forum.ferndale-wales.co.uk

Hi all,

Some of my memories include, walking up through Stanleytown from Pontygwaith, along a stone wall on the path, until we reached an open area below the big tip. Called Old Smokey it seems.

Walking onwards, past Llanwonno Church, turned left on the road to Ynysybwl, half way down this road, we found that by turnin left to a pathway, it led to a waterfall and a pool below that. Some of us kids took off our shoes and socks to wade in this pool. This would have been in the late 40s, or maybe early 50s.

brianblaenboy wrote:Yes John, the mountains were our playground, certainly burnt off the calories in those days. What about collecting winberries at the top of the mountain above Blaen ....
Brian

'Gee forgotten that name they were a kind of wild bilberry wern't they?

Gwaith wrote:Hi all,

Some of my memories include, walking up through Stanleytown from Pontygwaith, along a stone wall on the path, until we reached an open area below the big tip. Called Old Smokey it seems.

Hi Maureen

I also don't remember it called 'Old Smokey' but it gave out sulphur fumes for years and was clearly hot inside, because it always steamed after rain! In fact only the outer 'skin' remained black - the inside was found to be full of pink clinker, and may be the reason why it was not removed in the years after Aberfan. Do you remember the drams going up and down the mountainside day in day out? One went from Ferndale the other from Tylerstown (Stanleytown).

This brings me back to the tip that never was.

In my last post I mentioned the ruined winding house above Ferndale No 1 pit. You can actually see the track of this on Googlemap running from the end of George Street Blaenllechau straight up the steepest way possible to the flatter area before the conifers with the ruins a little further on.

The story relayed by my father was that the Pit lawyers didn't do their job properly, and the local farmer waited until the works were nearly complete before claiming compensation for the works being done without agreement. Ouch!

I remember regularly walking along Park Road to my home in Penrhys Road, after the "monkey walk" on Sunday evenings in Ferndale. I was invariably in a hurry not to get home after 9.30 pm and getting a whop off my mother, or being sent to bed without supper!! My, how things have changed.