Hi, ho, it’s Westward we go to Ystradgynlais.
And whilst there we couldn’t resist snapping a few of the local landmarks, including :
Remember those Summer Outings when the whole village went by train or bus to Barry Island, Porthcawl, or Aberavon for the day ?
Perhaps you are too young to remember those bygone days when whole villages from the Valleys disappeared for the day.
Nowadays we are addicted to the package-holiday where we individually pick and choose our little stretch in the sun oblivious to what our neighbours will be doing.
Turn the clocks back thirty or so years to 1977 and it was a whole different universe… Here are two excerpts from the Aberdare Leader newspaper
Colliery Outing - front page of Aberdare Leader - 10th March 1977 - Sunday, July 3, is this year’s date for Penrikyber Colliery’s annual outing. It will be to Porthcawl this year.
About 1.800 people are expected to go on the trip, and, already, 35 buses have been provisionally booked.
Mr Des Lewis, secretary of the outing fund committee, said that 38 buses went last year.
He said he hoped the by naming the date well in advance they would avoid clashes with trips being run by other organisations locally.
And there was more …
Probably the Largest Day Trip in Wales - Aberdare Leader, page 2, 4th August 1977 - The Annual exodus of Penywaun Club Members and their families needed a convey of 42 buses playing follow-my-leader to Aberavon!
Other groups in the community organised summer outings too : Aberdare Chamber of Trade organised a special mystery summer outing during the same year 1977, and local Churches and Chapels organised their own outings.
The Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth was demolished swiftly today.
It’s hard to believe it’s now all gone.
It seems like yesterday we were in Mill Street yakking with locals about this Chapel.
Hat tip to Dan for sharing video imagery from today’s historic scene in Aberystwyth.
Another historic Welsh Chapel bites the dust…
Last Friday, July 4th 2008 a fire at the Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth caused extensive damage to all four floors. The future of the Chapel is now uncertain.
The Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth, was built in 1879, and closed in 2002.
According to the Daily Post newspaper : ”
Four crews were called to the Tabernacle Chapel on Mill Street, Aberystwyth on Friday at 11.39pm.
Mid and West Wales fire and rescue service say the cause is unknown and is being investigated.
A spokesman said eight people were evacuated as a precaution.
Mill Street, Powell Street and Bridge Street were temporarily closed.
All four storeys were damaged in the Victorian chapel which had been disused for more than five years.”
Click here for full set of photos of Tabernacle Chapel.
This wooden character caught our eye… always a good start.
It is a wooden sculpture of St Dogmael in St Dogmaels about a mile west of Cardigan.
The sculpture is by John Clarke and dates from 2002, commissioned to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II.
It is located near the lower end of St Dogmaels’s Abbey.
Watch your step. There is a duck pond adjacent to the sculpture!
St Dogmaels village has lots to offer the photographer/tourist. According to Dyfed Archaeological Trust it is “a very distinctive historic landscape character“.
Enjoy the Photos in the Gallery here.
