April 1982. I walk into Aberdare Woolworth’s in Commercial Street Aberdare and pay £1.10 for the 7″ single of Tight Fit’s ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’. It has been number 1 in the UK pop charts for three weeks.
I am eleven years old and still at junior school at Ysgol Ynyslwyd. I seem to know what I like when it comes to buying a single on the occasional Saturday in Aberdare town.
Tight Fit were a short-lived UK pop act. They gained unexpected success in 1982 with this single. The group was fronted by singer and male model Steve Grant along with female singers Denise Gyngell and Julie Harris.
Never underestimate the record buying allure of women dancing in leopard print leotards… here is the video on Youtube.
Fel bachgen un ar ddeg mlwydd oed fe ennillais Crys T Bananaman am fy mhod wedi ysgrifennu llythyr doniol a brintiwyd yn un o comics poblogaidd y dydd.
Fel dyn yn fy nhridegau fe ennillais tocyn ar gyfer y dadl agoriadol yn Siambr newydd y Senedd.
Braint oedd cael gwisgo fy nghrys T Bananaman fel bachgen a braint oedd bod yn rhan o gynulleidfa wahoddedig yn Siambr y Senedd yn gwrando ar Aelodau y Cynulliad ar Ddydd Mawrth, y 7fed o Chwefror 2006.
Clod i Leanne Wood AC am ddefnyddio ei thocynnau er mwyn codi trafodaeth ar y cwestiwn, pwy ddylai agor ein Senedd ni ?
Cae Milgwn is a large enclosed sports field area with changing rooms situated about a mile from the old site of Ysgol Rhydfelen school. In a former life it was apparently some sort of racing ground for dogs hence the English name Hawthorn Dog Track.
It is situated on Fairfield Lane, Rhydyfelin village and opposite Hawthorn Leisure Centre. Ysgol Rhydfelen school summer sports days - the Mabolgampau - were often held at this site.
I have memories of jogging to this field for a two hour sports lesson. By the time we reached Cae Milgwn our time on the field playing rugby was severely curtailed.
I remember in particular a teacher called Mr Geraint Price (Geography) taking us for rugby at some point for these distant lessons.
There was a reason why sports lessons were being held in Cae Milgwn. Either there was a clash of demands for Ysgol Rhydfelen school’s on-site rugby field or we were playing at Cae Milgwn to give the school’s rugby field a rest and a chance to recover.
After walking or jogging to Cae Milgwn and back to Rhydfelen for our weekly sports lesson, I think we needed time to recover too.
Here’s a Google Map of the Cae Milgwn field. You can can navigate the map if you feel like re-creating that long walk back to the old Rhydfelen school site!
Blas cyntaf ar Rhydfelen… Cwrs Haf Rhydfelen ym mis Awst (os cofiaf yn gywir) 1982.
Un ar ddeg oeddwn i y pryd hwnnw. Dyma rhai o eiriau ‘anthem y Cwrs Haf’ :
Dyma’r gwersyll haf, yn ysgol Rhydfelen / Sbort a thywydd braf, yn ysgol Rhydfelen
Tarian ein hynafiaid oedd yr iaith Gymraeg, / Gobaith y dyfodol… dyma’r gwersyll haf.
Roeddwn i yn cysgu yn ystafell cerddoriaeth Eleri Owen ar ddiwedd y coridor ym mhloc Powys. Rwy’n cofio Roderick Morgan (bachgen o Benderyn a chyn ddisgybl Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Aberdar) yn cysgu wrth fy ymyl.
Cofiaf yr athro Mr Jeff Davies (Mathemateg) fel un o’r aelodau staff oedd yn cysgu yn yr un ystafell. Fe fenthycodd fy sach cysgu un noson ar gyfer yr Eisteddfod ac fe ddaeth yn ol yn wlyb. Mr Davies oedd fy athro mathemateg ym mis Medi fel ddisgybl yn nosbarth 1R.
Ar ddechrau’r wythnos fe cyflwynwyd aelodau dosbarth chwech oedd yn gwersylla gyda ni’r plant newydd. Yng nghornel y ffreutur bu John Owen yn cyflwyno aelodau’r chweched, un ar y tro. Am ryw rheswm, mae’r enw Richard Hughes wedi aros yn fy nghof. ‘Gog’, dyna’r gair. Mi oedd John Owen yn ceisio tynnu sylw at y ffaith roedd acen ogleddol gyda Richard.
Fe aeth trip i rywle yn ystod yr wythnos. Efallai Amgueddfa Sain Ffagan. Rwy’n cofio eistedd ar y bws ac yn siarad gyda Mrs Eirlys Pritchard Jones (gwraig i Mr Gwyn Pritchard Jones). Gofyn gormod o gwestiynau oedd Mrs Jones yn fy nhyb i. Aeth Mrs Jones i fod yn Brif Athrawes cyntaf Ysgol Gyfun y Cymmer ym 1988.
Mabolgampau neu rhywbeth debyg un dydd. Gemau yn y gym. Rwy’n cofio gwynebu Jason Fox ar fainc a chystadlu mewn gem lle oedd rhaid bwrw bachgen i’r llawr gyda gobennydd. Enillodd Jason Fox, boi enfawr. Ac hefyd fe gollais mewn ras dan ddwfr yn y pwll nofio… Paul Burdett ennillodd y ras.
Bwyd yn y ffreutur. Yn y llun (uchod) dwi’n aros i cael fy mwyd. Roedd y Trwynau Coch yn poblogaidd y pryd hwnnw, ac fe chwaraewyd traciau o’r album Rhedeg Rhag y Torpidos (Sain, 1980) yn dyddiol yn y ffreutur. Pwy all anghofio y ddefod o fwrw cyllell a ffyrc pan chwaraewyd Motorbeics o Siapan ?
Er fy mhod wedi mwynhau Cwrs Haf Rhydfelen 1982, deallaf fod sawl person arall wedi dioddef ymosodiadau a chreulondeb gan John Owen yn ystod yr wythnos.
As a school pupil in Rhydfelen I would be taught the most by Menna Tomos.
She would use songs to teach children to learn and I repeat some of those songs to myself to this day, over twenty years later. She was a poet who could paint these vivid landscapes with words I could only stutter to pronounce.
I started Rhydfelen school in September 1982 and Menna started her teaching career in Rhydfelen school that same year.
She was my registration group teacher and taught me Sylfaen (foundation subject) and so she was a central figure in my early school life.
I want to make an important aside here to say : Menna Tomos was a key influence in my schooling and a positive influence.
After being attacked by John Owen at Llangrannog in October 1984 my relationship with this teacher would become strained because my mind was disturbed. I distrusted people, especially teachers. Years after leaving Rhydfelen and putting the scattered pieces of my life back together I would undertake teacher training and teach many Welsh classes. Menna Tomos’ enthusiasm for the subject would remain with me despite the earlier traumatic experiences. There is always hope.
To continue…
John Owen was assigned as the Senior Teacher to help and assess Menna as a newly qualified school teacher starting at Rhydfelen in September 1982.
I remember many lessons where John Owen would come in and sit at the back of the classroom taking notes. As a trainee teacher twelve years later, I would experience the same scenario of teaching whilst being shadowed, assessed and coached.
At Rhydfelen 1 Owain was my registration group. Owain was one of the 6 llysoedd or houses and, of course, it was the best. We didn’t sing Owain yw y Gorau (Owain is the Best) for nothing.
1 R was my form group and we stayed together throughout most of the school week.
The accountant in me wants to put a specific figure on the time I spent as pupil to Menna Tomos.
I first need to calculate the number of weeks of schooling.
There are 52 weeks in a year.
Less 6 weeks for summer holidays
Less 2 weeks for Easter
Less 2 week for Christmas
Less 3 weeks for three half-terms
Less 2 weeks for Inset/training days etc.
Which leaves 37 weeks of contact time.
In Year 1 of Rhydfelen Menna Tomos was my Sylfaen teacher. Sylfaen meaning ‘foundation’ or core subject which was Welsh plus other themes and subjects. I estimate it was six hours per week.
From Year 2 (starting September 1983) of Rhydfelen Menna Tomos taught me Welsh until Year 5 (starting September 1986). We were taught 4 hours of Welsh per week.
So to calculate contact time with Menna Tomos, I believe I need to complete the following sum :
(37 x 6) + ((37 x 4) x 4) = contact time with Menna Tomos in Rhydfelen
Answer = 814 hours
Let me put this figure into some sort of context.
After Menna Tomos, 296 hours of contact time represents the most I would spent with the next teacher.
After being attacked by John Owen my school performance simply fell off the face of a cliff. I went from being a gifted student in many subjects to one that was consistently under-performing across the whole spectrum of school subjects. My mind was elsewhere.
Months after the event Menna Tomos asked me the most important question any teacher in Rhydfelen has asked me. She asked Beth sy’n Bod Darren ? (What is wrong Darren). She then asked Wyt ti eisiau symud i ddosbarth Mr Owen ? (Do you want to move to Mr Owen’s class?). I was standing near Jeff Davies (Mathematics) classroom. My next lesson was with Judith Evans (the adjacent classroom). It must have been after ‘Egwyl’ (lesson break).
There was no answer to Menna Tomos’ question.
How could I as a teenage child explain the experience of being attacked late at night, in the dark, away from home and the shame, the guilt, and the fear ? How could I even begin to explain the feelings associated with trauma ? It would take me another decade or so to begin to understand the nature of the harm caused to me by John Owen, and I have only been able to do that with tenacious love from family and friends, help and counselling.
Menna perceived my failure in her subject as something to do with her self and her own teaching, but nothing could be further from the truth. In Rhydfelen school I simply withdrew to protect myself because the only way I could make sense of what happened to me was to deny it happened to myself and everyone else.
In August 1999 I travelled from Pontypridd for the National Eisteddfod in Anglesey by hitching a lift with a local choir. I think it was Penri Williams who suggested the lift. It was very generous of him to help out. The Choir was Cor Godre’r Garth. I spent the bus journey at the back of the bus and chatted to an elderly gentleman for what seemed like hours. Only being able to sing in the bath, I found it thrilling to be on a bus with all these people who sang in public. It was as if they had an aura about them : they seemed to glow expressively, ready to burst into song at a moment’s notice.
The Eisteddfod was being held at a place called Llanbedrgoch that year. I recall the Cor Godre’r Garth bus dropping me off at Bangor and at the station meeting Menna Tomos. What could I say ? I said hello and exchanged some pleasantries but I didn’t really know what to say. I was probably doped up on anti-depressants at the time and all the painful experiences and feelings from Rhydfelen were still locked away inside. I felt numb and was still running away. I couldn’t just say thanks you were an inspiration as my teacher.
This was our last School Photo from Junior School. We were in Standard IV and the year was 1982.
The school was Ysgol Gynradd Gymraeg Ynyslwyd, Aberdare. A mouthful. Most people called it “Aberdare Welsh School” or “Ysgol Gymraeg Aberdar”.
In Rhydfelen, we were separated into various classes and school houses. The close contact of a single junior school class would become variegated in secondary school into classes, form group, sets, bands and other configurations.
When I went to Rhydfelen, I would maintain contact with Gwion Jones, Michelle Mathews, and Rhian Llewellyn who were in the same class 1R as myself. I think Owain Jones (of Abernant, brother to Anwen) was also part of this group, but he left Rhydfelen at some point. This contact would be maintained in core school subjects such as Welsh and English throughout school from 1982 until 1987 when we took ‘O’ levels.
In the larger photo are the following :
Back row from left to right : Scott Seaton, Gwion Jones, Lisa Williams, Michelle Mathews, Helen Davies, Owain Jones, Alun Thomas.
Mid Row from left to right : Roderick Morgan, Lee Eynon, Darren Rees, David Randall, Christopher Burrows, Stephen Higgins, Andrew Seaton, Richard Thomas.
Bottom row from left to right : Joanne Jameson, Julie Crocker, Ruth Thomas, Tracey Williams, Emma Gardiner, Rhian Llewellyn, Tanya Walstow, Diane Morgan.
I am trying to contact RYAN SMART, a former pupil of Ysgol Gyfun Rhydfelen school. He is now approximately 37 years old.
Cae Milgwn is a large enclosed sports field area with changing rooms situated about a mile from the old site of Ysgol Rhydfelen school. In a former life it was apparently some sort of racing ground for dogs hence the English name Hawthorn Dog Track.
