September 2025 Newsletter | Abertillery And Dist

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What’s On at The Met

AADMS presents:-

Celebration of Life concert

18th & 19th September 7-9 pm

Tickets from £10

For more information on these and more visit:

https://awenboxoffice.com/the-met/whats-on

or tel 01495 533195

Museum Opening Times

The Museum is open to the public, free of charge:

Thursday to Saturday 10am – 1pm

Contact us

Museum phone number 01495 211140

Email: abertillerymuseum@btconnect.com

Web: www.abertilleryanddistrictmuseum.org.uk

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abertillerymuseum

Contact Names

Mr G Murphy Curator

Mrs P. Bearcroft Deputy Curator

Mrs E. Ewers Chair

Mrs K. Pratley Treasurer

Mrs S. Murphy Newsletter

Vice Presidents (Annual Subscription £25)

Rev Roy Watson

Mrs Carol Brooks

Mrs Margaret Cook

Mrs Margaret Herbert

Ms Michele Dack

Mr Ross Leadbetter

August 100 Club

This month’s prize numbers were drawn by Chris Staples & Peter Rosser the lucky winners are:-

No. 21 Mary Lester £20

No. 5 Jen Price £10

If you would like to join our 100 club and be in with a chance of winning, it costs just £1 a month. Ask at the museum for further details.

Caerphilly Castle

After Windsor and Dover Castles, Caerphilly is the next largest in the UK.

It was built in the 13th century by the Earl of Gloucester, Gilbert de Clare, to maintain his control over Glamorgan. It was the first of its kind to be built with concentric walls with the outermost wall lower than the inner wall. Add to that the surrounding moat and the castle was very well protected from attack.

The castle has featured in several episodes of Dr Who including the 2010 episode ‘The Vampires in Venice’. In 2018, to add to the visitor experience, a maze made of fencing was opened at the castle. Named ‘Gilbert’s Maze’, it challenges adventurers to dodge obstacles, solve clues and uncover secret passageways in order to capture Caerphilly Castle without being caught by Gilbert de Clare!

The castle has recently re-opened after being closed for two years. During that two year closure it has had £8million pounds spent on it and now has new interactive displays as well as new ramps to improve accessibility, pathways and even a wildflower garden added plus a medieval passageway has been opened to the public.

For opening times and prices use the link below:

https://cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/caerphilly-castle#prices

Quick Quiz (answers on page 4)

Which two zodiac signs occur in September?
Queen Elizabeth I was born 17th September 1533, but who was her mother?
On September 13th 1902, Harry Jackson was the first person in Britain convicted on what evidence?
In September every year the Egremont Crab Fair holds what unusual competition?
What is the precious gemstone of September, a variety of mineral corundum?

Drayton Manor Resort

Ask anyone who knows me and they will you that I am a big lover of theme parks. So I thought our readers might like to learn the history behind some of our biggest and best theme parks, starting this month with Drayton Manor located in Tamworth, Staffordshire. It is currently the fourth largest theme park in the UK and this year it celebrates its 75th birthday…

Drayton Manor park is named after the mansion which once stood on its land. The manor was built in 1835 for Sir Robert Peel but by 1926 it was in ruins with only the clock tower surviving. During WWII the land was used for training by the British Army and then in 1950 it was bought by George and Vera Bryan who opened a small amusement park and Drayton Manor Park was born. In 1954 Mrs Molly Badham formed a partnership with the Bryan’s and opened a zoo at the park which is still there to this day and is home to over 100 animals.

While the park grew slowly over the next few decades, it would be the 1980s when the thrill rides would make an appearance. Alton Towers, the UK’s current largest theme park, is also in Staffordshire, and they had launched their biggest coaster yet in The Corkscrew in 1980 and the Bryan’s needed to compete with it. Probably Drayton’s biggest early ride was a rollercoaster named The Python which opened in 1984.

It would later be renamed Klondike Mine Train in 1995 only to be demolished and replaced in 2005 with another coaster called G-Force which was opened by non-other than the X-Factor four-man vocal group, G4. Drayton Manor has led the way in many respects, with several ‘firsts’ such as the opening of the UK’s longest indoor water ride, ‘Pirate’s Adventure’ which opened in 1990. Disneyland Paris was under construction at that time and this ride was built to compete with Disney’s ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’.

Drayton’s version continued to be popular until it closed in 2015. It is still at the park today with rumours that it may re-open! The park continued to grow with another first - Europe’s only (until 2015), stand-up rollercoaster which opened in 1994. Named Shockwave it reached speeds of up to 85mph and included four inversions, a loop and a double corkscrew.

The park continued to go from strength to strength with the opening of a world-first stand-up drop tower, Apocalypse, in 2000, followed by Thomas [the tank engine] Land in 2008, and a hotel in 2011 which turned the ‘park’ into a ‘resort’.

But disaster lay ahead. In 2017 an 11-year-old girl, on a school day trip, fell out of a raft on the River Rapids ride and, tragically, she drowned.

When things like this happen, it usually affects ticket sales for a number of seasons and the last thing a park needs is yet more problems but then disaster number two struck in February 2020 when the park suffered flood damage due to storm Dennis.

The final straw though was the Covid-19 lockdown which forced the owners to put the park into administration. But that wasn’t the end for Drayton Manor. The Looping Group, which already owned other parks in the UK and Europe, stepped in and bought the park. They also kept the Bryan family on as managers.

Fast-forward five years and 75 years since its inception, the park is doing well and although Apocalypse is now gone as is G-Force, Shockwave is still there though it is now called The Wave and is a sit-down lap-bar coaster. The River Rapids ride which closed following the accident in 2017 is open again with new, safety-improved rafts and their latest coaster Gold Rush, in the newly re-themed area, Frontier Falls, is another UK first; a switch-track coaster, offering riders two different rides depending which track is in use. Add to that the new Viking-themed area Jormungandr and visitors can look forward to a good day out.

One of my favourite attractions at Drayton is The Haunting. Built in 1995 it’s a creepy walk-through that culminates in a dark and disorientating ride but where it now stands was a ride called the ‘Snake Train’. I remember the first time hubby and I rode the ‘Snake Train’. It was a normal tractor like you see on any farm, with a few trailers behind. Hubby and I took our seats in the trailer nearest the driver expecting a gentle family land-train ride. The tractor moved off slowly and entered a sort of hedge maze. Once out of sight of the boarding area, the driver put his pedal to the floor and drove us at speed around tight bends!

It took us completely by surprise and we couldn’t stop laughing as we clung on for dear life! I will always remember the driver looking around at us and grinning from ear-to-ear as he knew it was not what we were expecting! What a ride! It probably wouldn’t be allowed today; health and safety and all that!

Sally Murphy

Isle of Man

Lots of people visit the Isle of Wight and it seems we all know someone who has been there, even if you haven’t yourself. I have been a few times and enjoyed every trip – but the Isle of Man has always been a bit of a mystery to me...and a place I wanted to visit. Luckily, a few weeks ago I got my wish and ticked another of my travel adventure boxes!

So, what did I know about the Isle of Man? Truthfully, very little apart from it being in between north west England and Ireland and it’s famous for motorbike races and its famous waterwheel, the ‘Laxey Wheel’!

The coach picked me up in Newport and we headed off to Heysham where we boarded a ferry to Douglas, the capital city of the Isle of Man. The ferry took just under 4 hours to cross the Irish sea, and it was a lovely journey on a nice calm sea. The Isle of Man is 33 miles long, and 13 miles wide with a population of around 85,000 and while the capital city is now Douglas it was, until 1869,

Castletown which was built on the site of an ancient volcano. Here, in the middle of the town is Castle Rushen a well preserved medieval castle originally built for a Viking king.

The Isle of Man is a crown possession (that is it belongs to Britain) but it has been self-governing under the British Home Office since 1828 and has its own unique flag called a Triskelion which is 3 joined legs in armour with gold spurs, on a red background. The Manx have their own language, but like many lesser known languages it is now much less known, and they have their own currency which is the same as ours but with their own markings on the reverse though UK currency is still widely used with no problem. There is a vast amount of history on the island with evidence going back as far as the Mesolithic and Neolithic period.

Peel (pictured here) is a very nice port and seaside town on the west side of the Island sometimes referred to as the rose red city due to its buildings of red sandstone where St. Patrick’s Island is now easily accessed by a road bridge to a lovely ruined castle with a very interesting audio guide to its history plus beautiful views from all angles out to sea and over the town of Peel. It was once a very busy port importing and exporting goods from places such as Amsterdam; it was also a busy fishing port. Peel is also thought to be the first place that Christianity was brought to the Island around 1226, although ruins have been found to date back to around 1000 AD.

Most of the coastline is quite rocky with low lying agriculture and a central mountain mass culminating at Sneafel reaching 2,036 feet above sea level. From Douglas an electric railway runs up to Sneafel via the town of Laxey, famous for the pretty and historic Laxey Wheel.

Originally built to pump water out of the local mines it has been beautifully restored and is now a visitor attraction still in working order housing the Lady Isabella pump. The railway started in 1895, taking just 7 months to build the 4 mile stretch of single track line originally used for the mines. It is now a lovely tourist attraction going to the summit where you can take in the wonderful views (on a clear day!) and enjoy a nice snack in the pretty cafe before your descent.

The Island once had a vast railway system but with the growth of traffic and roads, it now has just one 15 mile stretch from Douglas to Port Erin operated by a wonderful steam railway running since 1874. At Port Erin there is a pretty museum on the station well worth a visit with free entry and lots of local and Island information and two beautiful steam engines on display.

A trip to the southwest of the island brought us to the view point overlooking the Calf of Man, a Manx National Heritage Trust area that is a bird sanctuary, but on the rocks just below the viewpoint we saw lots of seals basking in the sunshine, and also out at sea a short way off were dolphins! At Peel we saw dolphins in the sea just off the harbour, and again on our ferry journey home they were jumping alongside us! Also another Island animal that is quite famous – the Manx cat! A tailless cat that we are told originates from the Isle of Man! Sadly, we didn’t see one of these on our travels!

During our four days we saw a lot of the Island but there was still a lot more I would have liked to have seen if time had allowed. The motorbike track is part of the road system and the safety barriers and viewing points are left all year round. When we were there a race called Southern 100 was taking place and on one of the straightest 6 mile stretches of road and the winner is the one who completes it the fastest! We were told the record so far is 2 minutes and 13 seconds!!

We stayed in Douglas with our hotel on the main road overlooking the promenade. It is a beautiful, long promenade and at one end is the electric Railway station and the other the ferry port, but in between is a lovely walk and at one place you will find a statue of the three Bee Gees! Apparently they were born on the Isle of Man and then moved to Manchester, and later over to Australia! Also sitting on a bench outside a hotel near the theatre is a statue of Norman Wisdom who retired there and spent many happy years on the Island.

I am very glad I got to visit the Isle of Man and one day I hope to return as there is a lot more to see and many pretty towns and ports to explore.

by Karen Pratley

Am I Hearing Things?

We recently had a holiday in France and the ‘gité’ we were renting was just around the corner from a church. The church has been altered over the centuries but it dates back to the 11th century. It has a bell which chimes out each hour and on the half hour and when we first heard it we wondered if it might keep us awake at night but it didn't; it was one of those bells whose ring was loud but not piercing.

However, we noticed that we seemed to be hearing each set of chimes twice. At first we thought we imagined it but no, there was an initial chime and three minutes later it was repeated. We wondered if maybe there was something wrong with the chiming mechanism?

Then we thought maybe we were hearing the bells from the next nearest church about a mile away but decided that church was too far to hear the chimes so clearly. So, I did what we all so often do and turned to Google and there was my answer, or at least a plausible explanation. Apparently, some churches in France would sound their bells twice so that the people working in the fields wouldn't miss it. And presumably also to make sure they got out into the fields on time – no excuse for being late!

Jen Price

Quiz Answers