Where were the valleys in 1966 ?

Wales Official Holiday Guide 1966

I came across this Holiday Guide from 1966 and found the approach to the South Wales Valleys really interesting.   They are omitted completely!    I'm not surprised as we still had some heavy industry and plenty of coal tips and slag heaps.   But it would have been nice to be included in some form.

Aberavon beach 1966

I love this photograph of Aberavon beach.   It shows the welsh enjoying themselves as I remember as a child.   We have a saying when somewhere is crowded "Its like Barry on a Sunday."   My children, now grown, always looked puzzled as I tried to explain.   This photograph tells all.   When the tide came in it became much more crowded.   Home knitted swimsuits, knotted hankies.  Men often wore their three piece suit and tie.  (Yes, they did!)  My father would put his shoes and socks under the deckchair.  My father-in-law might even loosen his tie !!



This ad for Caerphilly is the only reference to a valley town I could find.  The third rather understated paragraph is fascinating.   "magnificent Castle, second largest in Europe..."   Why didn't they shout about it!

This page for Glamorgan Rhoose Airport is wonderful.    The artwork is of its time, but I think would gain attention today.   Doesn't it make you want to go?   My husband and I had our first holiday abroad in 1967.   It cost £44 (for the two of us), which was a fortune.   We went to Majorca.

This ad is really from another age.   There were very few cars.   People used public transport (or scooter) to travel to their holiday destination.   I can't remember that many scooters where I lived.  

Pontypool does appear once in the brochure.   The Welsh Development Agency included BNS (British Nylone Spinners, later du Pont), located at Mamhilad, under the heading "Room to Breathe in Wales."  Their 'blurb' finishes by saying: "It is a wonderful land in which to work and relax ... in which to enjoy a really full life."   It would have been nice if they'd acknowledged where the photograph was taken, Pontypool.

I hope you have enjoyed your trip to Wales in 1966.