Amidst “Farteg” controversy support comes from a school in the town.

A consultation was launched at the beginning of this year to discuss the place names of 22 communities across Torfaen with the hope to celebrate the heritage of these places that currently have ‘English’ names.

Amongst these was the proposition to change Varteg, near Blaenavon, to “Farteg”.

This suggestion has already attracted many negative comments due to the unpleasant connotations with the spelling including Torfaen’s long-serving Mp, Paul Murphy who claims “‘Varteg’ is not an English word, and so translating it is totally unnecessary.”

Headmaster, Ryan Parry of Ysgol Bryn Onnen, a welsh medium school situated in Varteg has confirmed that whether spelt with a ‘v’ or a ‘f’ the name will still be pronounced as ‘Varteg’ making worries over connotations somewhat unnecessary.

During a new consultation the Welsh Language Commissioner has suggested an alternative of ‘Y Farteg’ a name already adopted on Ysgol Bryn Onnen headers due to their bilingual nature.

Mr Parry himself believes that “living in Wales, there is a legitimate need to be bilingual and if there is an opportunity for this I would definitely advocate it; it would be a shame to lose our bilingual culture like other countries like Scotland and Ireland, it’s what is unique about Wales.’