Monthly Newsletter
December 2025
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What’s On at The Met
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5th - 7th Dec five chances to see the pantomime ‘Rapunzel’ - family tickets available from £50
9th Dec 2-4pm Tea Dance £4
10th - 11th Dec AYDMS annual Christmas Concert.
13th Dec 7.30pm That 80s Christmas Rock Show tickets from £22
For more information on these and more visit:
https://awenboxoffice.com/the-met/whats-on
or tel 01495 533195
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Museum Opening Times
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The Museum is open to the public, free of charge:
Thursday to Saturday 10am – 1pm
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Contact us
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Museum phone number 01495 211140
Email: abertillerymuseum@btconnect.com
Web: www.abertilleryanddistrictmuseum.org.uk
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/abertillerymuseum
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Contact Names
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Mr G Murphy Curator
Mrs P. Bearcroft Deputy Curator
Mrs E. Ewers Chair
Mrs K. Pratley Treasurer
Mrs S. Murphy Newsletter
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Vice Presidents (Annual Subscription £25)
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Rev Roy Watson
Mrs Carol Brooks
Mrs Margaret Cook
Mrs Margaret Herbert
Ms Michele Dack
Mr Ross Leadbetter
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October 100 Club
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This month’s prize numbers were drawn by members Gillian Yemm and Carol Tillings and the lucky winners are:-
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No. 16 Gill Phillips £20
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No. 44 Sian Price £10
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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.
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The museum will close 1pm on Saturday 20th December and will re-open 10.00am Thursday 8th January 2026
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​Condolences​​​
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We are very sad to report that the museum has lost a very dear supporter in Mr Trevor Cook. Trevor has been involved with the museum for the last 30 years as well as being a Director and Trustee. He will be dearly missed. We offer our deepest condolences to his wife, Margaret, daughter Allyson and son-in-law Chris.
In further sad news we also offer our sincere condolences to our mentor, Mrs Carol Whittaker, on the loss of her husband, John.
Annual Membership Reminder
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If you have not yet renewed your membership for 2026 please do so as we rely on your support to stay open. The fee is just £8 for standard membership and £25 for Vice Presidents and if you are a taxpayer, please come in and sign a Gift Aid declaration (if you have not already done so) so that we can claim another 25p for each pound paid at no extra cost to you. Membership will entitle you to a free hot drink in our café each month and for under 16s there is our junior membership for £4 for the year which will include a free treasure hunt each month.
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CLUEDO by Sally Murphy
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​​Christmas is often the time of year when families gather around the table and bring out the board games and one of the most popular board games of all time has to be Cluedo and its inventor was British!
But first, for anyone not familiar with the game, it comprises a board featuring 9 rooms (lounge, dining room, ballroom, study, hall, conservatory, kitchen, library and billiard room) along with 6 characters (Miss Scarlett, Mrs White, Mrs Peacock, Colonel Mustard, Reverend Green and Professor Plum) and 6 weapons (rope, revolver, lead piping, candlestick, spanner and dagger).
The house belongs to a Dr Black who has been found murdered at the foot of the stairs. Before the game starts, one room card, one character card and one weapon card are discreetly selected and placed in an envelope at the centre of the board.
These three selected cards represent the murderer, the weapon used and the room the ‘dastardly deed’ was committed in! The remaining cards are shuffled, taking care no-one sees them, and dealt out to the players. Up to 6 players then selects one of the 6 characters mentioned above to represent themselves on the board and, with help from the cards they hold, move in turn from room to room and use their skill and knowledge to work out who killed Dr Black, with what and where!
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The game was invented in 1943 by Englishman Anthony E Pratt. Pratt lived in Birmingham with his wife Elva and, holed up at home during the air raids of World War II, he came up with the idea for a murder mystery board game which he simply called Murder.
Before the war, Pratt, an accomplished pianist, had given recitals in country hotels where murder mystery games were popular entertainment and this had been his inspiration for Cluedo.
The game differed to what we play today though in that it had 11 characters, one of whom would be randomly selected to be the murder victim, leaving 10 potential ‘suspects’. The extra characters envisaged by Pratt were Mr Brown, Mr Gold, Miss Grey and Mrs Silver while ‘Mrs White’ and ‘Colonel Mustard’ were originally going to be Nurse White and Colonel Yellow. The original game also had 11 rooms and 9 weapons including ‘poison’.
In 1944, Pratt applied for a patent for his ‘Murder’ game and shortly after presented it to the British company Waddington’s who purchased it for a very modest sum. Waddington’s renamed it Cluedo which is derived from a mix of ‘Clue’ and ‘Ludo’ (Ludo being the latin for ‘I play’). But it would be five years before Waddington’s launched Cluedo; the delay being due to shortages of materials caused by the war. Currently over 150 million copies have been sold around the world and today it is owned by the American company Hasbro (originally known as Parker Brothers) where the game is known simply as ‘Clue’.
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Over the years many different versions have appeared. My household alone has three versions; an original and complete 1965 version (pictured here), a Harry Potter version and a very clever Junior Cluedo version where three of the playing cards have concealed ‘ghosts’ which are only visible when spied through the special looking glass supplied. The first player to correctly name the three rooms where the ghosts are hiding, wins the game! My sister, meanwhile, has a special ‘deluxe’ edition featuring extra rooms, including ‘the garden’ as well as extra implements including ‘poison’ in a shout to Pratt’s original concept. With the popularity of home computers in the late 1990s, a PC version of the game was launched where a player could even play solo against the computer. This PC game came with sound effects and video footage and really brought the game to life! I still have the PC game as well but sadly it is no longer compatible with the latest editions of Windows.
The daughter of Anthony Pratt, Mrs Marcia Lewis, has recently donated one her father’s original versions of the game to Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery and it will soon be available for public viewing. So, who’s up for a game? Bags I be Miss Scarlett!
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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cluedo
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cdrz8vpj4e5o
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Noel by Karen Pratley
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Have you ever wondered about the connection of the word Noel to Christmas? Apparently the origin of the word Noel comes from the Latin word, Natalis, meaning ‘to be born’, or put more simply, day of birth. Over time it evolved into the old French word, Noel. The word Noel therefore, through association with ‘day of birth’, became linked to Jesus and hence Christmas.
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The 12 Days of Christmas
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“On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me, a partridge in a pear tree…” Most people are familiar with this popular song but the origin of it is unknown though it is thought highly probable that it came from a children’s memory or forfeit game.
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Many believe the first day of Christmas starts on Christmas Eve and leads to the day before Epiphany on January 6th, which traditionally signifies the end of Christmas celebrations, but there is also the dynamic Catholic version which starts of the first day of Advent and ends on Christmas Eve – this version is believed to have a link to the Bible for each gift and was used during the time when Catholicism was banned.
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The best known English version of the song was first printed and heavily illustrated in Mirth without Mischief, a children’s book published in London around 1780.
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There are many versions and it is quite popular all over the world, especially in America and Canada, with some versions having only 10 days while others change the gifts into tongue twisters. Evidence points to the north of England, possibly around the Newcastle area, for the song’s origin.
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The Oxford English dictionary of Nursery rhymes suggests that each gift might represent a month of the year but there is no true evidence of this. Many melodies have been used to sing the song but the standard melody used today was popularised by English baritone and composer Frederic Austin and arranged for a solo accompanied by the piano in his repertoire around 1905. The Times commented on it in 1906 as a quaint folk song.
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Whatever version you know or prefer, it is a happy song to sing for fun and enjoyment.
Abertillery Kid
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I was born directly opposite the Six Bells Colliery in the early summer of 1959 and may well have been there when the painter Lowry was portraying the scene more or less exactly from my birthplace but by the time the terrible pit explosion that claimed forty-odd lives occurred almost exactly a year later we were living up in Gladstone Street.
Old photographs of Abertillery clearly show that the town is deeply divided by the valley of the Tillery. Local people like me find it difficult to think of it like that and see the Foundry Bridge almost as a natural geographical feature to be taken for granted but when I was growing up there wasn’t really much need to walk into town in any case except to be social because there were little shops everywhere where we lived.
The above is an extract from Abertillery Kid by Rob Atkins and is available to purchase from the museum for £7.99.
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Quick quiz
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In the song 12 days of Christmas, how many gifts are there in total?
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If you are born on Christmas Day, what star sign are you?
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According to tradition what date should you take down Christmas decorations?
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Traditionally when making mince pies what should you do for good luck?
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When was the first Christmas card sent?
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Our AGM will be held on 30th January 2026 at 11am. It is open to anyone to attend though only paid up members will be eligible to vote. Voting slips will be sent out shortly.
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Pilgrims And Pilgrimages by Jen Price
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A pilgrim is the name used for someone who makes a long journey – a pilgrimage - for religious or moral reasons. It is rooted in history and something which is common to many religious faiths.
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The destination is invariably somewhere of special religious significance although nowadays many people follow pilgrim routes for other than religious reasons – often in the search for peace of mind or companionship or simply to achieve a goal.
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Many of the pilgrim routes are well known – think of Catholics travelling to St Peter's Square in Rome to see and hear the Pope, or Muslims travelling to Mecca. In Europe there are numerous Christian pilgrim routes but perhaps the best known is the Camino de Santiago – the Way of St James – comprising a network of routes which lead to the shrine of St James in the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in north west Spain.
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The symbol​​ ​​​​​for the pilgrim routes is a scallop shell – a symbol for St James – and it is to be found on waymark signs and posts or set into the pavement as in the photo above.
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The photo was taken in a town through which runs part of the Camino del Norte in northern Spain. The original Camino de Santiago route was established in the 9th century but the ​​​​​​Moorish armies moving north through Spain led to the establishment of this safer more northern route which more or less follows the northern coast.
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It is well travelled with individuals making their own way or in organised groups. Many choose to wear a scallop shell on their rucksacks to signify that they are walking at least some of this 530 mile long route. An even longer journey was undertaken by the Pilgrim Fathers who sailed to North America on the Mayflower in 1620 in order to escape religious persecution.
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Closer to home, there are many pilgrim routes in Britain. One of best known has to be London to Canterbury if only for its role in Chaucer's 'Canterbury Tales' with his stories of pilgrims on that particular journey in the 14th century. Here in South Wales we have part of the Cistercian Way – a 672 mile long circular route around Wales. Involving shorter journeys but still attracting pilgrims, are holy wells with their reputation for healing.
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Pilgrimage is a huge subject and needless to say there are many books on pilgrims and pilgrimages. An introduction to the concept can be gained from watching a series of programmes called ' Pilgrimage' on BBC2. Each series features a group of 7 well known (sometimes not so well known) people walking a pilgrim route together.
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They represent a variety of faiths or no faith and their interactions and personal reflections make for good viewing, as does the stunning scenery they pass through. Of course it's television and so it must necessarily be entertaining but there are more serious accounts of pilgrims and pilgrimages to be found if you search them out.
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Quiz answers
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364
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Capricorn
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January 5th
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Always stir clockwise
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1843​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​
