part, please come along and have a chat about your memories – you will be guaranteed a very warm welcome.
To recap – Canolfan Soar – 20 November – 10.00 to 12.00. Please come along and share your memories.
Blind Welfare Week
From the Merthyr Express 90 years ago today….
Merthyr’s Lost Landmarks: Merthyr’s Lost Cinemas
Following on from the last post we’ll have look at some of the eleven (yes it’s hard to believe) cinemas that were in the borough in the mid 1900s, but have since been demolished.
Merthyr Electric Theatre
Opened in 1910, it was Merthyr’s first ‘purpose-built’ cinema.
Palace Theatre
Merthyr’s second cinema, opened in 1912.
The Castle Cinema
Opened in 1929, it was built specifically to show the new ‘talkies’, and was Merthyr’s grandest cinema.
The Cosy Cinema, Penydarren
Opened in 1914
The Victoria Cinema, Dowlais
Opened in 1910, it was Dowlais’ first, and only ‘purpose-built’ cinema.
The Oddfellow’s Hall
Built in 1876 as a meeting hall, it housed a cinema for many years.
The Picture Palace, Troedyrhiw
Opened in the 1920s
The Electric Cinema, Aberfan
The Palace Theatre, Treharris
Opened in 1891 as the Treharris Public Hall, it later became the Palace Theatre.
Do you remember visiting any of these cinemas? If you do, please share your memories.
Entertainment in Merthyr
Youngsters today might be surprised that there was a time, not a million years ago, when Merthyr was a hub of all kinds of entertainment: several cinemas showing a variety of films, plays being performed by both professional and amateur companies at several venues – not to mention live music at several ‘night spots’.
Below is just an example of what was regularly on in Merthyr – all of these adverts appeared in a single issue of the Merthyr Express 70 years ago today, 21 February 1953…
The above is just a small example of what was going on in Merthyr – there was something new happening every week somewhere up and down the borough. How times have changed.
Do you have any memories of going to any of these places? If so, please share any memories with us.
Captain Nelson Morris Price C.B.E., J.P.
by J Ann Lewis
A Merthyr Express headline 60 years ago today, on 18 August 1962 read “Captain Nelson M. Price: the Man Who Stopped a King is Dead”.
The headline referred to an event in 1936 during the visit of King Edward VIII. Captain Price had organised an unofficial parade of his former colleagues in the old Fifth Welsh Battalion in front of the Castle Cinema. As the procession passed, the Royal car stopped, and Captain Price told the King “These men want you to see them, in the hope that you may be able to bring new industries to the Borough so that they may find work”. The King got out of the car, to the astonishment of his ministers, and spoke to the 52 men on parade. The King again departed from the official programme and paid a visit to Dowlais, and it was there that he made the famous remark, “Something must be done”.
Nelson Price was born on 22 May 1892 near Bethesda, North Wales, and when he was quite young, his family moved to Dowlais, settling in Broad Street. Within a few years however, his father died, leaving a widow and eight children.
Nelson volunteered for service on 4 August 1914, the very day that the First World War was declared. He served in Gallipoli, Egypt and Cyprus before being discharged as no longer being fit for service, and he returned to working in the collieries, where he had been studying to become a mining engineer prior to the outbreak of the war.
Following the armistice, he decided to become involved with welfare work relating to the war disabled, war widows and orphans. He was a founder member of the Royal British Legion, becoming the first Chairman in the Wales Area. He also worked tirelessly for the War Pensions Advisory Committee, and was appointed Chairman of the North East Glamorgan War Pensions Committee, being acknowledged as an authority on War Pensions Regulations. He was a champion for the War disabled for over 42 years, and his work was recognised when he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1939, Officer of the Order in 1946 and Commander of the British Empire in 1960.
It was during his time as Chairman of the British Legion in Wales, that he was instrumental in negotiating the gift of Buckland House in Bwlch (the former home of Henry Seymour Berry, Lord Buckland) to the British Legion as a home for ex-servicemen.
During his lifetime, Nelson Price was also appointed Chairman of the Merthyr Magistrates, Chairman of the Lord Buckland Trust, Lifetime President and Honorary Secretary and Treasurer of the Merthyr and District Angling Association. He was also a lifetime member of the Cardiff Athletic and Rugby Club.
At the time of his death in 1962, he was living in Caeracca Villas in Pant, in a house named ‘Cilfoden’ – the village of his birth. His wife Jane Ann survived him by two years.
A Great Night Out
Below is an example of some the varied entertainment that was available in Merthyr in years gone by. All of these adverts appeared in the Merthyr Express 70 years ago today.
How time have changed.
Anthony Eden at the Castle Cinema
80 years ago today……
Presentation to Clement Attlee
80 years ago today…..
I remember that…..
by Margaret Dooley née McLenahan
I lived in Pant and one of my earliest memories is the smell of baking bread from Jenkins’ bakehouse. I was often dispatched to get a loaf, which would still be warm. By the time I got home I would have eaten half the crust. Delicious, never tasted bread like it since.
I remember walking to school in the snow (to Cyfarthfa) as the buses wouldn’t be running. If Mr. Lee, a teacher who lived in Caeracca, could get there, then we were expected to as well.
The Castle Cinema on Saturday night. The last bus to Pant went at 10.30 so if it was a long film you had to choose between seeing the end or a long walk home.
On the same note, ABC minors and getting a bag of chips in newspaper on the way home.
Going shopping in Dowlais with my grandmother (when I was about 8 or 9) and it seeming to take hours as she knew everybody and stopped to talk. I was expected to stand still and not interrupt. Did hear some juicy bits of gossip though!
Happy days!!!
If you would like to submit an article for the ‘I Remember That’ series, please get in touch at merthyr.history@gmail.com