Sport and Leisure

Abertillery v The New Zealand All Blacks Army Rugby Touring Team – April 1919. During WW1 many rugby football team members enlisted and signed up to serve their country. At the same time the sport of rugby at club and country level was suspended, though survived through Inter-Service and Allied Forces Matches. As the war came to an end most …

The Blue Pilgrims – Blaina. The Blue Pilgrims were a group of philanthropic ladies based in Kent. Their founder was Beatrice Hankey born 1858, she founded the order in 1902. In 1912 the group went to Staffordshire and aided the miners during the strike and throughout the Great War they set up home huts near army barracks for refreshment and …

Duffryn Recreational Grounds – Blaina. The Duffryn Recreation Ground had been a venue for sports since the mid 1850’s though the grounds you see today were laid down by groups of unemployed men working for the council within a scheme funded by various organisations over many years. The scheme also included funding for the Banna Recreation Grounds and the reconstruction …

Abertillery Cycle Track. Cycling in the Abertillery district really took off in the late 1880’s when individuals and groups took to the roads on their bicycles. Retailers in the large towns advertised bicycles for sale and new technology applied at this time made cycling easier and more comfortable. In the late 1880’s bicycle riders were very often caught for not …

Abertillery Rugby Football Team The Monmouthshire League Champions 1905-1906. Top Row – Mr F. Read (Treasurer); Mr George Tillings (Chairman); Mr E. J. Williams (President); Mr E. Jones Williams J.P.; Mr J. James (Secretary) and Mr John Stephens (Trainer): Second Row – Mr T. Dykes; Mr Abe Jones; Mr Lionel Thomas; Mr Alfred (Jim) Webb; Mr Jake Blackmore and Mr …

Abertillery Rugby Football Club. There is a consensus that the Abertillery Rugby Football Club was formed in 1883. I have thoroughly searched all newspaper reports from that time but can’t find any information or details of their set-up. The earliest mention of the team in official reports that are available is in 1885 when the Abertillery Rugby Football Team were …

Abertillery v Australia Rugby Football Club – December 1908. The Visit by the Wallabies. During the 1907-08 season, the Abertillery Rugby Football Team won the Monmouthshire League with a record of – Played 37 games and won 31, losing six. They amassed a total of 436 points for with only 104 points against. On June 24th, 1908, at a meeting at …

The Australian “Wallabies” Rugby Football Tour of the British Isles – The team that played Abertillery in 1908. The Abertillery Team held the Wallabies to a 3-3* draw and set two records at the time. The first team to hold the Aussies to a draw and that it was the first time the Wallabies failed to cross an opponents line. …

The Six Bells Recreation Grounds Story. On Friday 27th of December 1912, the South Wales Gazette reported on the provision of recreation grounds throughout the district and that each ward will be in possession of its own recreation ground fitted up properly with bowling greens and tennis courts etc. The report went on to say that at Six Bells negotiations …

Six Bells Lido. In the early 1930’s the people of Six Bells, Abertillery banded together and formed a baths committee with the intention to have a lido, an open-air baths built in the village. The committee contacted various influential people in the area for backing and Mr A. Lewis a landowner gave the land at Cwm Llwydrew, he also gave …