February 5th – Goytrey Party

Goytrey Memorial Hall Committee entertained 250 children to a New Year’s party. A children’s fancy dress competition, judged by members of Pontypool Vaudeville Society (who also entertained) was a highlight of the evening.
Prize winners: – Sheila Beddis, Graham and Margaret Kennedy, B. Allchurch, Guy and Clive Swinnerton, John and Margaret Griffiths, Brian Williams, Richard James, John Allchurch, Ann Christian, Christine Woodhouse, Doreen Messenger, June Kennedy and Christine Conway.
Guests were provided with an excellent tea, followed by games, organised by Mr Bishop and Mrs Morris. Other helpers included Mmes Hatchely, Williams, E. James, A. Morris, W. Owen, R. Owen, Lambert, Cook, Hobbs and Howard.

February 26th
Three Freehold Stone and Slate Cottages, known as 1-3 The Old Stores

No. 1. with vacant possession. Just completely re-decorated and repaired and with back kitchen (with tap and sink) and bathroom (no bath installed) added: Living room and sitting room with concrete and tiled floors and modern open grate; 2 good bedrooms.

No. 2. Let to Mr E H Jones at weekly rent of 9/9d inclusive. Large scullery with sink, living room and 2 bedrooms, recently refloored.

No. 3. Let to Mr J M Shepherd at weekly rent of 8/3d inclusive. Good living room with tiled floor and open grate; large kitchen with sink; 2 bedrooms, (one just re-floored) Bucket closets.

Main electricity and water laid on. Rateable value each house £5. Current half year general rate £1/17/11. Water rate £1.
Each house has a good garden and is in sound repair. Pigstyes with lot. 1 and 3.

N.B. – The 3 cottages will be offered in one lot, and then if unsold, No. 1 will be offered by itself.

Lot 2.
A Valuable parcel of pasture land
Vacant, adjoining the area of .500 acre or thereabouts and frontage of 44 yards to road with Rennie, Taylor and Till will offer by auction at the Clarence Hotel Pontypool on March 1st 1954 at 6.30pm.

March 26th – Goytre Villagers ask for better bus service

Goytre has had no improvement in it’s bus service for 30 years, although the number of people using the service has greatly increased.
This was urged in a petition signed by a large number of Goytre people which was presented to the Eastern Valley Traveling Facilities Joint Committee at Pontypool.
The petitioners asked for support of their request for a half-hourly service instead of the present hourly one, inaugurated in 1924.
The committee instructed their clerk (Mr H Cook) to collect evidence in support of the petition with a view to making representation to the bus operators concerned and failing a satisfactory result, to report the position to the licensing authority.

July 9th – Inconsiderate Driving: Goytre farmer fined

A collision at the junction of Chapel Ed Lane and Newtown Road Goytre, between a Humber sixteen car driven by Godfrey Charles Vaughan (30) farmer, Ty Hir Farm, Goytre and a van driven by Elsie May Price, milk vendor of Ochren Mill, Goytre, was described to Pontypool magistrates.
A charge of driving without due car and attention against Vaughan was dismissed but he was ordered to pay a fine of 40/- for driving without reasonable consideration for other road users.
Mr D.P. Tomlin (Everett & Tomlin), defending, said the parties obviously saw each other when Vaughan emerged slowly from the lane into the road. Because of the high hedge, anyone coming from the lane had to go partly into the other road to get a view of the traffic.
PC Clewer, called to the scene, said the Humber car was on the wrong side of the road, but Vaughan contended that by coming diagonally out of the lane, it was possible to get a better view. By this means his car would not be so far out in the road.
Announcing their decision, the Bench added they thought the hedge should be lowered.

July 30th

Mr & Mrs Thomas Langley of Sunnybank, Chapel Ed, Goytrey, celebrated their Golden Wedding on Saturday.

October 22nd – “Driver killed my chickens,” says Goytre farmer

A Goytre farmer claimed at Pontypool Magistrates Court on Saturday that he saw a lorry driver take one of his chickens from the main road, kill it and throw it in the cab of his vehicle.
The driver, John Whitehead, of 43 Mollington Avenue, Liverpool 11, was given a conditional discharge on payment of £2 – the value of the chicken – to the farmer and 15/- costs.
Reg Jones, of Cefn Mynog farm, Goytre, said that he was driving some of his cattle near the main road when he saw a lorry pull up and Whitehead get out. Then, Mr Jones claimed, Whitehead ran down the road and came back with a chicken fluttering in his arms. He killed it, he thought by wringing his neck and then threw it in his lorry.
As Whitehead was driving off, he saw Mr Jones taking his vehicle’s number, came back and wanted to fight, went on the witness.
PC Keagan, who came to the scene whilst on a motor-cycle patrol, said Whitehead told him he had run over the chicken, had “only picked it up to avoid getting it in a mess” and intended handing it in at the next police station.
Superintendant John Haines told the magistrates that the bird had been examined by a veterinary surgeon who proved that it had been hit by a vehicle.
In the witness box, Whitehead said that he picked the chicken up after hitting it, looked around and saw nobody, so threw it into his lorry intending to hand it in to the police.
The farmer refused to talk to him and kept repeating, “Go one, I have got all I want.”

October 22nd – Charge against Goytre man dismissed

A lorry and car when negotiating a bend near the Steps Farm on the main Chepstow-Usk road scraped each other.
This was stated at Usk when Christopher John Goulding of Llwyncelyn, Goytre, the lorry driver, pleaded not guilty to not having stopped after the accident. The charge was dismissed.
George Hunt of Ryecroft House, Llangwm, the car driver, alleged that the lorry negotiated the bend on it’s wrong side. He stopped but the lorry did not.
When Goulding reported the accident the next day, he told PC E. Shillabeer that the car negotiated the bend at a ridiculous speed. He stopped, but as the car did not pull up then he continued his journey.
Goulding, in evidence, said he had pulled on to a grass verge when the car struck the lorry.

December 24th – Goytre child injured at play

A child’s knee was cut on galvanised sheeting lying on a playing field at Goytre. Pontypool Rural District Council were told last week. The cut required 5 stitches.
Mr D F Evans asked if the playing fields in the council’s area were under any supervision. “If not, they should be, rather than let children suffer accidents through our neglect,” he said. If the council had provided the playing field it was their responsibility to see that it was safe.
Mr H H Hatchley said that if there was sheeting on the field it was probably taken there by the children themselves.
Mr Evans proposal that council officials should inspect the field and make it safe was adopted.

February 26th – Sunday School Concert

A highly successful concert was held at Goytrey schoolroom on Thursday in connection with the Sunday School of Saron Baptist Church.
The large gathering of friends were amply rewarded by the delightful programme which included a performance of an amusing play entitled “the wrong side of the bed,” by the children of the Sunday School, all of whom acquitted themselves creditably.
The latter part of the proceedings consisted of solo recitations by the scholars, which were thoroughly enjoyed.
The thanks of the officers of the Sunday School were extended to all who contributed towards the success of the venture, including Mr and Mrs Vaughan and Miss Ethel Williams.

March 4th – Funeral of Mr James Jenkins (In obituaries)

March 4th – Cottage Repair Ordered

Summoned at the instance of Pontypool Rural District Council for neglecting to abate a nuisance at the old Plough Cottages, Goytrey, Edwin Edgar (55) farmer, was ordered to carry out the specific repairs within three months.
Robert Derrett, sanitary inspector, said the premises consisted of an old farmhouse converted into two cottages. The roof and windows were in need of repair and the walls needed cementing owing to dampness.
Mrs Edgar attributed  the dampness to the fact that no fire had been lighted in the place by the tenant during the winter.
Mr T P Holmes Watkins, clerk to the council, prosecuted.

July 1st – A Ferocious Dog

Child seriously bitten on leg, cheek and lip. Goytrey culprit to be destroyed.
Pontypool magistrates on Monday ordered a dangerous dog belonging to Mrs Florence Richards (48) of Goytrey to be dealt within 14 days.
It had bitten the five year old son of a neighbour, William John Frewin, whilst the child was on his way home from school, inflicting serious injury.
A certificate by Dr EHLM Hachett of Usk, showed that he had been treated the boy for lacerated wounds in the leg and after administering chloroform inserted 5 stitches into his cheek and lips.
The child, it was stated was suffering from shock, following loss of blood and was now in hospital.
The boys father, an examiner in the employ of GWR, said that at 4.15 pm on the previous Tuesday he was in the garden when he heard the cry of a child, looking over the hedge he saw his son covered with blood, being carried home by his older brother, who said he had been bitten by Mrs Richard’s dog. Witness said he had been living near Mrs Richards for three weeks.
Questioned by Mr Harold Saunders, solicitor, Pontypool, for the defendant, Mr Frewin said it was a lonely place.
Mr Saunders: you get tramps and night prowlers there? I have not seen any witness said. The child had just started going to school.
Gilbert Frewin, the ten year old son, told how, when he was walking home from school with his brother John, the dog jumped over the wall and bit his little brother on the face as he was pulling his stocking up.
By Mr Saunders: He did not see his little brother stroke the dog on the back.

Evidence of Vice
John Thomas Bowen, Monkswood, said that his daughter, Gladys, when she was four years old was bitten near the eye by the same dog and on another occasion on the arm. He had himself been attacked by the dog on more than one occasion and had difficulty beating it off.
Mr Saunders said Mrs Richards lived in a very lonely place and it was essential that she have a dog for the safety of her family. She suffered from asthma and had not been to bed for several years, she rested by sitting in a chair.
The dog, a cross-bred Airedale was useful for keeping foxes away from her poultry and also tramps and callers.Mrs Richards said the dog had been severely beaten in a fight and was suffering from a wound on his back, her son said that John Frewin was stroking the dog’s back when he was bitten.

Regarding the sentence on the dog being carried out the magistrates ordered the animal to be kept under strict control.
(Note: Mrs Richards lived at Penpederhoel and John Frewin at James’s Cottage, Rumble Street)

July 29th – Goytrey Church Fete

Sports, Competition and baby show, prettily dressed stalls.
The annual parish church sale, tea and fete took place on Thursday last, opened by Mrs Whitehead, who, in the course of a pleasing and appropriate introductory speech, referred to the need of this yearly parochial event to meet the demands upon the church maintenance funds. At the conclusion of her speech the national anthem was sung.
The stalls had been prettily decorated and attractively offered articles of various kinds.
In the evening, sports, which included bicycle and foot races were held.
The leg of mutton competition drew large number of competitors and the bowling for a pig was well patronised.
The new feature this year was a baby and beauty show, organised by Miss Doris Jackson. There was a large number of entrants. The prizes were won by the following:
The Baby Show
Babies under 15 months, girls;
1st –  Ruby May Jackson, Cwm, 4 months
2nd – Dorothy Dobbs, Goytrey, 10 months

Boys
1st – Bruce Samuels, Griffithstown, 8 1/2 months
2nd – John Owen, Goytrey, 10 months

Boys over 15 months and under 3 years
1st – Keith Luton, Goytrey, 2 years 7 months
2nd – Leslie John Williams, Pontypool Road, 2 years 9 months

Children over 3 years
1st – Pamela Williams, Goytrey, 6 years
2nd – Jean Luton, Goytrey, 4 years 3 months, commended prize
3rd – Joan Hales, Pontypool, 4 years 6 months
4th – Max Dowell, Goytrey, 3 years 11 months

Mr Hales was in attendance and enlivened a successful gathering during and after the event with the loud speaker and choice selection of music.

Mr Edwards, Church Farm, very kindly lent one of his fields for the occasion.

August 5th – Motor Cyclists Injuries

Charles Shepherdson, 22, Twyn Cecil, Goytrey was admitted to Pontypool District Hospital on Sunday suffering from shock, abrasions and cuts. While riding a motor cycle he came into collision with a car.

August 5th – Pretty Wedding at Saron Baptist Chapel

The marriage was solemnised at Saron Chapel Goytrey on Monday of Mr R J Williams, son of Mr & Mrs Williams, High Cottage, Goytrey and Miss Irene Elizabeth James, the only daughter of Mrs J James and the late Mr J James of Elm Tree Cottage Goytrey. The Rev. Aubrey Rees was the officiating minister and Mrs R Rees presided at the organ.
The bride, who was given away by her brother, wore an ankle length dress of pale blue satin with a black picture hat and carried a bouquet of pink carnations and maidenhair fern. She was attended by two bridesmaids, Miss E M Williams, sister of the groom, who wore an ankle length dress of lemon crepe-de-chine with a white picture hat. Miss Eva Pardoe, cousin of the bride wore an ankle length dress also, both carried a bouquet of bronze chrysanthemums and maidenhair fern.
Little Misses Sylvia Jones and Molly James, the flower girls, were dressed in blue silk and carried flower baskets of blue scabious.
The best man was Mr J Williams, brother of the bridegroom.
After,  the ceremony and a reception at the parental home of the bride was attended by some fifty guests. There were a number of valuable presents, one from the Sunday school of which the bride had been superintendent for some time.

August 19th – In Pontypool Hospital

William Morris aged 7 of Ash Cottage, Goytrey, was, on Wednesday evening admitted to Pontypool and District Hospital suffering from abrasions to the head, right arm and left leg. His condition is reported as satisfactory.
He was knocked down by a motor car.

September 9th – Mrs H Jenkins (In obituaries)

September 9th – Goytrey Couple

Mr & Mrs Thomas Morgan of Pwllmeyric, Goytrey, celebrated their Golden wedding on Sunday having been married at Goytrey church on September 4th 1882.
Mr Morgan is in his 80th year and his wife a year or so older, both are in splendid health and are spending a week at Barry with friends to celebrate.
Mr Morgan has been a market gardener at Goytrey for many years. As a young man he spent a short time in Canada and he has worked for short periods on the coal stage at Pontypool Viponds top pit at Varteg.
Both Mr & Mrs Morgan are members of Saron Baptist Chapel. Of the family of five children, three survive:
Mr David Morgan, Maesteg, Mrs R Mount, Basingstoke and Mr William Morgan, Pontypool.

September 16th – Goytrey Farm Withdrawn

At the Greyhound Hotel, Abergavenny, on Tuesday, M/s J Straker & Son & Chadwick, FAI, offered for sale, by auction, the freehold and model residential property, Tyr Ewen, Goytrey. The owner – occupier is Mr J Lewis and the property includes land and orcharding of over 14 acres was withdrawn at £1,350.

September 23rd – Tale of a Horse

Singular case at Pontypool County Court.
A strange story in connection with a transaction in the sale of a horse was related at Pontypool County Court on Wednesday before his honour judge L C Thomas, when Edward Henry Charles of Goytrey claimed £5 from Henry Taylor, of Manor Road, Abersychan.
Mr WLV Harding (from the office of Mr WJ Everett, Pontypool) appeared for the plaintiff and Mr AE Bowen & Son, Pontypool)  for the defendant.
Charles said he paid £5 for a horse from John Hancock, an underground labourer of Cwmffrwdoer, who gave him a receipt, stated that the horse had been sold on behalf of Taylor. Soon after the sale he met Mr Taylor at Pontypool fair.
He told him he had not given Hancock permission to sell the horse. A few days later Taylor came to his farm and said he was going to take the horse away.
He phoned for the police and Taylor left before the constable came.
On the 27th July he met defendant at Pontnewynydd and he again said he was coming for the horse. He asked Taylor to see Hancock and get the purchase money from him and the transaction would be completed.
The defence was that Hancock had had no authority to sell the animal.
Anybody’s Job
It was stated that Taylor told him William Gwatkin,  licensee of the Wheatsheaf Hotel, Pontypool at the time, that if he got a buyer for the horse he would have anything beyond £5 for himself, Hancock was present at the time and considered he was included in the selling arrangement.
Hancock said he had offered £5 to Taylor and he had it in court to pay him.
The Judge: It was a golden opportunity.
Reviewing the evidence his honour said Taylor made it perfectly clear that he was willing to take £5 for the horse. Hancock overheard the conversation and apparently considered he was included in the offer in selling it honestly, for he gave a receipt on behalf of Taylor.
His honour said he was driven to the conclusion that when the conversation took place Hancock was entitled to think that, provided he got this money which Mr Taylor wanted, he was entitled to sell the horse.
The proper course for him to take was to give judgement for the plaintiff and to leave Hancock to hand over the £5.

September 30th – To let or for sale

One cottage on main road Goytrey to Nantyderry, modern conveniences, apply, W. Jackson, Goytrey.

October 7th – Chapel Ed Goytrey

The church, built own 1807 has been re-roofed and the interior painted and decorated. A new window also has been placed in the Chapel to the memory of the late Mr John Wilks, who was deacon in the church for over sixty years.
At the re-opening service the special speaker was the Rev. DL Jenkins, Bargoed,  there was a large and appreciative audience, including a number of the direct descendants of the good men and true who were the founders of the sanctuary.
At the evening meeting addresses were delivered by the Rev. Eli Symmons, Mr D James (Green Court, Llanover,) Mr Pritchard (New Inn,) Mr & Mrs W Stinchcombe.  Mr John Wilks, Little Mill, presided at the organ.

October 14th

Mr Stanley Williams and Mr & Mrs H James of Pentre Farm Goytrey, wish to thank all kind friends for sympathy during their bereavement and for floral tributes.

October 14th – Wedding

The wedding took place on Monday of Goytrey postman Mr Wilfred Spanner and Miss Mary Jane Hobbs, the eldest daughter of Mr & Mrs Richard Hobbs, Gable Cottage, Penpellenny.
At 8 o’clock numerous relatives and friends had assembled at Goytrey church to witness the ceremony, which was solemnised by the rector, the Rev. HCP Belcher, M.A.
The bride, who looked charming, was attended by her sister, Miss Elsie Hobbs and was given away by her eldest brother, Mr Alfred Hobbs, in the unavoidable absence of her father.
Another brother, Mr Evan Hobbs, carried out the duties of best man.
The wedding party were subsequently entertained at the brides home.
The bridegroom, needless to say is well known in the district, for which he has been postman for five years. He is the youngest son of Mrs Spencer of Ventnor, Isle of Wight.
The happy couple later left for Ventnor where the honeymoon will be spent.
Mr & Mrs Spencer will reside at Pontypool.

October 14th – Mr Enoch Waters, Goytrey (In obituaries)