Sport and Leisure

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. In the early 1920’s the unemployment and financial situation in the South Wales Valley was looking bleak. There was a slump in the coal trade after the 1921 Miners “Lock-out” workers in the industry were laid off and together with the valley’s high population meant many men were out of work. At this time …

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 …

The Six Bells Children’s Swimming Paddling Pool. Owing to the success of the Six Bells Lido, the need for a children’s pool was debated and the women of Six Bells banded together to form a group to raise funds and to receive donations in their quest to have a small paddling pool constructed in the Cwm Llwydrew valley close to …

Abertillery Tennis Club and Courts. I am not sure when the sport of tennis was first introduced and played at Abertillery. I believe that it began on the Barn Field at Abertillery. In the early days, the Barn Field was used for the sport of rugby and tennis, although the local tennis players who used the fields desperately needed their …

Abertillery Bowls Club. The Official Opening. On Thursday 8th of June 1911, the Abertillery Bowling Green was officially opened. The size of the bowling green was 40 yards square and situated at the southern end of the football enclosure. Arrangements had been made for a team from Newport to come and open the new green though they cancelled at the …