Monthly Newsletter
November 2024

What’s On at The Met this month

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Sat 5th Oct 7.30pm That 80s Rock Show.  Tickets from £20

Sun 13th Oct 8pm Desperado’s Eagles tribute act. Tickets from £20

Fri 18th Oct 8pm Met Comedy night with Paul Sinha (from The Chase).  Tickets from £15

Tue 22nd Oct 7.30pm The Three Musketeers.  Tickets from £13.

Tue 31st Oct 1pm Harry Panto & The Serpent of Secrets.  Tickets from £9.50.

Tue 1st , 8th, 15th, & 29th Oct 2-4pm Tea Dance Tickets from £4

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For these and more visit:

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

Tel 01495 533195

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Museum Opening Times

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

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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 J.  Price Secretary

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

Mr John Cavaciuti

Mrs Margaret Herbert

Mr Ross Leadbeater

Ms Michele Dack

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October 100 Club

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This month’s prize numbers were drawn by two of our regular Thursday morning crowd  and the lucky winners are:-

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No.  96 Margaret Dyer £20

No.  05 Jen 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 Pith Helmet

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This pith helmet was donated to us recently by a Mr Winmill and the reason it is called a ‘pith’ helmet is simply because it is made from pith!  Pith is an Indian swamp plant whose proper name is Aeschynomene aspera.  The helmet is often referred to as a ‘safari helmet’ and whenever I see a hat like this, I immediately picture it being worn by the legendary Sid James in the film ‘Carry On Up the Jungle’!  

And you can read more about the pith helmet using this link:

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pith_helmet

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THE TERRACOTTA ARMY

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Fifty years ago, on 29th March 1974, farmer Yang Zhifa along with his five brothers and a neighbour, Wang Puzhi were digging a well on their farmland at Mount Li in the Shaanxi Province of China.  What they found though was not water but terracotta figures, or rather pieces of them in what would transpire to be one of the world’s greatest archaeological finds of all time. The find includes over 8000 warriors, 130 chariots, 520 horses as well as musicians, acrobats, scholars and scribes as well as gardens, water birds and stables with horses all in a series of pits.  Many years of work has gone, and is still ongoing, into piecing them back together…

 

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It would have taken many years, probably his entire life, to create the terracotta army and those that worked on it would have done so out of fear.  Mass graves have been found nearby and are thought to be those of workers who died building his army.  What makes this find so intriguing is that every single figure has different facial features; there are no two the same.   And every single figure is (or was) holding a weapon, not made of terracotta but real weapons and included, spears, bows and arrows and swords, many of which are still sharp to this day.  Evidence shows these weapons are pristine and have never been used.

  

​Pit one which is 750ft long, 200 feet wide and 23 ft deep is home to the main bulk of the army consists of 11 parallel corridors.  This pit has been covered over and turned into a visitor centre and attracts thousands of visitors a year.  There is still much to be uncovered yet with the whole site thought to be around 56 square kilometres (22 square miles) and Qin’s tomb, yet to be opened, is thought to be untouched.

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My sister Alison and brother-in-law Peter have visited the site and all the photos produced here are thanks to them.   As for the farmer that discovered the army, my sister saw him on her visit and he was not a happy man.  He was forced to give up his farm for a pittance and now spends his days unhappily signing souvenir gift books at the visitor centre, but then this is a communist country.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terracotta_Army

 

WHAT'S IN A WORD?​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

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There aren't that many Welsh speakers in Abertillery but the town's Welsh roots are there in many of the names of its streets  and hills, albeit that some names are anglicised including that of Abertillery itself – the mouth of the Tillery (also written Tyleri). So, I thought it might be of interest if I picked out a few names and tried to translate them. I apologise in advance for the inevitable errors but I hope this short piece is still of interest.

• Peny y bont Road -the Top of the Bridge Road

• Gelli-Crug – Grove on a Mound Road (?)

• Gwern Berthi Road – Alder Hedges Road

• Rhiw Parc Road – Hill Park Road

• Heolgerrig – Stone Road

• Pantypwdyn Road – Pudding Hollow Road (?)

• Ty Dan y Wal – House Under the Wall

• Gwastad Terrace – Level Terrace (but presumably named after the mountain above called Gwastad)

• Duffryn Road – Valley Road

• Darren Road – Escarpment Road

• Pen-Rhiw-Garreg Road – Road at the Top of a Stone Hill

• Bryn-Gwyn Road – White Hill Road

• Llwyn-On Road – Grove Road

• Graig Road – Rock Road

• Bryn Terrace – Hill Terrace

• Cwm Llwydrew – Grey Valley

• Glandwr Street –Waterside Street (?)

• Neuadd Street – Hall Street

• Ty Bryn Road – Hill House Road

Jen Price

 

WELL I NEVER!

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Well you get to learn the strangest things in the strangest places. There I was, at about 35,000 feet flying 6000 miles to see our family in Hong Kong when I opened the book I had bought a few days earlier.  One of the 'British Library Crime Classics', it was called "The Wheels Spin" by Ethel Lina White and was the book on which Hitchcock based his film 'The Lady Vanishes'. 

 

When I read the introduction I was surprised to learn that the author was from Abergavenny; she was an acclaimed writer of her day (1876 - 1944) and there is a blue plaque marking her birthplace in Frogmore Street in Abergavenny.  She was apparently as well known as Agatha Christie and Dorothy Sayers in her time but her writing was not published until she was in her sixties (the Wheel Spins was first public shed in 1936).

 

Fortunately her family was well off as her father, a successful builder, invented a waterproof building material called Heigia Rock; this made his fortune as it came to be widely used including in the construction of the London Underground. The family moved from Frogmore Street to a new house which Mr White built - Fairlea Grange in Belmont Road.  It seems Ethel was still living there in 1911 when she was in her mid 30s but we will need sight of subsequent census returns to follow her further.

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The introduction to the book notes that she died of ovarian cancer.  She had a dread of being buried alive and her Last Will and Testament required that in order for her sister to inherit her estate, she first had to engage a qualified surgeon to plunge a knife into her heart to ensure that she really was dead before she was buried!

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What an interesting and spirited woman! If you want to know a little more you will see that Fairlea Grange is available to rent on Airbnb - it is an impressive building inside and out and is described as a 'striking gothic townhouse, oozing with character and charm for up to 24 guests.  Hitchcock's film is available on YouTube:

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mPAHtvr87o

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FAMILY HISTORY

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Who were my ancestors? Where were they from? Have you ever wondered this or have you always thought that because you live where you are that your family have always lived there?

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Many years ago I got interested in my family history – my mother never knew her grandparents apart from one grandmother and my father’s side I was lucky to have known one of my Great grandmothers.  I got curious and started asking questions to my mother and father, and luckily to my grandmother on my father’s side who could tell me quite a bit of history.  I started talking to friends and was amazed at how many didn’t even know the names of their grandparents or where they were born? I got to work writing down what I knew (no internet back then!) and in time I started to form a family tree!

 

Now with search engines for free on the internet you can find out so much more quite easily.  If you wish you can subscribe and go further in-depth but a lot of information can be found free by just typing in family history research!

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It amazed me how far families travels years ago especially for work and in these mining valleys how people came to sink and work in the coal mines and that is how many of our towns grew and sadly, when the mines closed hw they also declined due to lack of employment.

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I started off on the internet with www.genesreunited.co.uk, then www.ancestry.co.uk followed by www.findmypast.co.uk and, last but not least, www.freebmd.org.uk   (free births, marriages and deaths) but you can also go to local archives and find out information.   Not only can you find out the names of your ancestors but also where they were born, lived and died plus any employment.   The Census is a great help from 1840’s u to 1921 – every 10 years a more up to date Census will be released for public viewing.   You can make your own tree or there are many versions out in shops and on the internet to buy that you simply fill in as you find the information!

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My grandparents come from Tredegar, Pontypool, London and Llanhilleth but if I go back just one generation I find great grandparents coming from Ireland, Newton Abbot, Forest of Dean and Merthyr Tydfil!

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Also I got thinking about a family name.  My grandfather was one of 4 children but the only boy to take forward the family name,, he had 4 sons to take forward the family name and those 4 sons brought forth 6 sons! The family name was thriving but those 6 boys/men only brought forward one male child to carry on the family name! Another thing that amazed me was the use of the same Christian name.  For instance the same grandfather had the same Christian name as his father and grandfather, then one of his sons carried on the name and further still so did a grandson!

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If this has grabbed your curiosity go and do some research – its great fun and very addictive!

​by Karen Prately

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HOW TO DRIVE A CAR

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This little gem of a book is a recent acquisition from member Ms Gay Fisher.   It doesn’t say when it was printed but it cost 2/6 (12.5p)  and we believe it may have been printed around 1920 when cars were still a luxury for the rich.

 

Below is an extract from chapter one:

Only Two Pedals Used at a time

Lest the fact that there are three pedals, while you only have two feet, should alarm you, it is as well to understand from the beginning that a case never, in any emergency, occurs when you have to press down more than two pedals at a time.   The left foot is used to operate the clutch pedal and the right foot operates either the accelerator or the brakes.  ​​​​​​​​​​​