To celebrate the 75th anniversary of Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr, we have a selection of photographs from the school’s early days which feature its first teachers and pupils, including its inimitable headteacher, Mr Idwal Rees; a selection of audio clips which feature past pupils discussing their memories of the school; and a film which combines the photographs, audio clips, and original artwork by current pupils of YGG Aberdâr.

The school opened its doors for the first time on 6th September 1949. The Merthyr Express and Aberdare Leader called it an ‘experiment’ as it was the first school in the Cynon Valley, and indeed Rhondda Cynon Taf, which would educate children through the medium of Welsh.

1944 Education Act – “Children shall be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents.”

It was the Education Act of 1944 which enabled this ‘experiment’ to take place, as it gave parents the right to choose the kind of education provided for their children. As a result of this clause and the tireless action of parents and local communities, Welsh medium schools began to open across Wales. Here is former pupil, and former teacher and headteacher of YGG Aberdâr, Valmai Higgins, talking about the campaign in the Cynon Valley.

TRANSCRIPT - After the Education Act of 1944, parents were able to choose what kind of education they wanted for their children, and what happened, I don't know who came together, but people in every area in the valley went around speaking to people with school age children to ask if a Welsh school opened would they go? So, I remember that, and I remember a woman called Mrs Davies coming, I remember hearing my mother speaking. You know, at the time, parents didn't speak in front of the children, did they? You don't know what's going on, but, Mrs Davies came round and my mother put my name down, and many of my friends at school, I was attending an English school at the time. But, it took time to make the arrangements to open the school. I don't know if it was a year or two years or something, before the school actually opened. By then a lot of parents had changed their minds, because the children were growing, because by now, I was one of the infants at the beginning, but I was in the junior school when I started, so many parents had changed their minds, and so, only 26 of us started, on the first day. But that's not quite right is it, there were 26 from the top of the valley, that doesn't include the children that came the week after that, from the town, Abercwmboi, Cwmaman, Aberaman, Cwmbach, you know, they were the first too, but not on the first day because the people of Hirwaun, Cwmdâr, Trecynon, Llwydcoed, Penywaun were there on the first day.

THE FIRST DAY

On the first morning at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr in Cwmdare, three teachers – the Headteacher, Mr Idwal Rees, with Miss Ray Griffiths and Mrs Ann Walters – welcomed 26 children from villages in the upper Cynon Valley, including Cwmdare, Trecynon and Llwydcoed; the school’s future headteacher, Mrs Valmai Higgins (née Morgan) was amongst them. In the second week, a further 10 pupils came from villages in the lower Cynon Valley, including Cwmaman, Aberaman and Abercwmboi. Today, the school has more than 400 pupils on roll and serves a catchment area which stretches from Hirwaun to Mountain Ash.

The first pupils of the school with Headteacher Mr Idwal Rees (furthest left), Miss Ray Griffiths (second from left), and Mrs Ann Walters (furthest right). The school’s future headteacher, Mrs Valmai Higgins (née Morgan), is standing in the second row, second from left.

However, the campaign to open the school was a difficult one, and received opposition from the local community as told by Valmai Higgins.

TRANSCRIPT - Another reason why many parents had changed their minds was because of opposition from Welsh people, often teachers, you know, people saying, what about English, they can't get an education only in Welsh. Well, we are bilingual schools, children learn English as well as Welsh, but the language of the school is Welsh. And Welsh traditions are taught, you know, as I said at the beginning, a lot of singing, folk dancing, and learning the history of Wales, because at the time, that didn't happen in schools. So, yes, I remember opposition, people saying to my mother, "you'll be sorry, she won't get on," you know, and my mother objecting to that.

Cliff Hewitt and Mair Lewis (née Howells) from Cwmdare, remember the protest which took place outside the school gates on the first morning. This clip was recorded outside those very gates 75 years on.

TRANSCRIPT - CLIFF HEWITT: The majority of the people here who opposed the School, they were Welsh speakers themselves. It wasn’t just non-Welsh-speaking people against Welsh-speaking people, some Welsh speakers were prominent in the protest against the School. And there were mothers here, arm in arm, trying to stop children from going in, and there was a bit of a 'Mexican stand-off' I think, nobody knew what was going to happen. I didn't see this myself, but there was one woman, her name was Mrs Davies, whose child was supposed to attend the school, she lost patience with the people who were just looking at each other, she held her child and just marched right through the line of women, and that was it, the 'physical' protest ended and everyone just walked in. But, I’d like to say one thing about that time, there was a lot of opposition against the school as I said, in the village, but all credit to the school staff, Mr Davies in the English school and Idwal Rees in the Welsh school, the hatred didn’t come across to us at the school, and the school staff of the two Schools worked very hard and very closely together to make both schools a success, so respect must be given to the English school staff who helped the staff in the Welsh school, especially in the first few weeks.

MAIR LEWIS: Yes, definitely. We must also remember that during the fight to get the school, the parents got to see the building and the councillors said, there’s the building, there’s furniture available in a warehouse somewhere, and you have to find the headmaster, and the first teacher. So the battle had been a big one, and then, on the first morning, to have that opposition from people who went to chapel with them, that was the worst thing, when they shared the chapel on the Sunday and then came down on the Monday, and saw the opposition, it was quite frightening to see that, it was terrible.

CLIFF HEWITT: I remember, I don't remember the details of the discussion but I remember my father standing outside the front door with half a dozen other men, from the chapel and not from the chapel, around him, it was quite obvious that they were talking about the Welsh school, and there was one sentence, the last sentence of the conversation is still in my mind now, as they went away, someone turns around to my father and says, 'you'll regret it'. And I'm proud to say he didn't regret it. And I'm very proud of our little family, who worked so hard to get the School, with so many other people who worked very hard to establish the School.

Once the protesters dispersed and the children entered the school, this is what Valmai Higgins remembers about the first day.

TRANSCRIPT - I remember a lot of people around the place, I don't know much about it, but I remember sitting in a classroom, Mr Rees meeting us, and then sitting in the classroom with other children I didn't know, I didn't know anyone. And then sitting next to this little girl who became my friend. And I remember Mrs Walters, the teacher, in the front, everyone at a desk, two at a desk, boys and girls, and Mrs Walters at a huge desk in the front.

CLASSES

Above: The first infants class with Mr Idwal Rees and Miss R. Griffiths

Gwyn Hughes Jones, who was one of the first pupils of the school and is pictured above (standing in the middle in a blazer), talks about the school's family environment and the parents who fought hard to establish it.

TRANSCRIPT - Because of the atmosphere, it says somewhere, everyone uses the term 'family', well, certainly, Ysgol Gymraeg Cwmdâr, or Aberdâr, was a whole family. And you experience that today as you remember the names of your brothers and sisters and so on, it is amazing and this must last. Those parents, those committee members, who fought so, so hard, to establish this School, and who fought for years before that year in 1949. Yes, I turned five the day after the School opened on September 7th, and I just read that the children were from Cwmdâr and the upper part of the valley in the first week, that's why the numbers were like that, and then the children from the lower part of the valley, or, the other part of the valley where I lived in Aberaman, that's when we got to come to the School. But behind us all, there are many people, whose names we don't know, there are some whose names we know, if I could name my father, Reverend Glannant Jones, he was one of those who fought very, very hard, and he was the secretary of the Parents' Committee. But there are others that we don’t, I don't know their names, but they are the cloud of witnesses that make the School, that made this School possible, and please, it has to keep going, it has to be as proud as we were and we are of our Welshness. Onward Ysgol Gymraeg Aberdâr.

Above: The School's fifth anniversary - Nursery and Infants

TEACHERS

Above - SITTING: Mrs A. Walters, Mr Idwal Rees, Miss S. Lewis. STANDING: Miss M. Davies - 1953

David Leslie Davies and Hywel Davies look back at the influence of the school's first headteacher, Idwal Rees.

TRANSCRIPT - DAVID LESLIE DAVIES: The appointment of Idwal Rees in 1949 was an absolutely key appointment. Because, it wasn’t just that he had the nature and the personal aura to create a natural, caring atmosphere for children, but he was a man who commanded respect, not only within but also beyond the Welsh circle, because he had spent a lifetime as a Welsh and music teacher in Ynyslwyd, before being the headmaster of the Welsh school, and he’d been active with the Aberdare branch, the Cwm Cynon branch, the League of Nations Union for example, trying to promote peace between people between the two wars. And then after the war, 1945 until 1949, he was among the first people to try to organise holidays for children from abroad, especially from Denmark and the Netherlands to come over to Aberdare, to Wales, to show how to rebuild peaceful international relations, people from here going over to Denmark and France to do the same thing there. That is, he had a broad-mindedness that everyone appreciated. He was enthusiastic about the Welsh language, but he was also very broad-minded and open to the world, you know, if you read the history of his appointment, at the time of his appointment he quotes a little verse, he says, "Dante – in his footsteps, Shakespeare – keep in mind, but remember Pantycelyn too, don’t forget."

HYWEL DAVIES: Establishing a Welsh school was a heroic act I believe, in that era, and a lot of the success depended on the leadership of Mr Rees. If it wasn't for him I don't believe the school would have been established in the first place. Vision, and determination. Mr Rees’ original policy was that one of the parents must be able to speak Welsh. That was the official policy at the start, if one of the parents spoke Welsh, you could attend. It was a sacrifice even then, for example in my family my father couldn't speak Welsh at all, so he couldn't help with homework or anything, so it was a sacrifice for non-Welsh speaking parents.

Above - SITTING: Mrs Eirlys Hatton, Mr Idwal Rees, Mrs S. Edwards. STANDING: Miss M. Palmer, Mr Gordon Evans, Miss M. Davies - 1950au

Above - SITTING: Miss M. Davies, Mr Idwal Rees, Mrs S. Edwards. STANDING: Mrs Thomas, Miss M. Palmer, Mr Gordon Evans, Mrs Eirlys Hatton, Miss M. Jones - 1962

The teachers with the poet, Elfed, who wrote the school song, 'Yn y Cwm'

Listen to former pupil and renowned singer, Susan Dennis-Gabriel, sing the school song.

TRANSCRIPT: The words were written by the poet Elfed, Mr Rees knew him, I’m sure, so, every morning we'd sing 'Yn y Cwm ac ar y Mynydd' (In the Valley and on the Mountain). "In the valley and on the mountain / The light of heaven cheers our land, / Loving the truth is our daily task / Living kindly, our enjoyment. / A fair, non-discriminating Wales, / We keep Wales the land of song." So I sang that every morning for four years.

IN THE CLASSROOM

Above: Learning to knit in school - 1950s

Here are Menna Cravos, Hywel Davies, Anne Hughes and Ewan Thomas talking about the knitting lessons.

TRANSCRIPT - Well, what I remember is sitting next to Cliff Hewitt, and we mixed the wool, pink wool for me, brown wool for him, it all got knotted and we spent weeks trying to untie these knots, no one noticed that we hadn't done anything [Lucky you didn't get the cane!]. But he was very progressive, teaching the boys to knit. [Yes, definitely].

Above: The children delivering the Urdd's Message of Peace - Circa 1958

Mair Lewis (née Howells), who is sitting on the left, shares her memories of the picture.

TRANSCRIPT: From memory, at the time, I think they still do this, the Urdd sent a message of peace to every child who was able to receive it across the world. And from memory, the eleven of us were chosen to announce the message after this picture was taken, with us all looking at the world itself. I don’t remember exactly, but it’s lovely to see this picture and to remember those in the picture. And it was a memory, we did things, it was important, not for the school but generally, it was important to Idwal Rees that we expanded our experiences as much as we could. And this shows that, this is what this was. We were post-war children, and I think it was important, especially to Idwal Rees, to remember that peace was important, and nothing else.

THE SCHOOL CHOIR

Above: The choir won the Parti Unsain (under 12 and a half years old) competition at the Aberdare National Eisteddfod in 1956

Above: The victorious choir on stage at the Aberdare National Eisteddfod in 1956

Susan Dennis-Gabriel talks about her memories of the festival and how the experience of singing on stage as a child inspired her to become a professional singer.

TRANSCRIPT: Well, I remember the Eisteddfod on the field in the park, and I remember a year before that was the 'proclamation', and we had to march up from the town to the park, on what I believe was the hottest day of the whole century, because we were all dressed in Welsh costume and a big hat and flannel, I was sweating like you wouldn’t believe. And then a year after that was the Eisteddfod, which took up a lot of time at school of course, because I sang in the choir which competed in the Eisteddfod, I sang as a soloist in the Eisteddfod, and then I sang in the children's concert and there was a lot to learn for that. So, the months before the Eisteddfod were very busy for us in the school, and extremely busy for Mr Rees as he was taking care of it all. The choir won the first prize, and I remember what we sang, because it was the first song I learned by Schubert, and years later I was famous for singing Schubert. We sang Schubert’s 'An die Musik', and we won the first prize, so we went crazy, you know, we danced all over the place and shouted that we won. My career started at the Welsh school because, you know, where can you go at the age of eight and sing in front of an audience but at the Eisteddfod? And that’s what I did, and I got a taste for it, I liked it, standing and singing for people, so, it became my job. But it started there of course, if I’d gone to another school, there wouldn’t have been the singing and music which was so important to Mr Rees, you know, so I’ll always be grateful to him for starting me off.

FUN AND GAMES

Above: Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr Football Team - 1957/58

Listen to Wyn Rees' memories of the football team.

TRANSCRIPT - This is the football team, it says 1957-8, first eleven, we didn’t have a second eleven, and I suspect that this was the first football team of the Welsh school. Again, at the back is Idwal Rees the headmaster, and on the other side, Gordon Evans who was our coach and chose the team. And in the back row, Roger Ellis Humphreys, as I mentioned, Gwynfor Davies, Wynford Williams, David Pollard from Cwmbach, John Davies, Anthony James, Ian James from Cwmdare. Middle row, me [Wyn Rees], Gared Richards Abercwmboi, Anthony Taylor, Philip Dennis from Cwmbach, and Martin Evans from Trecynon. And in the front, Martin Wigley from Abernant and Howard Davies from Cwmaman. I only remember us playing against Abernant, Abercwmboi and the English school [Cwmdare], and we didn’t win one game. I remember scoring a goal against Abercwmboi, and scoring a goal against Abernant, and that's probably why I remember those games because if you score a goal you remember the games. But in any case, we hadn't had a very prosperous year or season, and we lost, as I said, every game. But anyway, it was fun, and I remember for this picture, we were wearing our football kit over our school uniform, that's why you can see the bottom of people's trousers under the shorts.

Above: Playing cricket on the school yard - 1950

Above: Playing rounders on the school yard - Circa 1958

Above: School trip to Porthcawl - 1950s

Above: Service of Peace, Siloa Chapel - 1954

Teacher, Miss Ray Griffiths, with pupils on her wedding day

Above: Christmas Party - 1950s

Thank you to Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr for sharing their archive with us.

Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr History Project

In October 2024, a project began to capture the memories of past pupils who attended Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr, with the aim of preserving the school’s history and heritage. We focused on recording the earliest memories of the school from the pupils who were there at the very beginning in 1949 and the 1950s.

Group recording sessions were held at Aberdare Library, as well as individual interviews in person and online, where stories and recollections were shared of those early school days. Clips from these recordings feature in this online exhibition. The past pupils also visited the school’s original site, which is now Cwmdâr County Primary School, to see how the building had changed, or in some respects, remained the same, and to talk about their memories of the school together, and with the current Year 6 pupils of Cwmdâr.

Then, workshops were held at Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdâr, where current pupils interpreted the audio recordings through colourful, original drawings, and shared their own memories of the school including the games they play, school trips and the friends they’ve made.

All of these elements feature in a special community film which celebrates 75 years of YGG Aberdâr. In the film, the vivid memories of the past pupils are interlaid with photographs from the school’s archive and the drawings by current pupils. The film and the project photographs are displayed below.

Above: Sharing memories in Aberdare Library

From left to right: David Leslie Davies, Wyn Rees, Mair Lewis, Gwyn Hughes Jones and Cliff Hewitt.

From left to right: Hywel Davies, Menna Cravos, Ewan Thomas and Anne Hughes. Project volunteers, Sam Vaughan and Julie Gibbs, are recording the discussion.

The visit to Cwmdâr County Primary School - 2 December 2024

The past pupils in Cwmdâr County Primary School

Back row from left: John Davies, Gwyn Morgan, Wyn Rees, Gwynfor Davies, Ewan Thomas, Wynford Williams, Gwyn Hughes Jones and Cliff Hewitt.

Front row from left: Pauline Jones (Chair of Governors), Paul Morgan (Acting Headteacher), Menna Cravos, Janet Bevan (née Davies), Mair Lewis (née Howells) and Anne Hughes (née Roderick).

The past pupils answering the questions of Cwmdâr County Primary School's Year 6 pupils

Pupils of YGG Aberdâr learning filmmaking skills with Hugh Griffiths from Lilypad Films

Above and below: Pupils of YGG Aberdâr recording their memories of the school

'Yn y Cwm' - 75 Years of YGG Aberdâr