Plaque 17: WWII (1939 - 1945). Across the top we have all the Campaign Stars and Medals in Order of Precedence, they are (L-R): 1939-45 Star, Atlantic Star, Air Crew Europe Star, Africa Star, Pacific Star, Burma Star, Italy Star, France & Germany Star, Defence Medal and War Medal. On the far left we have an advertising flyer for the “Ogmore Valley and District Warship Week (7th to 14th March 1942), when over £83,000 was raised to sponsor two vessels; HMS Quannet a “Boom Laying” ship and Motor Gun Boat No. 57. The top centre picture is of the newly nationalised Fire Service, in which a young Peggy Hughes (nee Evans) served during the war. The bottom centre picture of an Atlantic convoy and the hindmost ship (right on the horizon) is HMS Charydbis, which was sunk on 23rd October 1943, with the loss of Petty Officer (Sick Berth) Ivor HUGHES of Ogmore Vale. The “Chindits” shoulder insignia is representative of the many men from the valley that served with this unique fighting force, but one in particular, is the Army ’s youngest Lt. Col at the time, Cyril Arthur JONES, 1st. Bn., 4th Prince of Wales Own Gurkha Rifles of Pant yr Awel, who was killed in action on 14th March 1944. Top right we have Field Marshall Montomery, Viscount of Alamein, awarding the Military Medal to Private I. J. BARNETT, Royal Army Medical Corps, for Bravery in the Field. The invitation is from the “Kings Head Hotel Victory Club” to the Victory in Europe celebrations to be held on the 15th June 1945. Finally we have the hand made plaque commemorating the ultimate sacrifice of three St. John Ambulance Cadets in WWII; Marine Henry Thomas BURFITT, 40 Royal Marine Commando, killed in action, Malaysia, 3rd October 1943; Lance Corporal James Albert CUNNINGHAM, 35 Fortress Company, Royal Engineers, died, Singapore, 26th February 1942; Ronald Frederick MOUNT, 5th Engineer Officer on “MV Frederick”, Merchant Navy, lost at sea, 21 September 1940.

Plaque 18: The Home Guard WWII - Top left and bottom right is the Nantymoel Platoon and Top left and bottom right is the Ogmore Vale Platoon. Centre top is the Silver War Badge, with the cap badge of the Welch Regiment centre bottom, which is the regiment that the Valley ’s Home Guard were affiliated to. The medal shown is the Defence Medal which took 3 years service to qualify for and was the longest qualification for any of the second world war medals. (See Journal 2002).

Plaque 19: The Ocean Colliery Pithead Baths; Far left shows the baths Superintendent, George Thomas, sitting centre, (the Secretary’s great grandfather) with the two attendants and the “Ocean Colliery Best Pithead Baths” shield. Top right is a newspaper photo on the first day the baths were opened for the colliers. The two other images are of the inside of the baths, when opened in 1933.

Plaque 20: The Wyndham Colliery Pithead Baths; The Wyndham colliery opened their pithead baths in 1938, with the first superintendent being Mr H. C. (Jack) Young, who later became one of the “Big Five” welsh rugby selectors. Far left and top right are images from the “Bathers Handbook”, which laid down the rules for using the baths. The main image shows Wyndham Colliery with the baths top left in the picture. The inset picture shows the inside of the baths.

Plaque 21: Colliery Heroism; Whilst there is no doubt that there were many cases of individual heroism down the mines from 1865 to their closure in 1984, only two have been “officially” recognised; On the left we have Mr Percy “Bow” Burgess who was awarded the British Empire Medal (Gallantry) for his part in the successful rescue of Mr Norman Whittaker on 24th December 1951. On the right we have Mr Ivor Davies who was awarded the “Industrial Order of Heroism, (the Workers VC, instigated by the Daily Herald newspaper) for heroism displayed on the 2nd June 1962. (See Journal 2001).

Plaque 22: Albert Glyn Moses; One of two brothers that “went North” to play rugby league and in the late 1940`s. The large image is the 1956 St Helens challenge cup winning team with Glyn circled. The cup far left is the inaugural Rugby League World Cup which Glyn played 3 games for Great Britain in 1957. Top left is the programme from the 1956 Cup Final, with the Challenge Cup and the bottom image is taken during a league game for St Helens.

Plaque 23: The Last Passenger Train, 3rd May 1958; The image is the last scheduled passenger service leaving Nantymoel station on the 3rd May 1958, suffering the fate of thousands of minor branch lines under Dr. Beechings swinging reforms. Great Western Railways logo is superimposed top left and the company crest is bottom right.

Plaque 24: Lyn Davies, 1964; On the far left is the symbol of the 1964 Tokyo Olympics on top of a typical picture of Lyn during a long jump. The words are the “Olympic Creed”, next to the man credited with founding the modern Olympics, Baron de Coubertin. Top right is Lyn showing the Olympic Gold at a civic reception with the front and back of the actual medal imposed on top.

Plaque 25: Prince Charles Investiture, 1969; The image far left and top right is of the 20 year old Prince Charles when invested as prince of Wales at Caernavon Castle on 01st July 1969. The image bottom right is Prince Charles personal crest. The badge was presented to all children by Ogmore & Garw Urban District Council as a memento of the occasion. Many streets in the Valley held street parties on the day.

Plaque 26: The collapse of Ogmore Hall, 1981; Images taken after the collapse of the Hall into the river Ogmore on the night of the 12th March 1981. Tragedy was narrowly averted as Bingo was finished early on the night in question as cracks had appeared on the walls of the lesser hall. (See Journal 2004).

Plaque 27: The Last Mines Close, 1984; Top left and the two bottom images showing the pithead gear being demolished at the Wyndham Colliery. Top right is the remains of the Ocean Western Colliery. The centre image is of the cage from the Wyndham Colliery, which is the same cage that killed the secretary ’s great grandfather, William Henry THURLOW on 24th July 1935.

Plaque 28: Ogmore Vale Washery; Two images showing the Ogmore Vale Central Washery which was located on the former site of the Rhondda Main Colliery.

Plaque 29: The Way We Were; Images of common household items from the days before electricity, piped gas and hot running water the standards in every home. The central image of the Miner washing in front of the fire endured well into the 1970`s! Top left is the candlestick and holder, bottom left is the ubiquitous tin bath. Centre bottom are a variety of flat irons. Top right is a washing dolly and a scrubbing board. Bottom right is the technological wonder of the “Hand operated” washing machine, complete with mangle.

Plaque 30: Old Schools 1; Top two images are Aber Infants and the Nursery, Park Avenue which both closed their doors in 2003. Bottom left are teachers in the Wyndham School. Centre is the bell cote from Aber Boys School in Glyn street, which stood on the site of the original “Aber” school, Craigrhiwglyn Board School, paid for and opened by Miss Blandy-Jenkins. The School was used in the 1960`s and 70`s as a youth club but since being unused from the early 1980`s fell into disrepair and was demolished in 2004. Four new houses now occupy the site. The centre image is of the bell cote from Aber Boys which sadly the Council condemned so has now been demolished, though we believe the builder of the new houses may make this a feature of his house. Bottom right is Tynewydd Boys School more usually known as “Caedu Boys School”, used in the 1970`s as a factory and demolished in the late 1970`s. This site is also the site of new houses. The image top right is of the Golden Jubilee booklet produced by the Nursery School in 1997.

Plaque 31: Old Schools 2; The images of the the teachers on the left are from the Wyndham School on top left and teachers from Fronwen School are bottom left. The Wyndham School was closed due to the fact that the extremely large lump of coal that was beneath the School and left by successive colliery managers was eventually mined in the 1940`s causing subsistence that was un-repairable and thus forcing the closure of the school. Bottom right is Fronwen School and the centre plaque is also from Fronwen school. Fronwen school was demolished in April 2005.

Plaque 32: Ogmore Vale Primary School 2003; This £3 million state-of-the-art Primary School was opened for its first term in September 2003, three years behind the original plan! The school was formed on the closure of four schools in the lower Ogmore Valley, Aber Infants (1876-2003), Fronwen Primary (1913-2003), Caedu Nursery, (1947-2003) and Tynewydd Junior School (1871-2003). The schools first head teacher Mr Paul Booth, BA (Hons) NPQH and his staff have taken the four separate strands and and successfully created an extremely well run unit which passed it`s first school inspection with flying colours...The children of the valley are in good hands!