Passages of Life in Ferndale & District

[mochyn]

There have been a few mentions in the forum of Alun Clement's excellent Passages of Life in Ferndale & District. I've recently been in touch with Alun to order my own copies and I thought I'd pass on the details for anyone else who wants to obtain copies.

You can contact Alun directly:

Alun Arwel Clement
30 Brynhyfryd Terrace
FERNDALE
CF43 4LD

Mobile: 07919-345821
Landline: 01443-755023

alun.clem@sky.com
blaenllechau@live.co.uk

Here are a couple of online mentions of his work too:

http://www.knowhere.co.uk/Ferndale/Rhon ... info/stuff

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south ... -22897262/

Alan

[mochyn]

Anyone fancy writing a formal review of Alun's excellent books? I'd like to add it to the associated ferndale-wales.co.uk blog (at http://www.ferndale-wales.co.uk/) and then link to it from this thread. Hopefully plently of people will get to find it then.

Alan

[daveporthcawl]

PASSAGES of LIFE in FERNDALE & DISTRICT by Alun Clement

A Review by Daveporthcawl

Have read both Volumes 1 and 2 of this excellent publication, I must congratulate Alun for his insight into the fascinating history of the Upper Rhondda Fach. The narrative accounts, statistics, pictures of people and places, are all compiled and illustrated in what must be a unique and definitive account of a very special locality.
It is obvious that Alun has put an immense amount of painstaking effort into this task, and readers will appreciate that the depth and variety of detail is motivated by pride rather than commercial gain. The harrowing accounts of the mining disasters are balanced by stories of how brave communities fought back to make the most of very hard times.
In two of those pages I found my own name and that of my sister amongst scores of names and pictures of people I remember from the 1930s, 40s and 50s. I would highly recommend that you ring Alun to order copies...................you will not be disappointed.

[darran]

All of us on this forum have knowledge about Ferndale which is of help to others reminiscing and researching their ancestry. I know some people are coy about their age but it would be nice sometimes to know who lived where and when, so how about it?
I lived in Darran Terrace from 1946 until 1968. My parents grew up on Dyffryn St and the bottom of North Rd near the Strand.

Sheila

[mochyn]

... who lived where and when, so how about it? ...

I've never lived in Ferndale I'm afraid, though I visit when I can. But my parents were both born there in 1919. My father's family lived in Darran Terrace and Highfield, and my mother's family lived in Union Street, Highfield and Bryngoleu. My father's family left in the late 1930s to look for work in the Midlands but my mother's family remained. They married in 1945 in Trerhondda and my sister was born in Bryngoleu.

Further back, the various branches of the family settled in Ferndale and Blaen at various times from 1867 (g-g-grandfather died in Ferndale No 1) to the 1880s, mostly moving from West Wales as far as I can tell.

Alan

[mochyn]

PASSAGES of LIFE in FERNDALE & DISTRICT by Alun Clement

A Review by Daveporthcawl

Thanks for the review, I'll see if I can get that on www.ferndale-wales.co.uk on a day or two. More contributions welcomed.

Alan

[brianblaenboy]

We all have a journey through life, and for those of us on here, it all started in Ferndale or in my case, Blaenllechau. In our younger years, all manner of other events take over our lives and our ancestry and history tends to be put to one side - sadly I'm the expert on that. In many respects, I have had and am supported by my family in this, quite an active and good run for my money, even with the normal ups and downs that we all go through. However my passage through life to date includes some very memorable events but relating them all, one would get the impression that I'm quite well-off.............I wish! So here are some of the most memorable:-
1963 - Joined the Army and went to Berlin; 1964 - Was present at the Premier of the film "Zulu" in Cardiff in No 2 dress selling programmes when Stanley Baker, Richard Burton, Michael Caine, Ivor Emmanuel and several other of the actors walked past us and of course, the Ferndale Imperial Choir were there as well; 1965 - Went on an army exercise to Jamaica for 2 weeks; 1967 - after being in Aden for nearly 2 years went to Canada for a holiday, going to Expo 67 and catching the train from Montreal to Vancouver - 3 days and the journey of a lifetime; 1971 - met Prince Charles after our 4 month tour in Northern Ireland; around mid-70's went to Royal Albert Hall for 1000 Welsh Male Voice Choir concert when the Imps were there (saw more people from Ferndale that night than when I came down to my parents); finally this year, there was a major event at Chester Racecourse for the "Homecoming of 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh" and I was fortunate to be able to represent my branch at the lunch in the presence of Her Majesty The Queen. All I can say, is Thank you to whoever has been looking after me because I know I have had the most amazing luck in my life, but I still call Ferndale/Blaenllechau "HOME" after all these years and will continue to do so. My apologies if the above is seen as exaggerating but it really is my passage through life starting from "HOME".

[Gwaith]

Hi all,

I have both copies of Alun Clements books. They are extremely interesting, and can find several names of interest to me. Either from my own family, or from in-laws.

I grew up in Pontygwaith, but my links with Ferndale and Blainllechau are historical in the broader sense, and in the personal sense, a small group of us girls would walk up to Ferndale on a Sunday eveing for the Monkey Parade. If we went to Porth, then it was called the Chicken Parade.

In this way of course, we met up with other young people from Ferndale. Perhaps from Blaen too. Some names have stuck with me, others not so well known, I cannot remember.

In 1961, I spent my hen night at the Royal Hotel, with my group of friends. Now I do hope I have remembered that all right. I do remember that one of my teachers showed his face that night. Not for my hen night, it was just by chance on his own evening out. He was from Ferndale anyway.

Come to think of it, several of my teachers were from Ferndale. Teaching at Hendrefadog. Best school ever. Personal opinion, of course.

The building no longer stands.