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 NEissueL 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 ste p in th e short histo ry o f o ur S ocie ty” , well th is most cer ta in l y is. O n S unday 3r d M a y o u r c h a i r m a n St e v e M ackey re - ceived a tel ep ho ne c a l l fro m th e B.B .C. a sking h im for details 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 s br ing ? f e w m o n th 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 Ain 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.