Pontyclun Christmas
Festival
Saturday 23 November
Put this date in your diaries. From 2 pm till 8 pm the only
place for you and your family will be Pontyclun
Athletic Club.
This will be the best Christmas Festival any town in Wales
has ever enjoyed.
The volunteers of our wonderful Macmillan Fundraising Group
will be organising a Christmas Market inside the Athletic Club from 2 pm to 6
pm. Every craft trader who has goods of quality and affordability will be
there. Any Christmas shopping anguish will
be replaced by a friendly smile and a festive hug. Forget the soul-less,
friend-less internet, come to the Athletic Club. Our High Street shops will
also be open during the Festival.
Father Christmas will want to meet every child.
Outside the Club the Community Council will be providing a
marquee and stage. All our Primary School choirs will ensure that our talented
children bring the festive season to life. Pat and Ned of Llantrisant Folk Club
will entertain and provide a twmpath. There will be choirs, folk and rock bands
galore. This is a music festival to end all.
There will be food stalls for every taste and fairground rides
along with our many community groups.
Pontyclun’s famous Christmas lights and tree, the best of
any small town in Wales, provided by the Community Council, will be turned on
with a launch by the cast of Pontyclun Pantomime at Giles Gallery.
Trains for Christmas
Most days I catch the commuter train to and from Cardiff. It
is a truly awful experience. I stand for each journey squashed embarrassingly
hard against my travelling companions. Some say it is a ‘cattle truck’ but that
is unfair on our farmers who comply with EU regulations that offer better care
for animals than there is for rail passengers. Thousands of potential rail
users give up the train and clog up the motorway instead.
A year ago a new company was formed to provide our train
service: Transport for Wales. It promised an initial upgrade of our trains by
the end of 2019. The dreadful ‘pacer trains’ – often described as nasty old buses
on tracks – will be replaced
A replacement fleet of trains has now been purchased for the
Pontyclun line. The new trains will increase the capacity per train by 40%. The
trains are now in Cardiff being adapted for the line and drivers are being
re-trained. Let us hope they are in operation by Christmas. When they arrive we
will applaud Transport for Wales and then continue our campaign for a minimum
of two stopping trains an hour.
Thanks for the
Flowers
Community Council staff, Darren and Ray, plant, water and
feed all our flower beds in the town centre, the station and Groes Faen. As in
every other year the flowers have been a cause of pride and joy – attracting
people to Pontyclun and its town centre. Darren and Ray also maintain our 20
miles of public rights of way, Pontyclun Park and Ivor Woods. It has been a
busy summer. This is part of the service you gain for your annual average payment
of £33 to the Community Council.
Walking Rugby
On 4 September
Pontyclun Rugby Club and Pontyclun Community Council hosted a very successful
walking rugby festival with visiting teams from the Rhondda, Ynysybwl, Newport
and Cardiff. The last time I was in a team with JPR Williams was probably on
the playing fields of Bridgend Grammar School in 1966. Our playing paths
diverged in the meantime.
The team are always looking for new players, new or ex-players; male or female. Just come along to a training session at Pontyclun park on Mondays at 6.30pm or Wednesdays at 10am
The team are always looking for new players, new or ex-players; male or female. Just come along to a training session at Pontyclun park on Mondays at 6.30pm or Wednesdays at 10am
Owain Glyndwr
I am writing on 16 September and I have been told that this
is Owain Glyndwr Day. Glyndwr led the Welsh revolt against the rule of the
English King, Henry 1V, between 1400 and 1415. By 1404 most of Wales, including
Pontyclun, and much of midlands of England were controlled by Glyndwr.
Owain was part of the Welsh gentry, owning lordships in
north Wales. Living in London he was favoured by the court of Richard 11 and
doing very nicely. The coup by Henry IV in 1399 threatened Owain’s wealth and
title and so he started the revolt. Initially he was remarkably successful,
building alliances with Scotland, Ireland and France; but his defeat and death came
in 1415.
Faced with unlawful and unrestrained rulers of England;
Owain Glyndwr worked to create political unions across what is now the United
Kingdom and Europe. Ring any bells!
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