I would welcome comments on the information below in fact why not develop
it into our memories of the old town of Aberafan we all have memories and
stories so why not place them on this site let others know about the old
Aberafan and the people who made it such a vibrant place to live, send your
information and stories to John and he will place it on these pages.
Before and After the M4.
Just recently I was introduced to a television documentary Reporter/Researcher
who was busy garnering information on what it was like before and after
the M4 Motorway was built. At that time I was too busy to give a proper
interview on camera, but it set me to thinking what did we gain as a community
out of acquiring this massive structure that stretched from London to
the counties of South and West Wales, I write this with the premise that
I am as fallible as the next man and that my memory is not as sharp as
it once was. I have been guilty like others in exclaiming “Nothing”,
was gained, but ponder a thought many of us before the M4 was built suffered
from the annual floods when spring tides flooding up the lower Afan met
surging river floods caused by heavy rainfall in the upper reaches of
the Afan Valley, this caused the Afan to breach its banks and flood the
streets of Aberafan and Velindre this happened to a lesser or greater
extent each spring. At the time of the building of the M4 a river flood
defence system was also built since then there has been no flooding, a
positive gain for residents of Velindre and Aberafan. It used to take
seven to nine hours to drive to London Heathrow airport our mother would
fly to Canada a distance of a couple of thousand miles arriving in Canada
four hours after we would be arriving home to Aberafan. It now takes a
little over three hours on the M4 to travel that distance to Heathrow,
another Positive gain. Personal travel journey time has been cut so we
arrive at our destinations within a short time, but this saving in journey
time has also got costs attached to it. I can remember the Norwegian merchant
seamen that were a common sight in the town on shore from the ships that
imported the timber that we needed and other coastal ships that plied
their trade along the coast routes, they spent a great deal of money in
the town . With the opening of the M4 the Norwegian trade dried up as
they could now birth their ships at the larger docks of Barry and Cardiff
and transport their unloaded cargoes by road, the same applied to the
coastal shipping. This was a loss to Aberafan. This led to a knock on
effect, as the railways were no longer used transporting goods from the
Aberafan docks and the roads within the docks unsuitable for Traffic,
this was again another loss to Aberafan. Then we saw a gradual drain of
both heavy and light industry tempted by grants to relocate in areas that
had previously been out of economical reach, before the M4 was built to
our detriment the drain went too far as firms sought out new premises
in grant aided locations west of Port Talbot again a great financial loss
to Aberafan. In my view the M4 contributed to a great financial loss to
the economy of Aberafan and was a contributing factor in the decline of
prosperity in Aberafan. So far in the scales of whether the M4 was Good
for Aberafan we have only one small gain in a mass of losses. Then we
had the massive shift to road transport of the coal from the mines no
longer did the mine have to transport coal by the railway to coal yards
for shipment, they could now load at the mine and transport all the way
to their destination by road another loss. Later on the Tory’s under
Thatcher used the road links as a weapon to defeat the miners. So we can
see that economically Aberafan did not fare so well beneath the M4, plus
due to the devastation of the valley coalfields by Thatcher, something
had to be done to save the valley communities and so a valley’s
strategy was put into place thanks to the M4 a networks of roads leading
into the valleys was built taking work that would have been located near
Aberafan before the M4 was now diverting up into the valleys replacing
the lost coal industry tempted again by grants to locate in that area,
I do not begrudge them their successes for their loss was as great as
ours because of the M4 in the loss of their coal industry.
But what of the community that was Aberafan it was made up of families
who had lived in the same locality for over two hundred years, when the
M 4 came they ripped the heart out of the town from which it has never
recovered. The town market should have been spared the bulldozer, for
that had always been the focal point of Aberafan there meetings had taken
place under the clock in fine weather outside in the square, in bad weather
inside the large arcade area, On New Years Eve from all corners of Aberafan
people would gather in the market square and dance until midnight struck
on the old clock in older times music supplied by local amateur musicians
playing brass instruments drums and accordions, later music was supplied
by the furniture shop Cavendish who would allow a “Stereo Gram”
to be placed at its shop doorway blasting out music from records. Every
day business carried on in the market was that of every town market of
that time, farmers had stalls selling their produce from vegetables to
raw meat, cooked meats cured meats, and dairy produce their wives would
be selling their home cooked bread and cakes, there were stalls selling
tools and ironmongery farm supply stalls garden supplies clothing stalls.
Grocery and foodstuff stalls Fishmongers stalls, the produce we could
buy in that one area was tremendous it supplied all our needs. When the
bulldozers moved in and tore down the old town centre and surrounding
commercial area they not only tore down buildings they tore apart a community
that has never recovered. We knew each family or a member of a family
we worked together were at school together socialised together all that
came to an end with the birth of the M4. Our entertainment establishments
were razed to the ground old pubs with their traditions. Workingmen’s
clubs like the Band club (The Progressive ) nicknamed the Band club because
it allowed one of the local Brass bands to practice there. The Workman’s
club with its fine architecture and New Hall Dance room these and others
like them replaced by tinsel palaces ugly buildings with no character
and soon no clientele as the traditional drinking man took his custom
to outlying areas like Briton Ferry and Neath with their unspoiled pubs
and clubs, as this is supposed to be a snapshot enough said on Aberafan
Town.
What was it like to live through the actual building of the M4 one word
describes it HORRENDOUS. I was in my early twenties when the M4 first
intruded into my life, our street had been a street of five rows of terraced
houses two on the north side three on the south side with the Vivian Square
at the entrance these two areas a community within a community although
we were part of Aberafan both the square and Llewellyn street were seen
as set apart there were other like areas within the borough as no doubt
I shall soon be informed of.
Vivian square was razed to the ground its residents scattered to new homes
in all parts of Port Talbot in its place was built the Aberafan centre
three of the terraced rows were demolished in Llewellyn street leaving
two that have existed almost in isolation to the rest of the town its
residents having to mount campaigns to get services into the street. For
three years we lived in perpetual dust and dirt from the building of the
M4 that was being built just yards from our homes and watched as each
day it climbed higher until it towered above our rooftops it is impossible
to convey in writing what conditions were like for those of us that had
to endure the daily strain of living under those conditions Heavy lorries
with loads of various materials and waste from the construction of the
M4 passed within two yards of our front doors in the top block in a constant
stream of noise, dust and vibration cement trucks emptied their loads
within four yard of the fronts of our homes scaffolding erected as the
walls of the M4 climbed higher each day making our roadway even narrower.
The road surface gave way under the constant heavy traffic sinking in
places to a depth of two feet the road soon became so uneven that the
underside of our cars would ground on the uneven surface I was on the
tank training ground of Senalaeger in Germany when in the army on an exercise
called Holdfast the deteriorating conditions of our roadway within the
street was as bad as any track I saw at that training ground eventually
we had to leave our cars at the bottom of the street as the damage to
the underside of our cars was a daily expense too much bare. Our quality
of life was a disaster this continued for us for a period of three years.
But did not end there for as we all know our town was like a bombsite
for many years after the completion of the M4. We had no respite in our
street as we fought to get our roadway resurfaced the noise from passing
traffic above our homes was a constant drumming until just recently they
resurfaced the M4 with a sound proof tarmac this took forty years to come
about. Debris rained down onto our street from the vehicles above that
passed our homes on the M4 in the late nineteen nineties they at last
put a barrier wall that deflected most of the debris back onto the road
although small chips continue to crack my upstairs window panes. Dust
continued to plague us until we campaigned to get the side of the street
that had been demolished grassed over we live with the sight of the M4
pillars. And what of the compensation we received for living this horrendous
life. Not a single penny.
So did the M4 Motorway benefit the people of Aberafan I think not for
the future and all the promises made of a brighter tomorrow, I believe
them to be EMPTY,
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