This is CYNON VALLEY 2001
Please email us on melreid@cynonvalley.co.uk
or write to Cynon Valley Web Site, Pob Ceiniog, Aberdare Road,
Mountain Ash CF45 3PT

RHIGOS ROAD CLOSURE

The A4061 Rhigos to Treherbert Road may be closed until the summer, according to the experts who have examined the deep fissures in the road, closed since
12 December after a landslide.

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JOBS AND FUN BY THE RIVERSIDE!

Justices are shortly to hear a licensing application for the project which will be Whitbread's 120th family-orientated facility in the UK. The land is in private ownership and there are a number of conditions in the contract needing to be cleared up, but Whitbread's national acquisitions' manager, Simon Johnson is confident of being on site in spring.
As well as a pub and dining facility the Brewster's Pub and Eatery will have a children's Fun Factory, outside play area and car park and it will create 50 jobs. RCT's councillors are being advised to approve the development on land that was originally earmarked for an hotel, a project not now considered viable.

View from the Dare Aman Line of Tirfounder Fields to the west of Asda

DID YOU SEE THE U F O ON 27 DECEMBER?
Scroll down for photo!

BETTER RAIL LINK

A multi-million pound cash boost to improve the rail service to Cynon Valley and Merthyr has been announced by the National Assembly.
£9 million has been earmarked for 2003-2004 to provide half hourly services between Cardiff and Merthyr and Aberdare.
Leader of the Council, Mrs Pauline Jarman, said that the railway improvement project at Mountain Ash was paving the way for this better service.
(see News Archive)

QUALITY STANDARD
Aberdare Boys' Comprehensive School has earned the quality standard award in recognition of its policy on careers guidance and education.

NOS GALAN AWARD

Ceri Lewis, 11, of Tonyrefail Primary school, was chosen as the winner of the Nos Galan Picture Design competition, organised by RCT's Sports Development Unit.

The competition, which attracted over 170 entries from the county's school, was aimed at capturing the spirit of the traditional races that commemorate the legendary Welsh runner,
Guto Nyth Bran.

A new Optimum Performance Sports Warehouse has been officially opened by Olympic athletes Jamie Baulch and Darren Campbell at the Trefforest Industrial Estate.
Owner, Jon Williams, developed a new energy drink for the athletes' use during the Sydney Olympics.

MUSIC COMPETITION
Musicians and singers in Cynon Valley are being offered the opportunity of a platform for their talents by entering a competition run by Whiteoak Studios at Crickhowell. The competition winner will receive a day's recording session with a CD of the professionally-recorded performance as the end result.
To obtain an entry form send an SAE to Whiteoak Studios Competition, Studio 45, Acorn Televillagem, Standard Street, Crickhowell NP8 1BP.
Closing date for entries is 23 February.
And it's not just rock bands - the competition is aimed at any music with something different to say!

SADDLE UP FOR THE STEREOS!

The Stereophonics' biggest concert to date takes place at Chepstow Race Course on Saturday, 21 July and 80,000 fans are expected to cheer them on.
The outdoor concert looks set to be the pop event of 2001 with a number of other bands to be announced and overnight camping and parking facilities.
A Day at the Races gig will also be the showcase for the material from their new album J E E P - Just Enough Education To Perform.
Tickets for the gig cost £25 plus booking fee and £10 per head for overnight camping and parking and are available from the CIA box office on 029 2022 4488, Ticketline UK 08700 667799 and Newport Centre on 01633 662666.

The Welsh Whiskey Company!

CYNON HONOURS

The Cynon Valley has two MBEs to kick off the New Year!
Wendy Gane from Cwmbach, a health campaigner, and athlete Ron Jones from Cwmaman have both had their services to the community recognised in the New Year's Honours List.
Mrs Gane, 41, has worked for 20 years to improve the quality of life for fellow diabetes sufferers since being diagnosed with the condition at the age of twenty. She represents 4,000 registered diabetics in Cynon Valley and Merthyr Tydfil with the support of the North Glamorgan National Health Trust and the Merthyr and Cynon Community Health Council.
Her award is in recognition of her work for Diabetics UK.

Ron Jones was one of Britain's top athletes in the 60s. At the peak of his career he beat the best in the world on the track, was part of the 4 x 4 medal winning relay team in the 1964 Mexico Olympics, competed in the Tokyo Olympics and represented Wales in the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.
A supporter of the Nos Galan Road Races, he won the 100 yard dash in 1963 and won again for five consecutive years from 1965 - 1969. He was also the mystery runner in 1967 and 1986.
Ron's award is for services to sport.

 

FOOD AWARD..........AND

Another RCT Council department has gained the Investors in People award. Catering Direct, part of RCT's education and children's services group, has achieved the national standard which sets the level of good practice for improvements through staff development.
Catering Direct provides approximately 25,000 meals every day with 1200 staff in 206 sites across the country and the large geographical spread of the department makes the award particularly impressive.

......FOOD CHANGES

A new smart card system is being introduced in schools to rid the system of the stigma of free school meals.
Two Valley schools will be trying out the system as well as a school in Cardiff where 250,000 free meals go unclaimed each year. In Rhondda Cynon Taff over 2000 pupils a day fail to take up their entitlement. The new system will mean all pupils being issued with a card to purchase meals, drinks and snacks and no-one will know whether or not the card was credited with their own money.

GOLD

There'll be an extra Bank Holiday to celebrate the Queen's Golden Jubilee in 2002 on 3 June.
Spring Bank Holiday, due to fall on 27 May, is to be moved to Tuesday 4 June to allow four continuous days of celebration.

SILVER

Trumpeting the news about town is the Cwmaman Silver Band which has been awarded £44,993 from the Lottery to buy new instruments. The band's headquarters is the Cwmaman Public Hall and Institute which was also the recipient of a lottery grant for refurbishment.

TREFOR IS A CHAMP -
and he's a dad of four delightful pups!

TO READ MORE ABOUT HIM AND OTHER CYNON CHAMPS.

MOUNTAIN ROAD CLOSED

A landslip has closed the A4061, Hirwaun to Treherbert road.
A bore-hole drilling operation has begun in order to determine the extent of the damage to the road and what repairs will be necessary to reopen it.

Landslides occur more frequently in the Valleys than any other part of South Wales, according to geologists This is not only as a result of natural activity but because of coal mining, and heavy rain, as we have had recently, weakens the ground and makes it very heavy. Warning signs of a potential landslide where there is a steep slope is water flowing from the ground, especially from the bottom of the slope, cracks appearing in the ground particularly above or in the upper part of the slope, cracks in walls or paths and mud flows.

ROAD CLOSURE - LATEST

Latest reports say that major work is needed to repair the deep fissures in the A4061 Rhigos to Treherbert road after the landslide in December and the thousand motorists a day who make the journey over the mountain will have to continue with an 11 mile detour, probably until the summer.
Leader of the Council, Pauline Jarman said that reports from consultants Halcrow ruled out any chance of low-cost, speedy repairs because major work is needed to underpin the road and isolate it from the landslip.
A request will be made to the National Assembly for emergency funding to ensure that this important link road is opened as soon as possible but, in the meantime, the closure will mean loss of income for businesses such as the New Road Garage in Treherbert which has seen its income halved since the landslip.

U F O over A 4 7 0 !

Did anyone see this strange shape in the sky in the afternoon of 27 December?

Driving down the A470 at around 2.30 pm we spotted what appeared to be an enormous smoke-ring in the southern sky. There were no clouds around and the shape stayed in a ring, not breaking up or getting ragged. It twisted slightly so that sometimes it appeared as a ring, sometimes a line. Getting further down the road we lost sight of it around the Caerphilly junction.
Anyone any ideas?

CHARLIE'S GARDEN SHORTLIST

The superb efforts of the Cae Pentre Community Group from Mountain Ash in transforming wasteland into the Cae Pentre Community Garden has been recognised in a shortlisting for the prestigious Tidy Wales Award to be announced later this month.
The Cae Pentre group is one of eleven nominees for this year's awards which are being sponsored by the Environment Agency Wales and the Wales Tourist Board, and more than £3,000 will be shared by the finalists.
(For more on the Cae Pentre Garden click on NEWS ARCHIVE below)

Two new sporting opportunities for Cynon Valley!
An initiative to encourage more girls to take up squash is bing launched on 17 January when the first squash coaching session for 8 - 14 year olds takes place at the Sobell Sports Centre, Aberdare.
" Squash is already run at the Centre on Saturday mornings but we hope to encourage more girls to take up the sport", said Sue Haskins, RCT's Sports Development Officer.
The cost of a session is £1.50 inclusive of the loan of a racquet if required. The sessions will be every Wednesday from 4.45 - 6.15 pm..

Archery classes have already started, a five week course every Sunday from
7 January, from 10 am - noon. The cost is £2.50 for adults and £1.50 for children.
Pre-booking is essential.
For details of these sports and more contact Sue Haskins on 01443 472461.

NEWS ARCHIVE 2000