Tag: Teddington’s Factory

Saturday Football in our Local Community

by Brian Jones

Allan “Salty” Jones has recently published the centenary story (1913 -2013) of football played by a myriad of local teams. His account draws on a vast number of photographs of boys and men who set out to enjoy Saturday football on pitches of variable quality from the north to the south of the Merthyr Borough. Their faces shine out of the black/white and coloured prints spanning a number of generations the vast majority of whom are sadly not still with us. Nevertheless their spirit epitomises their love for the game, and perhaps more importantly, their camaraderie bound together by work, community, church or public house.

The names of the clubs who played in the MERTHYR LEAGUE ring out through the ages. Merthyr Trams, Aberfan Thursdays, Bethania Chapel, Court Rangers, Gellifaelog Youth Club, Mountain Hare, Hoovers, Castle Rangers, Miners Hall, Great Escape and Vaynor Quarries. The list is endless. A review of the history of local football mirrored the social and industrial changes spanning the 100 years. Gone are the teams representing local employers such as Guest Keen, Lines, B.S.A , Teddington Controls, Kayser Bondor, Welsh Products to name but a few.

Of the hundreds of teams who joined then left the League was S.W.E.B. who played post World War II into the early 1950s. The South Wales Electricity Board team of young men who served in the Army, Navy or Royal Air Force and went to work in an industry which blossomed with the surge in demand for an alternative power source. The sprint was on to convert homes from coal gas to electricity. Mains cables had to be laid in streets, Electricity meters installed and wiring to be linked to light switches and power points. Who can recall the demand for one shilling coins for the electricity slot meters to ensure the lights stayed on during dark winter nights!

The S.W.E.B team of 1954/55 played their home games in Heolgerrig and perhaps there are readers who are the grandchildren and great- grandchildren of those in the photograph. Were they players of great skill, who knows, but we can be assured that on their Monday stint in their work base at the Traction Yard in Penydarren they would certainly be enthusing about the win, draw or loss of the previous Saturday game

P.S. The author is the eight year old in the photograph

Mildred Lewis – the Welsh Nightingale

by J Ann Lewis

Mildred Lewis, known as the ‘Welsh Nightingale’ due to her beautiful soprano voice, was born in 1911 in White Street, Dowlais. Her voice was trained to perfection under the tuition of the well-known musician W. J. Watkins, and his advice helped form her singing career.

Her father, a miner in Fochriw, sang with the Dowlais Male Voice Choir, and both her mother and brother, Gilbert, were gifted singers. Living in this environment, she was taught to read music as a child, but Mildred had little formal schooling due to contracting Tubercular Hip at the age of five. She walked with the aid of sticks for the rest of her life, but it never stopped her singing at the ‘Penny Readings’ or the Eisteddfodau.

Whilst competing at the City Hall, Cardiff, she was heard by Mae Jones, Head of Variety at the BBC, and was invited to sing for them, performing on a regular basis for many years, at one time singing with Kathleen Ferrier. She also won the National Eisteddfod in 1938.

Mildred married steel worker Gwynne Lewis in 1935. Many musical evenings were held at her home at Francis Terrace, Pant, when many friends joined her, and the late Glynne Jones, Musical Director of the Pendyrus Male Choir would often accompany their singing.

As a member of E.N.S.A. (Entertainments National Service Association), she travelled around Britain during the Second World War, helping boost the morale of the troops. After the war, she took a job at Teddington’s Factory, and following the death of her husband in 1958, she lived alone for two years until her niece, Dyfanwen, moved in with her following the early death of her parents.

Mildred spent her later years at Ty Bryn Sion, and, when well enough, continued to sing at local chapels. She passed away in August 1993.