Paddington and not the bear!

History Meeting January

On a cold January evening the attendance at the meeting was a little low, however those not present missed a very informative talk, by longstanding member of the Society and lifelong devotee of Isambard Kingdom Brunel, Mr Glyn Williams. Mr Williams has given many talks over the years about the achievements of Brunel and this time he took the terminus at Paddington as his topic.

The lecture began with on the layout of the station which began with a small entity in 1833 between Bristol, Temple Meads and London. The new railways could not proceed into central London and following abandonment of an attempt at Lambeth since the population was north of the Thames, the GWR looked at Vauxhall, before linking with the line from Birmingham at the rural location of Paddington. A further attempt at Euston came to nothing because of a clash of broad and standard gauge lines.

The building of the line began in 1835, at Bishop Walk in a small valley of the Bourne or Serpentine, which is now underground. The cost was monumental for the time at £6,500,000. The initial terminus was made of wood , but by 1850 the present station was built accommodating 10 railway tracks with 3 for arrivals and two for departures, this was serviced by 62 “Firefly” locomotives, and passengers went between platforms via a “transverse”. Although Brunel gets most of the credit for the design, the decorations so associated with the arches was the work of architect, Matthew Digby Wyatt.The Great Western Royal Hotel was built and is now part of the Hilton chain, this was renovated in the 1930, and the work of Phillip Charles Hardwick.

Three underground railways emanate from Paddington, the first built shortly after Brunel’s death in 1859, by Fowler and Benjamin Baker, as the first “cut and cover” railway in the world. Baker was a genius and designed the Metropolitan Railway in New York, and he also built the original Aswan dam on the Nile. He was also instrumental in designing a ship to carry “Cleopatra’s Needle”, as a gift to the UK from Egypt. The ship was called unsurprisingly Cleopatra! Remarkably, Baker had trained at the Neath Abbey Works! Later a second station was built at Parade Road , which was not originally called Paddington.

Mr Williams concluded his talk with a discussion on the architectural wonders of the station including reference to a certain Michael Bond character whose statue is in the station and his fondness for marmalade sandwiches is well known.

Mr David Woosnam, thanked Mr Williams for a very memorable and informative talk.

Trefor Jones.

 

January meeting

 The Society will begin 2025 with a talk by Glyn Wiliams. Blwyddyn Newydd Dda / Happy NewYear, to everyone. 

Christmas Meeting

                                                             Triawd y Tabernacl

A report on the December meeting of Resolfen History Society

The notion of a members’ night was struck upon some years ago when it was decided not to have a speaker, since the Christmas period inevitably,meant a smaller audience. This year, however, Storm Darragh’s aftermath kept the attendance lower than normal though did not dampen the enthusiasm or enjoyment of the evening.

 

Mr David Woosnam started proceedings with an interesting discussion of how the internet allowed a person to inspect his own ancestry. By use of an algorithm he found that he was distantly related to several well-known figures including Marion Morrison (John Wayne), Charles Dickens and even (presumably through her mother) Queen Elizabeth the second!

 

Mr Colin Evans read a section of the Alun Evans and John Mc Mahon’s history of Resolven, involving the Marie Celeste of Wales, SS Resolven, a brig found abandoned off the coast of Newfoundland with the fire still alight in the grate. He has followed the story since 2010, but the story seems to have now run its course, and no new leads as to the origins of its name and the links with Aberaeron are appearing.

 

Mr Trefor Jones, then gave a short talk on the derivation of some Christmas traditions including Christmas cards. The Welsh Christmas and new year were then discussed, along with plygain, the Mari Lwyd , Hela’r Dryw and Calennig. This was illustrated with digital items of Triawd y Tabernacl, singing a plygain song and a live rendition of “Blwyddyn newydd dda i chi”.

 

The meeting concluded with a festive quiz and some mulled wine.

 

Nadolig Llawen from the History Society.

December meeting

 

The fascinating History of the Apostolic Church in Resolven

Is this the opening or closing of the cabin at Tan y Rhiw? Any ideas.

 A Report on the November meeting of Resolven History Society

The speaker this month was Mr Marcus Thomas of Ammanford, though formerly of Bryn Terrace in Melincourt. He spoke on the fascinating history of the Apostolic Church in Resolven and a large audience came to hear his talk. In addition to his role as a pastor in the Elim Pentecotal Church he is also the chaplain to Ammanford Rugby Club!

He began his talk by stating that Resolven originally had at least nine chapels, 5 of which have now closed. Religion evidently played a significant role in the life of the village in that the Evan Roberts revival of 1904 had resulted in the cancellation of rugby fixtures for three seasons, and that the Salvation Army had a campaign there in 1910, establishing a cause in the vacated Seion chapel ( now the Community Centre) since the Calvanistic Methodists had moved in 1904 to a new chapel.

He then moved to explain that the Apostolic Church was a Welsh creation, and started in Ammanford and now has its world headquarters in Penygroes. However the movement had spread throughout the world since its foundation in 1916. It began its operations in Resolven in 1930, when it was based in a terraced house in Edwards terrace, Abergarwed from 1933. It later moved to Neath Road where Tommy “Moscow”, Evans had an organ included in the front room. The cause later moved to the “Ganu” at Melincwrt. In the post war years, Lambert Jenkins had hold of a cabin at Port Talbot and transported it to a site near the present day Scout Hut at Tan-y-Rhiw. Members at this time included Bryn Morgan, father of present pastor Jonathan Morgan. Several other well - known residents were mentioned at this point including Marcus’s parents .The services were not formalised  and were based on participation and included speaking in tongues , which the Apostolics believe is the actual voice of God.

The Forward Movement had a church in Resolven, which closed in 1960 near the park. This was then purchased by the Apostolic cause who renamed it Peniel, signifying tht this was a place to meet God., the Tan-y-Rhiw site was then vacated. The children were encouraged to collect halfpennies which figured a ship, in order to promote missionary work. Members of the church went all over the world and some members are still working overseas to this day. One member, met a young Fortunato de Santos in Brazil, and he as everyone knows is now the minister at Sardis, which ironically has also purchased the vacated Apostolic church as their community centre.

Mr David Woosnam, thanked Marcus Thomas for a fascinating talk, and one was left with the impression, how many younger people would be aware of the rich history of the cause in the village?

Trefor Jones

November Meeting

 

Deborah John "Blitzes" the audience.

 

A Report on the October meeting of Resolfen History Society

A large and enthusiastic audience attended this month’s meeting which featured the acting skills of Deborah John. The theme for the evening was the three night blitz which Swansea endured during February 1941. In a remarkable performance the actress brought alive the privations and dangers of the time, and indeed the gallows humour which accompanied such periods of crisis. Dressed in the uniform of and ARP warden of 1941, it was easy to believe that you were in the presence of the youngest ARP warden in the UK at the time, since the character had assumed the persona of a 17 year old when the minimum age was eighteen. The experience was even more impressive since the geographical locations within the blitz were familiar to the audience, and they were able to empathise fully.

Following the performance, the sources of the performance were explained and it was rather surprising that the details regarding the number of bombs dropped and the planes involved came from an examination of the German records regarding the raids since it would have been impossible to have counted them in the chaos that accompanied the raids.

Mr Barry Britzman, a former resident of Resolven had attended the meeting. He astounded both speaker and audience that he as a very young child had a very hazy memory of sheltering in a crypt in Swansea during one of the raids, this certainly brought the realisation that these events were still within living memory of some.

Mr David Woosnam thanked Deborah John for a most memorable evening.

Next month’s speaker will be Marcus Thomas who will speak on the history of the Apostolic Church in Resolven.

Trefor Jones.