Cwmbran celebrates its 75th anniversary this week and a resident looks back on his time in the town he has called home for his whole life.
Malcolm Paul Austin, 70, grew up in Croesyceiliog and has lived in the Cwmbran area his whole life.
“Cwmbran new town was great to grow up in, it had great shopping facilities, stadium, swimming pools, schools, cinema, doctors’ surgeries, a health centre and offered apprenticeships and jobs for both young and old,” said Mr Austin.
Cwmbran was designated a new town on November 4, 1949. It was one of two in Wales, the other being Newtown in Powys.
Mr Austin said: “It has grown and matured in the last 75 years but in my opinion it’s still a great place to live, work, play and bring children up in."
Mr Austin and his twin sister, Susan, were born in May 1955 at the County Hospital Panteg.
Their father was the chauffeur and mechanic for Guest Keen & Nettlefolds (Cwmbran) Ltd, Clomendy Road, Cwmbran and their mother a housewife.
"We lived in one of the first brand new Wimpey ‘no fines’ poured concrete in situ houses at 91 North Road, Croesyceiliog, Cwmbran in what was to become a new suburb of the Cwmbran new town," said Mr Austin.
Cwmbran was expanding to meet the need that came with more people looking for work.
“Most of the housing in Cwmbran was built for the new workers that came down from the valleys and beyond to work in Lucas Girling, Saunders Valve and Alfa Laval,” said Mr Austin.
However, alongside the new town infrastructure and businesses there were still many old customs in the town.
"As a child I remember the old rag and bone man on his horse and cart, the knife sharpener with his grindstone [and] the coal man," said Mr Austin.
Mr Austin remembers the harsh winters without central heating, saying: "In the morning you had to scrape the ice off the metal framed windows to see out."
He also remembers his great grandmother's outdoor toilet which she had nicknamed "The Thunder box".
He and his friends spent the summers outside.
"Summers seemed long hot and sunny where we played conkers, marbles, hopscotch, skipping, pogo sticks, space hoppers, building buggies out of old pram wheels, making dens down the woods, taking car numbers, train spotting and stamp collecting to name just a few."
He also has fond memories of trips to the seaside with family, saying: “In summer we would take the steam train to Barry Island with my grandparents. Fond memories of times past.”
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