98) Taibach Rugby Club

Continuing with the line and wash sketch theme here. Taibach Rugby Club allegedly was a favourite haunt of Port Talbot's most famous son, Richard Burton (although Oscar winner Sir Anthony Hopkins runs him a close record, and Oscar nominated Michael Sheen isn't that far behind either). In this century alone two British Lions players have come through its ranks, so the club is obviously doing something right. More importantly, it was also the venue for my son's 18th Birthday party - which was longer ago than I care to discuss at this moment. 

97) J.D.Wetherspoons Lord Caradoc

An impulse sketch this one. Two of my daughters told me that they were taking my grandchildren out to breakfast at Wetherspoons, and would I like to come. On a whim I took the A4 sketchbook with me, and I made this sketch of the interior of the bar/restaurant while the nippers were chowing down. I think my daughters were a little put out that I was concentrating on the sketch so much, consider my wrists duly slapped. As for the name of the bar, well Caradoc ap Iestyn was reputedly the first Lord of Fan, who built the original motte and bailey castle, commemorated in the names of nearby Bailey Street and Castle Street. 

89) Bar Gallois, Aberavon

Almost 30 years ago I made my first tentative steps in the world of quizzing. My talent was spotted and I was invited to play in a team in the Port Talbot Quiz League. It was after the league and Cup grand finals in the Jersey Beach Hotel - since demolished - that our triumphant team adjourned to this very pub. In those days it was called the High Tide. This was a Friday evening, and it really was my first ever experience of what I believe is commonly known as a 'grab-a-granny' night. That was an experience.

Well, since then the Bar Gallois has changed hands, changed names, and gone upmarket, and it's a very popular fixture on the local restaurant circuit. 

70) Watching the Lions v. All Blacks - Twelve Knights pub, Margam

I sketched this surreptitiously during the second test between the British Lions and the All Blacks, in the Twelve Knights Pub in Margam. This is only one small part of  large pub restaurant. If you're wondering whence it derives the name, there was a legend which persisted up until the 19th century that Robert Fitzhamon, a Norman follower of William I, conquered the whole of Glamorgan with just 12 knight followers. Fitzhamon existed, and most of the knights ascribed to him also definitely existed. However the legend is just that, a legend, with little or no literal truth behind it. 

67) The Refresh - former Cymmer Railway Station

This building is both another connection with railways, and also another example of a good building being repurposed. Like the former Cynonville Station (Number 45 of my 100 Faces of Port Talbot - Former Cynonville Station) Cymmer Station was closed, and the tracks ripped up. Several miles along the same cycle track that passes through Cynonville, the Station found a new lease of life as the “Refresh”, short for the Refreshment Rooms. It’s a great place, and I’m particularly fond of it since twenty years ago, my father in law and I used to run from the car park in Pontrhydyfen all the way to Cymmer, and the Refresh was always a welcome sign that we’d be turning round and heading back, and the incline is very gently downhill on the way back. 

With this photo I had to ‘cheat’ a bit to make the sketch from the vantage point I wanted. From the main road to Port Talbot, you get a view down to the Refresh, but it’s so far away that I couldn’t see it well enough to make the sketch. So I took a photo using the zoom lens of my camera, and the sketch is based on the photo that I took.

56) Bridge over River Afan to Aberafan Shopping Centre

The River Afan passes through the centre of the town, past the Aberafan shopping centre, and this bridge gives direct access into the shopping centre. It’s small and inoffensive, considering that it must have been built in the 1970s, and I rather like it. The building above the shopping centre is a tower block which was probably an eyesore from the day it was built. Certainly I don’t remember there ever being a time when I wouldn’t have rated it high on the list of Port Talbot’s ugliest buildings. It’s currently being refurbished, hence the sheeting and scaffolding.

9) Mavericks - Aberavon Beach

Mavericks was the last name of this building, which has been a pub, club or bar since before I came to Port Talbot. When I first moved here it was the Port Talbot RAF Association Club, and it had a massive RAF roundel painted on the side of the building. This stands at the beach end of Victoria Road, several hundred yards from Jubilee House, shown in the previous picture.