To accomplish great things we must not only act, but als o dre am; no t o nly p lan, b ut also b eliev e" …. A natole Fra nce. o
T TUN N NE issueL 2. VISF IO N
NEWSLETTER Is sue 5 • May 2015
I t ’ s Loo k i n g
G ood L w
The wait is finally over as the initial inspection of the “Our Tunnel” is completed. Pictured above ar e the crews of both Hammond (ECS) Ltd and the Mines Res cue S ervice after spending a busy three days evaluati ng its pre sent conditi on. The results of this in spection is n oth in g less tha n astoun ding as Mr. Lee Ho lland (picture d right) state d afte r walking the length of the tunnel on the Friday that “This tun n el is in no worse condition t oday tha n it w as 40 years ag o” . This is a test ame nt indeed to the peopl e that b uilt th is am azing st ructure one hundred and thirty years ago. It is now time for the So c iety to take it’s n ext big step w hich, we have been told, is the excavation of the portals to give access to th e ! tu nnel itselMf. T his sho uld b ecom e our ne xt pri o rity as ac cess wil l be needed for the machi nery requ i red to carry out the feasibility study
sanctioned by the Transport Minister for Wales EDWINA HART. But once again we shall take it… ONE STEP AT A TIME.
Pictured above left: Mr. Lee Holland prepares to descend th e sh a ft to begi n h is ins pection on Friday, 17th April. It would be on this person’s report that the Society will know wh ether the re-o p eni n g of the tunnel is possible or the end of our dream. Pictured above right: His Inspection is now compl eted as he di scusses with John Martin the remarkable condition of the tu nne l afte r 4 0 y ea rs of ne gl ect.
TU NNE L FE ASiBILITY STUDY GETS GREEN LIGHT Following the Soc ie ty’s me e ting with Welsh Transport Min iste r EDW INA H ART on 27th A pril , our p roject has n ow been g iven th e go a he ad for a fe asib ilit y stu d y into th e re-openi ng of “o ur t u nnel”. Since I took o ver f rom St eve as Edito r I seem to be sayin g ev ery m onth for som e re a s o n or o th er . ...... ”t hi s is t h e b i gges t st e p in t h e sh or t hist o ry of o ur S o cie t y ” , well th is most cer ta in l y is. O n S unday 3 r d M a y o u r c h a i r m a n St e v e M acke y re - ceiv ed a te lep hon e c a ll fr om t h e B.B .C. a sking h im for detail s of the “st udy” to whi ch he had t o reply “W e cannot comm ent on th e study as o f yet as we are still awaiting the results of the condition
surv e y c a rr ied o u t last mo n th ”. Th e B. B .C. t he n sa id late r th at t h ey ha d rece ive d co n firm ati o n t h at th e fe a sibi li ty stu dy had be en giv e n the g o ahead. The lette r seen below is the very letter sent by Edw ina Har t to L e ighton Andrews AM confi rm ing the sa m e . I t is o b viou s that this is all “ne w gro und” to us an d w e w ill n ow cal l on pro fessiona l exp e rtis e as
to h ow and w he n w e proce ed with the exc ava tion of the infill whi ch oblitera ted this struc ture fr om our landscape. T h e r e h a v e b e e n c o m m e n t s m a d e b y a p e r s o n w h o s e c o mpany does this sort of work, and he estimates that the “spoil” could take as little as fo ur d ays to be remove d fr om the Blaencwm portal. AN YON E G OT A SHOVEL? ......
"
ybody Exciting Times Ever Y t W hat wi ll the nex Y ing ? f e w m o n ths b r
It is alway s a proud mom e nt w hen a c raft sman can pu t on d isplay a sample of his expe rtise fo r all to see. The craftsm an iAn this case is MPr Jim m y Rr eyno o ld s (M oun u mentad l Sc ulpt o r) a Mnd it is he t h a ta is re sp n on si ble fo r the a st ou nding re nova tio n of the Tunn e l Ston e pictur e d botto m c ent re being fi lm ed by ITV. The st one wa s m oved to Treh er bert Station o n Wed n es - day, 29th April, and J i mmy’s br othe r Ian an d th eir de dicat e d wor k ers pe r forme d t h e ta sk adm ir a bly. The ston e now sits i n f ron t of th e T ouri s m Info rm ation Board a t the statio n after b e ing u nv eile d o n Sa tu r day 16 th M ay , bringing to an e nd t he Soci ety’s fi rst go al of h av ing the head s tone r enova te d and p ut b ac k on pu blic dis play. Since w riting this arti c le it has b e en co nfirm ed th at Ji mm y a nd Ian h ave donate d t h e c ost of this rest or ati on to o ur Society . We th e Soc i ety w ill for e ver be in th eir deb t as th e Re ynol ds has b een on e of ou r m ajo r sp onsors sin ce our in - ception, and hope to continue this partne rship w ell into the future.
WE SHOULD BE SO LUCKY, LUCKY LUCKY LUCKY G o o d new s i n abu n dan c e a s o ur C ha i rman re ceiv e s a m e ssag e on Fa cebo o k s t a ti ng th at musi c mo gu l Pet e Wat e rman has p ledged his s uppor t to t h e RHONDDA TUNNEL SOCIETY. Having a long and d istingu ished c areer in the mu sic in d ustry as par t of the fa - mous Stock, Aitken and Waterman, he also ha s the di stinctio n of owning sev - eral steam locomotives. At one time the ‘FLYING SCOTSMAN’ being part of his co llection . He ca use d quite an uproar wh en he h ad th e lo como ti ve pa in ted B ritish R ailw ays dar k gree n , instead of L. N.E.R. l ig ht gr ee n whic h upset m any a railway enthus iast. Mr Waterman will fu rther s trengthen ou r Society’ s profile and we off er our sincere thanks to him for his inter est and support in our project. I wonder if he could get KYLIE to sing on th e tunne l’s re-o pen i ng? Mr. Pete Waterman
Our First Fund rais ing Conc ert Con n or Henryk , Ja mie Wrig h t , T irion Pars on s and Ka t hr yn Eliz ab et h Burton. Fou r very ta le n ted musicia ns an d singers entertained us and a number of gu ests on April 2 4th at the Pho enix Theatr e in Ton Pentre wh ich was o ur fir st eve r fu nd raising event. The eve n in g was a tte nded by C h ris Bryan t , Lyn Hudso n , Sh elle y Ree s Owen, an d C oun c illor s G e ra int Davies, M a ure en Weaver, and Iren e Pearce. The audience was treated to a myriad of Wes t End hits, all of w hich were well rece ived by e v eryone. A fter t h e show had e nd e d bo uqu e ts of flow e rs a n d b ottle s o f w ine wer e pr ese nte d to th e group , by H a nnah an d Tho m as Stevens assisti ng Will Jo nes our Event s Organis er with the undertaking. Fifteen prizes in total were on offer in t he raffle and all p rize s we r e cla imed . To round off the evening some drinks and li g ht refreshme nts w e re provi d e d upstairs an d th e number of people that attended was incredible. We were all “putting names to faces “ which brought a perfect ending to a memorable night. Our heartfe lt thanks goes o ut to the se fo ur wond erful people who h ad a job to d o and did it a dmirably . Also o ur thank s goes to everyone who helped put this show together, from the catering to the hospitality. Then last but not least a huge THAN K YOU to our L esley Crew for pu tti ng to gethe r such a fan ta stic sho w at such short notice. V ERY W ELL D O NE .
Editor’s note. I m u st congratul a te everyone w h o helped m ake this eve nin g a fantas tic success and th ey are Lesle y Crew, Bud - dug Harries, Bernard Miche, Da i E vans, W ill Jones, E del Macintyr e, Sue Warren, Shawn, Hannah and Thomas Stevens, Steve Mackey, John Denton, and the Staff a t the Phoenix Theatre. Well done everybody. Me m b e r sh ip C ont i nues to Grow It is obvious to all our readers that an accurate membership tally is impossible in a magazine such as this being printed monthly. But it is certainly reassuring to see that it is still climbing daily and as of 5th May the membership stands at an amazing 2231. With all the media that continu es to be broad casted (and put into print) we certainly hope that this trend will continue and “Face b ook” membe rs will make th at important step and become fully paid up members. I like to think of it like this… T o be pa rt of su ch a so c iety as ours, £ 1 0 per year fo r f ull memb e rshi p equates to l e ss than 3 pen ce a day...... .... THAT ISN' T MUCH TO H ELP MAKE, AND B E PART OF HI STORY IS IT?
It’s So Go od
Finally we get to see o ur Ceremonia l Spade kindly do nated to us by the con - struction company ISG . This will be used to cut the first sod of earth from the ground when the excavation of the tunnel portals begins, and the runner up of our Schoo l Logo Comp etition w ill be as ked to perform the ta sk. Inscribed with the company’s Logo and a short description of the purpose of its presentatio n, our appreciati on goes t o everyon e at ISG for this very kind gesture and assures them t hat it will be display ed at premises to be de cided for everyone to see. On behalf of the RHONDDA TUNNEL SOCIETY...... Many Many Thanks Can anyone tell us what is wrong with these photos and where they were taken? ?? O UR TU NNE L FOR TY Y EA R S ON Bel ow we can see images insid e of the t unn el ta ken as p art of t he “Condition S urvey” c ar ried out on A pril 15th, 16th and 17th kindly forwarde d to us by Mr. Lee Holland of the Highways Ag ency. Considering it has stood neglected for ove r 45 years it s eems to be in remarkable condition but, not being an engi - neer there w ill probably b e many iss ues that will be needing attention. An uplifting thou ght though i s the comme nt made by Mr . Holl and on complet ion of the fina l days inspectio n when he stated that “The tunnel is in no worse condition today than it was forty years ago”. This certainly gives us “food for thought” a s to why eve r it was closed in th e first place!
The photograph copyright remains that of the HISTORICAL RAILWAYS ESTATE.
Th ere are many reasons why one sh ould remember a particular time in histo ry, and H I S T O R Y I N T th e date s of A pril 15th, 16th and 17th w ill be a period ou r S ocie ty will re member for a lon g time to come. If we look around th e photo graph s in a clock wise d irection we ca n follow the p rogress of the inspection th at took place last month. Firs t to arrive we re the M INE S RESCU E SERV ICE c losely follo wed by HAMM OND(ECS) of A b erdare, and after a short d iscussion they carried all their equ ipment up to the insp ection shaft to what would be the first OFFICIAL entry into the RHONDD A TU N N EL for over 35 years. Our third picture shows NEIL GRIFFITH S unlocking the ins pection shaft cover to gain access to th e tunnel, a nd a llo w venting to take p lace befo re a nyone descended the shaft. As u sual th ere w as the Media which has followed this p roject p ractic ally from th e start, and still continu es to attract more and more televisio n an d rad io companies from further and further afield. Instructio ns are be ing g iven to various people in our nex t few sh ots as the tim e nears for the inspection start. MARTIN SCOOT of Mines Rescue briefs fellow workers Gerwyn and W illiam on how he wants their part of the inspection to be carried out, while Jeff Walker later briefs everyone concern ed o f w ha t they should expect a fter they enter the tu nnel. W ith everyone briefed it is time to get dow n to business a s the next shot is of M ines R escu e ’s W IL L IAM TEA GU E stand ing on the edg e of the shaft p rior to h is colleagues h itchin g him u p to the safe ty winch which w ill lower him to th e o ld railw ay track be d some 35 feet below. After winc h man Gerwy n h ad safely low ered him to the bottom, he w as quickly fol - lowed by MA RTIN SCOOT . Mines Rescue paperwork basking in the sunshine. A glimp se down the shaft forme d by two “offset” vertical drops, first one 15 feet, and th e second about 20 feet. In our next shot we see another celebrity proud to be associated w ith our Socie ty, and it is none other than RADIO WALES presenter ROY NOBLE accom panied by LYNN E THOM A S MORG AN. Our seco nd day at the tunnel again w ent accordin g to plan as Mines Rescue w orkers entered the tu nn el first, and follow ed by HAMM OND (E C S) E ngineers JO HN M A R - T IN an d N EIL G R IFF ITHS. This day’s inspection differed from the previous day (W ed nesday) in as much as tha t was a safety inspection to confirm that it was safe to enter and walk. Thursday however is what we all went there for as this was to be a
T HC OND ITEIO N SUR VEYM ,without thiAs (or a badK report) w eI woNuld have noG h op e of re- opening the tunnel and our quest w ould come to an abrupt end . T his inspection started again at about 9.45 a.m. and lasted approximately four and a half ho urs, an d I can te ll yo u all with hand on m y hea rt it felt like fou r and a half years. I never knew a person could experien ce so many em otions simultaneo usly, hope, doubt, worry, joy, b elief an d disb elief. We were both feeling sick in o ur stomachs only to get worse the longer the d ay prog ressed . But as JOHN MA R TIN retu rned to the surface and started e ntering v ario us data into his logbook, he looked up… and gave us a thum bs up!… Steve and myself asked o urselves “w hat does that mean”? as our emotions went into overdrive. Was he ju st gla d to get it over w ith, glad to b e ba ck on the surface, or w as it something else? A ny ho w there was still one d ay to go a s Highways Agency Mr. LEE H O LLAND w as expec ted the following da y. The final day saw the ap pearance of Mr. Lee Holland from the Highways agency, His - toric R ailw ays E state. After shaking hands, Mr. Holland donned his outfit and was ready for the d esce nt. The Chairm an and M r. Holland w alked calm ly over to the inspection chamber. Steve out stre tch ed his hand and said, "M r. Holland, I envy yo u, however, come b ack w ith s ome good news. He walked away and soon descended into the Tunnel. It was a long three hours w ait. Mr. Holland and the rest of the crew clim b ed out of the insp ectio n cham ber while we stood by looking o n. N o thing wa s said , no one ca m e o ver to speak to us. W e felt v ery isolated and left out. Mr. H ollan d walked towa rds us and a s he reached us we walked together towards his car. “I know you can’t say much, but a little
clue would go down a treat” I said, to which he replied “well, if I’m honest, the Tunnel has not changed in 40 years, I am not saying that there is no work needed in there be - cause obvio usly there is, but nothing that can’t be fixed”. That was music to our ears. We are on a great jou rney and gathering speed. We are on the brink of making history. So let u s stay close, keep o ur faith, and soon we will all see the fruits of our labou rs. So the next time you hear the saying that the Victorians b uilt things to last, please re- m ember that is exactly what we have here, a VICTO RIAN M ASTER PIECE, and IT’S ON OUR FRONT DOOR. Let us make sure we make good use of it, then our children, grandchildren and even grea t-grandchildren w ill be able to say with pride as th ey cycle or walk through this monument to Victorian Civil Engineering for decades to come…
…“MY RELATIVES HELPED TO RE-OPEN THIS”
Sheer Eleg ance We would like to thank Helen Maria Pick of “ELEGANCE” in Tre - orchy for her kind donation of £125 to further boost our Society’s funds . Owner of the l adies outfitt ers Helen stated that “The valley people have supported my business and I would like to give some - thing back”. Many thanks Helen.
JUS T A T H O UGHT July 1890 — July 2015. Do these dates ring any bells? They should, because in just two months time it will be one hun - dred and twe nty fiv e yea rs since the opening of the RHONDDA TUNNEL. What better tim e to hav e a “get together” and hold a social evening for the Society . Since last September our Committee and Members have worked extremely hard in the running and raising of funds for our cause, and I think it is time to have an “evening chill”. What are your thoughts? Our Blaengwynfi base The Tunnel Hotel … The Tunnel Hotel is the base for holding our Society meetings The Hotel is also the headquarters of GASP ( the Gwynfi Affili - in Blaengwynfi. ated Sports Project charitable trust ) whose aim it is to build a Sited on what was formerly known as Tunnel Terrace ( now Heol- spontaneous play area and to promote sports amongst young - Y-Nant ), in years past the Hotel overlooked both the Blaeng - sters in the Village. For several years, GASP staged an annual wynfi Railway Station and entrance to the Rhondda Tunnel. ‘Party In The Park’ to raise awareness of the group’s aims in the
Today, it overlooks the housing development which has replaced community. T he party would draw up to 600 people from t he the Station, and a landscaped green belt which has covered up Village and surrounding communities, and eats, fair rides and the tunnel entrance. bouncy castles, were all provided free of charge. Current owners of the Hotel, Rod and Edel , are undergoing what Built in 1898, rumour has it that the same engineering bricks used to build the tunnel, were also used in construction of the they say is probably the biggest DIY project in the Afan Valley. Hotel. There are inventory records dating from when it was first Their intention is to re-open it as a self-catering facility primarily opened, for plush leather sofas and pool tables, which were for the use of mountain bikers and visitors to the area. used to furnish the upstairs floor. This seems to indicate that the upstairs was not used for accommodation purposes, but rather as a recreation area for Mine Managers of the time. The downstairs public bar area would have been used to serve Min - ers from the Scatten Colliery, which was located a short distance away at the end of the terrace. In 2011, the Hotel was used as the venue for the tenth Commu - nity Tourism Ambassador Training Workshop, hosted by Letha Consultancy ( a company which provides a skills service in the areas of heritage, tourism and culture ). The Hotel has also been used to hold workshops for the encouragement of business en - terprise amongst young people in the community.
B
WAW Wale s firs t Pro Cycling Te am c li m bs o n bo a rd!
’ and 2016 race season . Why have th e y chos en th e Rhond d a Tunnel So c iety?
WAW are actively work ing to provide a platform for growth in the S outh Wales Valley s, and workin g alon gside the R hondd a Tu nnel So ciety who they believ e shar e the sam e vis ion, th e y will be help ing to open up th e s ecando nd lathergest cpeopleycling an d livingw alking in our two tVu nnel in the world . Thi s will e n able cy clist s and wa lkers to cros s between our wonde rfu l V alleys and to ex perienc e a n ico n ic part
of their her itage brought back to life be neath what were o nce some of the ric hest co al sea ms in the Wo rld. At t he Soc iety’s last General Meeting, Eifion Weinzw eig, M an -
The reason the Rhondda Tunnel Project has caught their eyes, aging Director of WAW ( We Are Wales ) Pro Cycling Team, gave is be ca use of what the p eople involved with the projec t and an enthusiastic talk about the Team’s future plans for competing the peopl e liv ing in our two Vall eys represent . WA W recog nises at the highest level, and how they aim to provide support for the hards hip th ese V alleys have fa c edand sinc ethe the depeoplemise of in -living in our two Community projects such as the Rhondda Tunnel Project. dus try, aVn d als o see s the tough ‘neve r give in’ mentality and Created by Weinzweig-Dejan Cycling in 2015 following 4 years stro ng com muni ty spirit that still exis ts in these areas. Th at is of research and devel opment, WAW Pro Cycling is the first exa c tly the rac ing a n d rid i ng style that t he team promot es. They Welsh professional and independent cycling team. Its vision is be li eve th at by ad opting this sa me m ental ity and te am spirit, to take Wales to the World and to bring the World to Wales, t his w ill inspir e their r iders to greatness and in tur n provide in - providing a platform for our economy to attract future financial spiration t o t h e peo ple of the Afa n and Rhondda valleys. investment. Having grown up in the South Wales Valleys, Mr I n t erms of the supp o rt they will p rovide , WAW w ill p ro mote Weinzweig says he is fed up with peoples negative perceptions the p rojec t to th e wider cy cling com muni ty and w ork with the of the region and the imposed lack of confidence that this in Societ y’s Co mm itt ee M em bers to creat e a platf orm to succeed. turn b rings. Therefo re, WAW Pro Cy cling’s mo ral objecti ve is to T ogethe r, we c an d eve lop clear proj ect an d busi ness plans t o at - provide a sour ce of pride and passion for t he peo ple of W ales, tra ct fu ture investor s tha t WAW w ill introduce to the C ommit - to show case their exce ptio nal tale nts and to i nspire people w ith tee. They w ill be a bl e to pro vide great co vera ge whe n racing, a s th e confi dence an d belie f that th ey ca n achieve an ything they the Tunn el Pr oject wil l be use d as part of the Team’s mark eting want. Sport can influence and motivate people, and why not mater ial promoti ng Wales, its he ritag e and people . The show Wales off in front of t he an nual audi ence o f 3.2billion pe o - Rhon dda T unnel So ciety in es sence is wha t will b e drivi ng the ple who watch the T our de France. futu re successes o f WAW Pro Cy cli ng. The WAW Pro Cy cling team is formed of 14 riders with the ma - T he Rhon dda T u nnel Soc iety is very p roud to be associat ed with jority being W elsh and Bre ton, together w ith Irish and New a the We Are Wale s Pro Cycling Tea m, and loo k for ward to w o rk - Zealanders of m ixed W elsh/Irish/Sco ttish origin. To gether with ing with t hem in the months and hopefully years to come. their ac ad emy team , t hey wi l l be partly bas ed out o f the Afa n W Valley . As well as allowin g the loc al comm uniti es t o see the rid - WEL COME A BOARD GENTLEME N. ers, this will provide a training ground fit to enable them win - y 3 ni ng th e Tou r de France an d to acco mmodate the app roximat ely do each y 35,000 k ms of tra in ing e ach rider will nee d to do each yea r. The
team will b e com pe ting g lobal ly with betw een 1 20 and 140 hr s er y aof direct TV coverage per year . The W AW Commun it y team will be en ga ging with com muni - W ties in ord er to p rovid e a ne w natio nal s por ts tea m to su p - l s po rt. Wor kin g with loc al pa r tners the W AW te am a im t o rtners t pro vide a c orn er sto n e fo r th e dev elop ment of hea lth and sports ed ucat i on p rojects . The R hondda Tu nnel S ociety ha s bee n de signate d thei r of f icial c o mmunity pro jec t fo r the 201 5
What a month full of Media c ov er a ge
… Rhondda Tunnel cycle Inspectors complete Rhondda Tunnel route comes a step three day investigation Society on track nearer with safety of Wales' longest following meeting with inspection disused railway tunnel Transport Minister
Feasibility Study announced into re- First official pictures opening Wales' longest released of the inside railway tunnel at of the Rhondda Tunnel Blaencwm Rhondda
BBC R adio Wales in te rv ie w M ay 4th - the C hairman , Steve with David Grundy Mackey, with David Grundy T Once again during thes e past few weeks, w e ha ve see n a The Society re cogn ises the important rol e wh ich is being huge amou nt of coverage by the M ed ia, of the his toric al playe d by the Media, i n he lping t o advance our proje ct. series of even ts which hav e unfol ded in our qu est to re- We ar e starting to s ee the benefits of this cov erage, as it
open the Rhondda Tunnel. reaches an ever wider and growing audience. This is help - L ing to build our profile in the co mmun ity and fur ther There have been radio and television interviews and news afield, and will hopefully attract more members, support - coverages, through the likes of Swansea Sound, the BBC ers, helpers, and perhaps even donors, as we move into News Wales and S4C Heno and Newyddion9. These events the next phase of our herculean task. h ave been covered by newspapers and magazines such as the Rhondda Leader, the South Wales Evening Post, Just Let’s take a moment’s breath and say a big ‘THANK YOU’
Up Your Street RCT and the Merthyr Express. Search the to the Media, for all of this support ! internet, for sites such as www.walesonline.co.uk, and you will find a trail of articles covering each achievement as it happens.
with David Grundy
T
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M e mo r i es o f m y t rip s Two thirds of the way in, is the ‘cog’ or timber support stru cture. When we did th e Tunnel o n a m otorbi ke in ’7 4, thr ou g h the Tu nne l w e fou nd a plank and laid it across the floor beams to get t h e bik e through. by Be n S al ter by S ts There are some wonderful photographs taken from inside t rst the Tunnel, posted on the Society’s facebook page. Many i Ben of these were taken by Society Member Ben Salter during p his vi si ts there. In the ho ur s leading u p to the fi rst in spec - m his t tio n of the Tun nel fo r forty ye ars, Ben p ut into w ords so me lastin g m emori es fr om his tr ip s ther e … t ogethe r wit h a little ad vic e fo r tho se w h o wo uld be un derta king the in - spe ction. th a lot “I hope that the Inspectors know that for the first 50 yards or so, they will be m et with a lot of w ater co ming in ab ove During m the m … mayb e the y could be equipp ed with g olf u mbrel - nd las ! D ur ing my man y walks of t he Tun nel w ith my fri end D Dave Vousden , we so on learn t to take a n umbre lla for that f the fir st bit. The noise of the w ater can be quite frighten ing w h is to o, whic h is ha rd to s ee in th e dark, ca sc adin g from holes h in the ro of. It ap pears that the w ater w as still p ouri ng in
durin g Steve n P ow e rs visit in 2010. I’v e often wond ered The noise from t he bike was great in th e Tunne l … ech oing about, and the he adlight o n m a in beam gave a g rea t view a head ! By th a t poin t, the d ot of ligh t th at was coming in
throu gh th e d o o r at Bla engwy n fi wa s g etti ng b ri ghte r a nd
brigh ter. I rem ember on my la st visit, the con fusio n we
both h ad on n o t see in g t hat familia r d ot o f lig ht as w e passed th e ‘cog’ . Litt le did w e k now t hen, tha t the b lock wall had gone up just beyond the only shaft, blocking our
w ay ahead. So it was a turn round and walk back, and
farewell to the T unnel forever … o r ma ybe not … the c om - ing we eks will tell”.
where that water is coming out ? The pipe that exits from the Tunn el into the nearby river, is alw ays dr y, yet the o rig - inal dr ain that ru ns th rough the Tun nel carr ying all t hat water away towards Bla encw m, is lik e a fa st flowin g
stream . It’s not u sing the ne w pipe that was in stalled, so wher e does it eme rge … p erh aps in the r iver s omew he re ? he right h itary s Afte r the water, a bout 2 00 yards in on t he right hand s ide, ze of w is the coa l seam with its solitary suppor t timber. An d then r. Me a its int o the maze of wire cable strew n across the Tunne l floor. Me and Dave always referred to this as the Are we st arting to see ligh t at th e end o f the Tunn el aga in ?
‘spaghetti’.
With Thanks… The society would like to thank the following organisations and businesses for their contributions. • The Tunnel Hotel, Blaengwynfi • Rhondda Cycle Centre • The Hendrewen Hotel, Blaencwm • The White Dragon, Treorchy • Fernhill Social Club (The Top Club) Cwmni, Treherbert • The Phoenix Theatre, Ton Pentre
R Rh h ondda on dd Calendars are still available a Rho Tun Tu ndda Snoceie tylnS noTu Rh ceie nSnoco tyl eientyld Check out the Website for details T da un Sno ceie Have You Joined Yet? tyl
For only £10 a year you can become a member. To accom To ac plish greWat thing compl We m e muss, ish gr ust not only act t not eat th , butN also dreamonly a ings, To accomp You are welcome to either: Not onl ot on ; ct, bu lish great things y plan, but also ly pla t also We m , believe. n, bu dream ust not only act, Anatole t als ; but also d France o beli No ream; An eve. t only plan atole F , but also b rance Teloi eve. An acco We atole France mplis • Download and print the membership form from our C must h gre Cal ale not o at thin endar 2 nd N nly ac gs, 015 ar ot onl t, but 20 y plan also d 15 Calen , but a ream; website. Sending completed application with a cheque to the dar 201 lso bel 5 A ieve natole . Franc C e address included on the form; alen dar • Enrol at any of our Society Meetings where membership forms will be readily available 2015 • Alternatively you can use the PayNow link below to pay via PayPal* or Credit / Debit Card, completing membership form details on the page that follows the payment confirmation. Proud to be associated with the Rhondda Tunnel Society
Dewi Reynolds & Sons SPECIALISING IN MOTHER OF THE BRIDE / G ROOM GUEST CASUAL WEAR FROM AROUND EUROPE FUNERAL DIRECTORS & MONUMENTAL SCULPTORS 50 Bute Street • Treorchy • CF42 6BD CEMETERY ROAD, TREORCHY, MID GLAM. CF42 6TB Telephone: (01443) 772789 www.elegancetreorchy.co.uk
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212 High Street • Treorchy • Mid Glamorgan • CF42 6AS ALL GOODS DELIVERED DIRECTLY TO YOUR DOOR Tel: 01443 776033 • Email: [email protected] Deliveries Made on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Fridays 35 Dunraven Street • Tonypandy • Mid Glamorgan • CF40 1AL Telephone: (01443) 773205 www.treorchypetsandgarden.co.uk Tel: 01443 440449 The Rhondda Tunnel Society Follow us on Twitter Find us on Facebook Chairman: Steve Mackey • Email: [email protected] Tel: 01443 777200 www.rhonddatunnel.co.uk Printed by Caxton Press, Cymru Ltd – 01443 772134