1962 Free Press

January 19th

New village hall at Goytre may be started this year

Goytre village hall held their annual general meeting on Monday, Mrs R Rees presiding.

It was reported the funds for a new village hall, to replace the one which was destroyed by fire nearly three years ago now stood at £3,214.

The retiring chairman, Mr O Morgan, said the Ministry of Education had promised a grant of £3000 and it was hoped to make a start on the new building this year.

The total cost of the new hall would be in the region of £9000 a further £3,000 would still have to be raised.

The position would be much better if the National Council of Social Services would return about £1,000 of the insurance money it received after the fire.

Mr Morgan pointed out that the total insurance paid out had been £2,500 but the committee had only received £900. This meant that the National Council had claimed £1,600.

“In view of the fact that they were prepared to sell us the hall for £500 before it was destroyed we feel we should have received a far larger share of the insurance money,” he said.

Officers elected were: Mr O Morgan, chairman; Mr F Robinson, vice-chairman; Mr D Simmonds, treasurer; and Mr B Bishop, secretary.

Committee: Messrs J Rees, C Morris, Wm Morgan, B Wilding, S Hayes, E Draper and H Stinchcombe;

Mesdames E James, Wilson, Dibble, Simmonds and M Frewin.

January 19th – A Social Evening at Goytre

By kind invitation of the president Mrs Wynford-Rees, Goytre VPA held their social and supper at Goytre Hall. Mrs Rees presided, supported by officers and members of the committee.

Mrs Rees, welcoming the members praised the ladies and all who had helped to put on such a splendid meal. She was glad to see so many new members taking an interest in the life of the village.

Mr H Prosser thanked the president for the use of the room and her kind words. Mrs Wilson presented Mrs Rees with a bouquet.

Music was provided by Mrs Fisher and Mrs Draper, songs were sung by Mr Filer and Mr J Thomas recitations and stories by Mr H Prosser, they were thanked by the secretary.

Stewards were Messrs Wilson and A O Morris. Prizes were won by Mr R Dobbs, Mrs G E Jones, Mrs Ramsay, Mr H Prosser and Mr D J Evans.

January 19th – Mr E J Williams
(In obituaries)

May 4th – Mrs M Stinchcombe
(In obituaries)

June 15th – Jones (Goulding)

Cherished memories of my dear sister Annie of Llewn celyn Bungalow, who was taken from us June 12th 1954, Lovingly remembered by her sister Flor and brother-in-law Harold, – Too dearly loved to be forgotten.

Cherished memories of a dearly loved mother Annie Elizabeth of Goytre, who passed away June 12th 1954. – Always remembered by loving daughter Doreen and son-in-law Basil. – Too dearly loved to be forgotten.

June 15th – Landed in Australia with £5 now owns 6,500 acres

When Goytre born Mr Owen Jenkins arrived in Adelaide, Southern Australia, In January 1927 after a six week sea voyage via the Cape of Good Hope, he had £5 in his pocket.

Now, in addition to six and a half thousand acres of wheat and sheep property at Kalannie, Western Australia, he has a six acres estate at Armadale, a southern suburb of Perth, where he retired last autumn to fulfil a life-long ambition – that of breeding special horses for training as “trotters”.

An Old Westmonian and still a bachelor at 58, Mr Jenkins arrived back in Pontypool recently with his sister, Jocelyn, for 3 months well earned holiday.

He is staying with his brother Norman, whose garage business in Rockhill Road is well known in the district.

On Friday he told a Free Press reporter how, as a young man, he undertook contracting work in the Pontypool area in order to earn enough money for his fare to Australia, which, even in 1926 was quite considerable.

Land of Opportunity

Both my parents came from farming stock he explained and I wanted to follow suit, but farming was to expensive in this country, so I decided to go to Australia where there seemed to be plenty of opportunity.

Once in Adelaide Mr Jenkins found work on a farm within a week, and eventually saved enough money to buy a farm of his own at Kalannie. Until four years ago he owned 13,000 acres of that hot, dry country, 200 miles north-east of Perth, but then he decided to sell half of it to buy a smaller farm at Donnybrook in the dairy farming and apple growing district of the Preston Valley, where he raised cattle.

Mr Watkins now has very little to do with the running of the farm, although he often goes there at shearing time.

Asked how Pontypool appeared to him after almost 35 years of absence, he commentated that the town itself and the inhabitants in particular looked far more prosperous that when he left for Australia, which is hardly surprising when it is considered that 1926, the year of his departure, saw the Eastern Valley held fast in the grip of the General Strike.

From Summer to Summer

In October Mr Jenkins and his sister will return to the other side of the world on board the SS Strathmore. They hope to arrive just in time for the start of a new hay making season, and, as Jocelyn remarked, “we shall enjoy the best of both worlds; as the beautiful English summer comes to an end here we shall be arriving in time for a spell of hot Australian sun”.

July 6th – Sale of Mowing Grass

About 13 acres at Berllandowel, Goytre, the property of Messrs C G and M J Boyce, adjoining Pantypwdin Farm.

Rennie Taylor & Till will sell from the rostrum in Usk Market at 1.30 pm on Monday next, July 9th.

July 13th – Freehold Smallholding

For sale with possession, the freehold smallholding known as Berllandowel.

Comprising: Stone and slated dwelling house, containing 2 living rooms, with 3 bedrooms and box room over. Lean to wood and GI washhouse adjoining.

Stone and GI Roof beast house and loose boxes, together with 22.5 acres pasture and other land.

Access to the property is via a right of way through Pantypwdin Farm, Monkswood, on the main Usk-Pontypool road.

To be conducted by auction unless sold previously by

Rennie Taylor & Till at the Clarence Hotel on Tuesday July 31st at 6.45 pm

July 13th – Goytre

Goytre women’s institute were given an interesting demonstration by Mrs J G Cale of Porkskewett on the utilisation of secondary joints of meat.

Mrs Swinnerton presided and Mrs Cale was thanked by Mrs Young.

Mrs Bath won the competition for a thrift garment.

Tea hostesses were Mesdames D Jones, Knox and E Morris.

September 14th – Goytre woman’s application for an off-licence fails

An application by a Goytre grocer for an off-licence to sell intoxicants was turned down by Pontypool magistrates on Friday.

Mrs Iris Doreen James, of Fairfield estate, Goytre, said there was a demand for an off-licence in the area by people who did not like going into a public house.

She said many of her customers had asked her to sell intoxicants and she produced a petition of this effect signed by many Goytre residents.

Mrs James said she operated a grocery delivery service as far as Croesyceiliog and intended to deliver intoxicants by the same method.

Col. H M Everett, objecting on behalf of Pontypool and District Licensed Victualler’s Association and the licensee of the Goytre Arms, Mr William Albert Kenny, said if the license was granted Mrs James would be able to deliver intoxicants in the Croesyceiliog and Cwmbran area where there were many off-license houses.

She would be operating, he said, what was virtually a mobile off-license service.

Mr Kenny said his premises were only 150 yards away from Mrs James’s shop. He was working at the ROF, Glascoed, because the income from the public house was not very substantial and he was of the opinion there was no great local demand for an off-licence.

October 19th – Man accused of offences against step-daughter

A former Goytre man, now of no fixed abode, was alleged at a special Pontypool magistrates court on Monday to have been mis-behaving sexually with his 16 years old step-daughter since she was ten years old.

In September of this year, seven months after the man and his wife had separated, the court was told, the stepdaughter gave birth to a child.

The man, a 28 year old scrap-worker, was committed for trial at the next Monmouthshire Assizes, accused of having unlawful sexual intercourse with the girl when she was aged ten; and of committing two similar offences when the girl was 13 and 16.

The girl’s mother said she married the defendant in 1955 and after living in London until 1957 they moved to Little Mill. After that there were six further changes of address within a few miles of each other.

“Just after the marriage I noticed my husband was trying to pull my daughter his way and turn her against me,” said the mother.

Girl’s Evidence
The girl, a factory worker, said her stepfather first behaved improperly towards her shortly after the marriage when they were living in London.

She described incidents which took place in the front room of a house in which they lived and told the magistrates that her stepfather was first intimate with her when she was aged 10.

Shortly afterwards she said, they moved to Little Mill and she told how further acts of intercourse took place when she went out with her stepfather to get sticks.

She said similar incidents occurred at various addresses each time they went out for sticks. “He would not go out without me,“ she said.

The girl also claimed her stepfather was intimate with her on occasions when her mother was not at home and in a caravan where they later lived. “He would not let me go out and made me stay there (in the caravan) with him,” she told the magistrates.

Parents Separated
In February this year, she said she started work in a factory and her parents separated. Before this happened her stepfather spent long periods away from the caravan.

Her stepfather then went to stay with a friend on a farm and she was sent each week to collect the house keeping money for her mother.

“On most of these visits intercourse took place in fields or some other secluded place until some time later, then my stepfather went to live in Sebastopol,” said the girl.

She said she also collected the housekeeping money from him when he was at Sebastopol and on one occasion he took her into a lane when another incident occurred.

“Another time he told me my cousin wanted to see me and took me across some fields, which he said was a short cut. There he got me down in some ferns. I told him to stop and I struggled, but he insisted on having intercourse with me,” she said.

A few weeks after, added the girl, she felt sick and realised she was pregnant.

“One day I met my stepfather and told him of my condition. He said not to say it was him and to say I did not know who was responsible,” she told the magistrates.

Questioning the girl in court, the man said he had not had intercourse with her as early as she claimed.

Alleged Statement
PC Robert Morgan said the stepfather told him it all started when the girl was 12 or 13. “We were always together and I think a lot of her,” he told the officer.

In a statement the man said:

“We were always about together and we were very close to each other and it just happened. After this it occurred very often but not each week.”

Referring to the time when his stepdaughter told him she was expecting a child, he said in the statement: “I asked her if anyone else had intercourse with her because if they had I would take the blame.”

“I only had intercourse with her twice after I left my wife.”

He then told the police officer: “I know I am not the only one, but I am not telling you his name; I shall take the blame myself.”

Asked if he had anything to say in court the man, who was not represented, replied: “Nothing at all.”

He was allowed bail.

October 19th – For Sale

Between Abergavenny and Pontypool, 4 miles from Usk, sale by auction with possession, charming freehold detached residence known as Glanbaiden, built of stone, brick and slated roof construction. Situated in the village of Penperlleni.

Containing: 2 reception rooms, breakfast room, kitchen, pantry, 4 bedrooms and bathroom.

Mains electricity, water and drainage.

The property is in excellent decorative and structural state.

Together with, as a separate lot of nearly an acre, a valuable parcel of building land with road frontage and adjoining the foregoing, to be conducted by

Rennie Taylor & Till on Friday November 9th at The Three Salmons Hotel Usk at 6.30pm

November 9th – Mr H I Prosser, Goytre
(In Obituaries)

November 16th – Parking Offences

A Goytre man, Gethin John Alexander (21) a machine operator, of Nantyderry road was fined £1 at Pontypool for parking his car in Crane Street during prohibited hours.

November 23rd – Fatal Tractor Accident

A foreman employed by Monmouthshire County Council, Mr Evan Dobbs (59) of New House Goytre, died after an accident involving a tractor at Llanover on Tuesday.

It is understood that Mr Dobbs fell under one of the wheels and sustained a fractured skull.

He was taken to Abergavenny’s Victoria Cottage Hospital, but died the same day.

November 30th
Inquest of Mr E Dobbs (In Inquests)

Funeral of Mr E Dobbs (In obituaries)

December 7th – Sale to-morrow

Saturday December 8th 1962 – Goytre, Tynewydd within half a mile of the Goytre Arms

J Straker, Chadwick and Sons have received instruction from Miss Prosser to conduct her unreserved dispersal sale, including;

8 Channel Island Cattle
Agricultural Implements4 ton baled hay
1959 Austin A.35 van
12 bore shotgun and 80 bullets
Sale at 1.30

December 21st – Goytre Women’s Institute

Mrs Swinnerton presided at the annual meeting, when she was re-elected president; Mrs Wilson, secretary; and Mrs E James, treasurer.

Committee members elected were Mesdames A L Morgan, D Draper, E James, B James, P Higginson, D Morris and W Bath.

Tellers were Mrs Lisle and Mrs Hawkins.

Mrs Rainforth, VCO gave an interesting talk on “what to grow for decoration.”

Competition cup for the year was won by Mrs Draper.

Highest marks at this meeting were gained by Mrs E James for her display of winter foliage.

Tea hostesses; Mesdames Harper, Palfreyman and Price.

December 28th – Mrs M Hickman, Goytre
(In obituaries)

 

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