Cwm at War The First World War did not impact much on Cwm School. They delayed playtime in 1914 so the children could watch soldiers go past on the train. At Christmas 1915 they held a concert and a collection in aid of wounded soldiers and on 17 July 1919 the school was closed for…
Author: gbadmin
Into the Seventies and Eighties
Into the Seventies and Eighties In the final surviving log book from Cwm School we arrive at the Seventies and we can continue to examine issues big and small. In 1974 the school moved into refurbished buildings, but with a sense of disappointment, especially with the standard of the work. The toilets didn’t flush properly …
The Punishment Book
The Punishment Book I am so glad we don’t have such a thing today. The book speaks of a more brutal time – “A Record of Cases of Corporal Punishment” – as it tells us on the inside cover. The one I have found in Cwm School dates from 1959 and what strikes you first…
Ann of Bridgewater
Did you ever hear the story of the Ann of Bridgwater? No I hadn’t heard of it either but if you go looking you can find the oddest things. As I did, rather like the Rhosili rocket crew… Ann of Bridgwater was a ship that was found drifting off Rhosili at the very end of…
Wedding Gifts
Weddings are full of difficulties. I should know I have been the father of the bride twice. It is a minefield for everyone. Take the issue of presents for example. Today the wedding list might seem mercenary but it takes away some of the nightmares associated with the unwanted duplication of presents – or should …
Madame de Winton’s Turkish Bloom of Health
I love Victorian advertisements. They are so different from what we read today. They have more words, more elegance, and more style. They are less strident than our own – and more entertaining as a result. Here are two fantastic examples from The Cambrian newspaper from 1865. When I read that Madame de Winton’s Turkish…
Sin Eaters
The term “Sin Eater” does sound like the title of a dodgy horror film. In fact perhaps it is. I wouldn’t know. But I came across it in a news item on the BBC last month (September 2010) It is a fascinating idea and perhaps you will not be surprised to learn that this ancient…
Contact concerning Sarah Jacob
I have had another one of those occasions when additional information about one of the stories I have covered appears suddenly, as if from nowhere. This time it is additional background information about Sarah Jacob, the tragic story which features in Volume One about the little girl who starved to death surrounded by nurses who…
Victorian Cemeteries
The word cemetery comes from Greek, meaning “sleeping place.” But the history they contain should not be allowed to rest. It should be repected and restored, just like the cemeteries themselves. The public cemetery was a Victorian invention. Previously under common law, every parishioner and inhabitant of a parish had a right to be buried…
Hywel Sele and the Demon Oak
My grave this time is, oddly enough, a wooden drinking vessel which you can find in the National Museum in Cardiff, one of many such objects apparently, made from a great oak tree which blew down in a storm in 1813. The tree was called Derwen Ceubren yr Ellyll – the Hollow Tree of the …