1939 - 1945 War Period...

September 1939...It was just a another normal and beautiful Sunday morning, but the 11.o'clock news would soon change all that. The outbreak of the Second World War would soon be echoing all around the valley. It would be received with much uncertainty as an adult but, as a child, well I don't think the seriousness of it would be understood at first.
It was not long before loved ones would start to be separated from their families, as people enlisted into the ATS and TAs.
Crowds of families would line the streets saying their farewells and watched as their loved ones moved out of the valley into the nearby Crickhowell camp for training. When ready for action, these TAs were sent to serve in other parts of the country.
If you worked in the collieries or other specialist industries then you were exempt from joining the forces. This didn't always go down well for the few that wished to enlist. But soon these few would have another way of serving their country, this would take on the form of the Home Guard.

Evacuees... People were evacuated from towns and cities in danger from enemy bombers and to places of safety in the countryside. The first of several evacuations, called operation Pied Piper, proceeded swiftly and, during the first three days of September 1939, nearly 1,500,000 people were conveyed under the official Government Evacuation Scheme. The majority (over 800,000) were schoolchildren who had been labelled like pieces of luggage, separated from their parents and carrying haversacks or small cases and the inevitable gas masks in cardboard boxes. Accompanied by a small army of guardians (100,000 teachers) most evacuees went by train. They all stood on station platforms, like they were going on a day to the seaside and soon they would be steaming off to an unknown destination. It was several hours before the train would pull in at the small Welsh valley towns of Newport, Crumlin, Aberbeeg, Abertillery and Nantyglo, to mention a few. With each stop, groups of schoolchildren would unload and make their way to a nearby hall or centre, where they would be selected by prospective foster parents. What a shock some of them had, when they saw the huge slag heaped mountains dwarfing the rows of terraced houses. What a difference from some of the greenery and space of their home town. Households throughout the valleys welcomed small strangers, who would be, for the time being, a new family member. They would eat, sleep, play, be educated and protected in the Welsh valleys, until it was safe for them to return home.

"Where are they now"? How many evacuees came to the valley is unknown, how many remained is also unknown. Hopefully this page will reunite some of them with their Welsh friends and families.

Home Guard... "They are going to form a Home Guard" was the "buzz" statement in those days and Cwmtillery was no exception. It would be for men who were not in the armed forces, but who would be prepared to do some basic military training for home defence. With a few, it was treated with much scepticism, "You'll never get them out of the pubs and clubs, they will be too tired after a shift down the pit", was the catch cry. But in time the Home Guard of Cwmtillery was formed and training commenced. It looked a Rag, Tag & Bobtail lot at the start, no uniforms, no guns, no idea how to march. But they persevered. They did training, manoeuvres, and learnt how to march. In time they also learnt how to use their rifles (the rifle butts were up behind the Glebe field) and, most importantly I think, they had a grudging admiration from the locals and, particularly, young children. There was no greater pleasure for ten or so kids, than doing the leopard crawl behind a home guard soldier on manoeuvres, or when he threw a dummy grenade, ten kid's arms would throw in unison.
Training... areas in the valley were many and one still remains today. Above the reservoir, on the edge of "Nun's Wood", a machine gun post still stands as a monument to those people's dedication to the country and Cwmtillery. Regular training sessions with the South Wales Regiment would also help keep the Home Guard on its toes.
Watch Duties... were regularly deployed on the Arrail and Mynydd James mountains because the tops were so flat and could easily be used to parachute enemy troops in by air. The duties consisted of a number of lookouts and one "Runner". The Runner was the poor fellow whose job it was to run back down the mountainside and warn the valley of a possible enemy invasion. On a clear day, and if you were high enough in the valley, aircraft trails could been seen in the sky over and around the Bristol Channel area. These aircraft were protecting the channel from U-boats, I believe, as records show that between 1939 and 1945, up to 34 U boats were spotted in the channel areas hoping to lay mines.
On one Saturday night, when most people were out dancing, the alarm sounded and the call for all Home Guards to report for duty went out. Within hours, they found themselves on the outskirts of Bristol, where trenches had already been dug in preparation for the invasion. Needless to say we all returned back to the valley the follow day, unscathed and heartbeats returning to normal.
The Home Guard had two headquarters, the first in the Drill Hall for the "A" Company and the second in a wooden hut located alongside the Gray Colliery for the "B" Company.
There were air raid shelters in the playground at Blaentillery, Cock & Chick and the Crown schools. At home, some made makeshift shelters under the stairs using planks of wood and a bed mattress.
Trained FireWatchers were also deployed and, as support, two Stirrup pumps, six buckets and sand were all purchased. Along the alleyway leading along the front of the Mount Pleasant pub you came into an area behind Alma Street and in front of Green Villas. Here you would find a large "feeder tank" which looked like a very large above-ground swimming pool. This was to be used to pump water to any fires that may start after bombing. Pleased to say that it was never needed!
We have all watched and derived much pleasure from the adaptation of the Home Guard in Dad's Army and in many ways it was the truth in script. A great debt would be owed to those Panda-faced men (coal dust rings around the eyes) of the Home guard.

War ration books... were issued and common fruits like apples and oranges were seasonal and scarce. At Christmas time, and in the weeks prior to Christmas, apples would be washed and thoroughly dried, then wrapped in newspaper to keep them for Christmas and Boxing Day. Oranges could be sourced from Annie Hiley's Greengrocers, Alma St. It was quite something to watch the butter and lard ration being patted together for the ladies doing their shopping each week. The correct amount for the families ration would be cut off a large block, weighed up. then patted into a neat block shape and wrapped up in greaseproof paper. The bacon slicer would whizz round, cutting VERY thin rashers to make the small amount allowed go as far as possible. A similar process went on for the sugar, flour and veg rations.
At school we were issued with toothpaste, a little pink "solid as a rock" tablet about 40mm across and, as kids, we would suck this as a sweet substitute. Gum and candy would always be available with the arrival of the American and Canadian soldiers. "Gorranygumchum", you would ask. They would then laugh heartily at the broad welsh accent and hand it over.
Most youngsters stayed to school dinners, as it helped to eke out the family rations. I remember dinners in the Cock and Chick school, we used to eat in the long green corrugated iron building. The boys at their end and the girls at theirs, and we all sat down together on benches at tables which held about eight. The dinners would come trundling out of the kitchen on a large trolley that could serve two or three tables at a time. The monitors sitting at the aisle end of the tables were responsible for handing out the dinners and collecting the empty plates. No one got pudding till the last person on the table had finished their dinner, "Puds. were always wonderful", no dawdling over those.
Now and again we were told to take a jar or tin into school and it would be filled up with a special issue of chocolate powder. It was all supposed to go home, but "Oh what bliss to wet a finger and dip into this brown powder". Maybe only half the tin would finally get home along with a queasy-feeling child. The day the sweet rationing ended, all the sweet shops in the area sold out that day, and had to close for a few weeks till they could obtain more stock.

 
Hobbies... as a child were seasonal, it was like one rolling catalogue of things to do. Making Catapults, bowlies, (if you could get in early, the Blacksmith at Cwmtillery colliery would make you one, otherwise an old tyre would suffice), Bows and Arrows, Egg collecting, Wooden Sword making, the list goes on!

Blackout periods...
Black material was sourced from everywhere and used as temporary curtains, window blinds were all in place before anyone could put a light on. Passageway lights were not used if you went to answer a knock on the door. Lots of houses still had gas lights, as all of our schools did, until the early fifties. If you had been visiting relatives or friends, they would stand in the doorway, waving you off in the dark. In retrospect that seems rather humorous, as they really couldn't have seen you very far off in the dark, but we always had to turn and wave when we about 30/40 yards off. I certainly remember many a trip down Gwern Berthi road in the dark, with just a small feeble shaded torch to light your footing. I'm sure there couldn't have been more than 2 street lamps along that empty stretch along the washery wall.

War End Parties... were held in most streets throughout the valley, tables laden with more goodies than had ever been seen in one place before. The happy atmosphere, with adults all laughing and really letting their hair down as the afternoon wore on and the beer flowed from the nearby clubs and pubs. Also, all the coloured lights that appeared as it got dark, goodness know where they had all been hoarded. Sirens were blowing and bells would ring all day.
The Home Guard stood down at the beginning of December 1944 and throughout Britain there would be parades to mark the occasion.

In October 1947 an altar was installed at St Paul's Church in memory of the Cwmtillery men who died in the Second World War.
A second memorial was also erected on the wall inside the main doors, this bears 23 names of those whom sacrificed their lives.

Wilfred Werrett my grandfather was born in 1890 in abertillery ,and later went to lingoed to live .He was the father of Stanley Werrett . Also he went into the first world war he was in the tenth battalion in Newport private 21381.He later went to France to fight on the borders but was killed in action on 10th July 1916 aged 26 .His name is on a memorial at the Thiepval Memorial, Somme, France. He will always be remembered ,like all the good men who lost lives in the war 

War Evacuee

Margaret Tandy evacuated from birmingham to govilon. stayed with the Thomas family. Brothers Norman, Ray and Dennis Tandy also evacuated to this area. hlg_millbrook@hotmail.com