) )

ouVenir ramme

ON THE OCCASION OF THE VISIT OF Q^r(^PJLa^G^6§^neSS 07ie^Prince ss/^(argaret TO PORT TALBOT

urnmirm' (Cj/^pril 26tL, 1()56

WESTERN MAIL AND ECHO LTD. } )

— • —

HE King George VI Memorial Club at Port Talbot is one of four non-residential clubs Twhich have been built at selected places in the . The other clubs have been placed at Bootle, Stoke-on-Trent and Dundee. These clubs all conform to a standard design so that wherever they are situated they are easily recognisable as King George VI Memorial Clubs. The design is the work of a lady architect, Miss J. G. Ledeboer. The sum of £10,000 required for construction of the club and its equipment has been provided by the King George VI Foundation. In accordance with the conditions laid down by the foundation the site has been provided free and the cost of maintenance of the club has been assured. The site selected is in the Port Talbot Memorial Park at Taibach on land given to the Town by the late Miss E. C. Talbot. A covenant requiring this land to be used solely as a park was waived by Captain Talbot Fletcher to permit the building of the club.

The Women's Voluntary Service is the organisation appointed by the King George VI Memorial Foundation to administer and maintain the club. The W.V.S. are assisted in this administration by a Committee which includes representatives of the Port Talbot Council, the County Council, the Old People's Welfare Committee, the Red Cross and the Council for Social Services. In the day to day running of the club the W.V.S. will be assisted by other women's organisations in the Town.

The main purpose of the club is to provide normal club amenities for the elderly persons of the district. Membership is five shillings per year but persons living outside Port Talbot may use the amenities on payment of twopence per day. At first the club will be open from 10.30 a.m. to 6.30 p.m., but these hours may be extended at a later date. The Club will provide lunches and teas at very reasonable prices and a kitchen which is equipped on the most modern lines is included for this purpose. In addition the kitchen will make it possible for the W.V.S. to extend and vary the meals which are at present sent out to old people in their own homes.

Recreational facilities include reading, cards and a piano and it is hoped that a Television Set will soon be installed.

A regular Chiropody service is provided at which a qualified Chiropodist is in attendance. ')) )

The Steel Company of Wales Limited

— •

TEELMAKING at Port Talbot commenced in 1903 but it was not until three years later S that the Port Talbot Steel Company was formed. This company, the predominating interests of which were taken up by Baldwins Ltd., started production in 1907 and until the outbreak of World War I was engaged mainly in the production of light plates, sections and light rails. In 1914, commenced the production of heavy plates for ship building and marine boilers.

In 1916 Baldwins Ltd. started to erect the Margam Iron and Steel Works and took over the share capital of the Port Talbot Steel Co. Ltd. The Margam plant erected alongside the Port Talbot Works included coke ovens, blast furnaces and steelmaking plant. In 1930 the heavy steel sections of Guest Keen Nettlefolds Ltd. and Baldwins Ltd. were brought together to form Guest Keen Baldwins Iron and Steel Co. Ltd., and it was this company which then operated the Port Talbot and Margam Steel Works until the end of World War II.

For some years before the war steel producers in the United Kingdom had been very much aware of the necessity for introducing to this country the strip mill process which had proved so successful in the United States. This led to the erection in 1939 of Britain's first Strip Mill at Ebbw Vale. Further developments in this field were postponed by the war, but in 1945, a committee representing Richard Thomas & Baldwins, Guest Keen Baldwins and Lysaghts was set up to consider proposals for the erection of the first wide strip mill to be installed in the country. After studying current practice in the United States this committee agreed that the so-called " Margam Scheme " of Guest Keen Baldwins, which had been prepared in 1939, was the most suitable.

In 1947 therefore, the Steel Company of Wales Limited was formed to carry out the erection and operation of the strip mill project. The new company followed an amalgamation of a number of the South Wales interests of Guest Keen Baldwins, Richard Thomas and Baldwins, John Lysaght and Llanelly Associated Tinplate Companies. It assumed control of the Port Talbot and Margam Works, a sheet works at Newport and fourteen tinplate works in South Wales.

Since 1947 the Margam Works has been completely extended and modernised and the new The General Office Building at Abbey Works. In front of this building H.R.H. The Princess Margaret Abbey Works has been constructed on a site which was formerly only sandhills and marshland. will present new drums to the 1st Battalion The During this period the steel output of the whole plant has risen from 10,000 to 37,000 tons per week and when present developments are in full operation this will increase to 48,000 tons per week. This output constitutes a formidable portion of the country's total output and thus plays a big part in contributing to the prosperity of the Nation. rogramme

10.45a,m- Her Royal Highness The Princess Margaret arrives at Margam 2.30 p.m. The Princess accompanied by the Mayor of Port Talbot will leave

Railway Halt. Abbey Works to drive through Taibach and Port Talbot to Aberavon.

11.00 a.m. The Princess will arrive by car at the front of the General Office 2.55 p.m. The Princess will visit the new Sea Wall and Promenade at Aberavon Building at the Abbey Works and inspect a Guard of Honour and will unveil a Commemorative Stone. provided by the 1st Battalion The Welch Regiment.

Ceremony of presentation by Her Royal Highness of Silver Drums 3. 5 p.m. The Princess will leave the Sea Wall and will visit the Housing

to the 1st Battalion The Welch Regiment. The drums are a gift Estate at Sandfields. to the Regiment from The Steel Company of Wales Limited.

3.30 p.m. The Princess will arrive at the Port Talbot Memorial Park for the 11.20 a.m. The Princess, accompanied by the Chairman and Directors of The opening of the King George VI Memorial Club. Steel Company of Wales and their guests will inspect part of the

Company's works. The tour will include a drive to Margam Works

and a visit to the Melting Shop and Rolling Mills at Abbey Works. 4.30 p.m. The Princess will leave the King George VI Memorial Club and will drive to the R.A.F. Station, Llandow.

1.00 p.m. Luncheon at the Staff Dining Room of The Steel Company of Wales

Limited at Abbey Works. 5.00 p.m. The Princess will leave R.A.F. Station, Llandow, for London. } )

The Welch Regiment

— •

HE Welch Regiment, which has served in peace and war for more than 230 years, began Tits career strangely enough in the home of the Chelsea Pensioners. There, the more active out-pensioners were enrolled into The Regiment of Invalids in 1719, for barrack and guard duties at home to release active regiments for service in campaigns overseas. The regiment became the 41st Regiment of Foot (or Invalids) in 1751 and saw service in the West Indies in the wars against the French from 1793 to 1795. They went to Canada in 1799, India in 1822, and took part in the Afghan wars in 1842. The Regiment's association with Wales began in 1831 when Royal approval was given for it to be styled " The 41st or The Welch Regiment of Infantry." It was also permitted to bear on its colours the Prince of Wales's Plume and Motto " Gwell Angau na Chywylidd." The regiment fought in the Crimea in 1854 and in 1881 it became the 1st Battalion, The Welch Regiment. It was perhaps in the struggle in the shell-torn, muddy positions on the Western Front that the Regiment won its greatest glory. Of its 34 battalions, 19 served overseas, in France, the Dardanelles, Mesopotamia and Macedonia, at a cost of nearly 8,000 officers and men. No less than 61 Battle Honours were won by the Regiment. In World War II, eleven infantry battalions were formed, four serving overseas. The 1st Battalion was in the Western Desert campaign, in Crete and in the invasions of Sicily and Italy. In June, 1948, the 2nd Battalion was amalgamated with the 1st Battalion, bringing to an end the active life of the 2nd Battalion which had served for 200 years. The 1st Battalion went on active service again in 1950 when it relieved the 1st Gloucesters The drums of the Welch Regiment marching past the City Hall, Cardiff, on the Battalion's in Korea and its battle flag for that campaign now hangs in the Regimental Museum, return from Hong Kong. Two years' service at Hong Kong followed, and the regiment returned home in 1954. In its history, the Regiment has won glory and renown, and honours have been heaped upon those who have fought under the Regimental Colours. March Past at a Trooping the Colour Six of its officers and men have won the coveted , the first being Sergeant Ceremony Ambrose Madden in the Crimea in 1854, the latest Tasker Watkins in the second World War. In the field of sport the Regiment excels, having won the Army Rugby Cup on ten occasions. This is unequalled by any other Regiment. ) )

T/ze MW/ af /fWawoM Bazc/z

• -—

HE new sea wall at Aberavon Beach, designed primarily to safeguard the homes of those Twho live in the Sandfields housing estate, may well help to place the beach in the forefront of Welsh holiday resorts. Nearly 3,000 houses accommodating about 12,000 people, have been built since the end of the war on what was formerly a waste of barren sandhills. When bulldozers razed these sand dunes, however, they threw up a big problem. The estate became exposed to the winter gales, and to the drifting sands. It became necessary to devise a scheme whereby this sand could be controlled in order that soil stabilisation could be got under way.

A sea wall extending for more than a mile was the only solution. It had to be high enough to provide a permanent barrier to the wind-blown sand ; strong enough to withstand the buffeting of the winter gales.

It will be of massive construction, being anchored on steel sheet piling driven 14 feet beneath the sand bed and forming a continuous barricade beneath beach level.

The work is now under way and the scheme to cost £300,000 is expected to be completed within two years.

An artist's impression of the New As well as providing complete protection for those who live near the seaboard, it will also Sea Wall at Aberavon give Port Talbot Corporation the long awaited opportunity to develop the miles of golden sands as a pleasure resort.

From this piling will rise concrete steps leading to a lower promenade which will be 10 feet wide.

Behind this will be the return wall, and this will bring the sea wall to the present building level. This will be flanked by a promenade 20 feet wide, and a greensward running back a further 150 feet. Further back will be a dual carriageway, and on the landward side provision has been made for the usual type of seaside development.

Driving the sheet piling which was the Plans are also in hand for the extension of the road to join the new A48 road near Baglan first stage of the building of the Sea Wall Church, after crossing flyover bridges over the two railway tracks. This road will provide access to the beach from the West while the developments at the beach will provide the Residents of the Town with a holiday resort on their doorstep. )

SEA WALL PORT TALBOT LEVEL CROSSING

ATHLETIC GROUND

VIVIAN MEMORIAL PARK STATION

KING GEORGE ZEE MEMORIAL HALL

MARGAM WORKS

ABBEY WORKS

L E

The cost of producing this souvenir programme has been defrayed by The Steel Company of Wales Ltd., to enable the proceeds from sales to be paid to the King George VI Memorial Club at Port Talbot.

PRICE 1/-