NEWS ARCHIVE

24 December 2007
Merry Christmas to everyone who reads the site and uses the board. Web Design Wales updated with new sites and good luck to Ponty (4th place in league) when they take on C****** (who are last but 13 in league) over Christmas.

12 December 2007
Been a bit busy with web design and photography this last month so apologies for lack of news, although a religious debate seems to be raging on the board and this time its not about rugby! Someone posted a picture of a bearded man and everyone thought it was just too horrible for words... Mmm, anyway, enough of that attention seeking nobody. Pedestrianised Ponty seems to be OK as long as you avoid buses and taxis and anyone who feels like it... although we have heard the council may try using the rising bollards sometimes. And before anyone complains its not catching. Recent bimbles been added btw.
On the pub front lots of great bands seem to be frequenting CYB lately. The legendary Meic Stevens even played there last week and was awesome! We did hear the police were going to arrest drunken people causing hassle as well which is also good news for the town. The weather has put a dampener on the local rugby for a while but who cares anymore now that top flight rugby has vanished from Wales. Maybe Warren Gatland will see the sense in a valleys team (maybe not - it may affect his pension plan).
 

11 November 2007
Poppy Day today. Ponty beat top of table Neef to go 6th in table with no-hopers C****** last but four.
 

20 October 2007
Great to see SA shut up the English media and nice to see Ponty beat Newport. We posted some photos of the precinct here a while back and a couple of weeks later RCT have been and painted over most of the obscenities - well done! Great to see us having a positive impact on cleaning up the town. Shame they didn't listen about what we said about St Catherine's. Mind you, still time to save Sardis and get a new sports centre and pool on old BL site??? Clocks go back soon so those winter blues will be setting in - perhaps time to take in a show? CYB or Globetrotters maybe? New Facebook site for the Welsh Poetry Competition is launched. (You must have a FB account yourself of course).
 

26 September 2007
Lots of plans afoot to develop town by various interested parties. The Observer featured one such plan last week - the buildings to replace the Beiruit-type precinct look like some sort of KGB torture chamber (Bulgarian branch), while another set of plans involve getting rid of Ponty rugby club (from Sardis, with no provision for a new stadium) to make way for housing and a small swimming pool, car park in the Park and changing the road system to make it harder for motorists to drive faster than 1 mph (i.e. Angharad Walk 2 - the return of the evil developer) which hopefully will not be showing at a council chamber near you. Oh dear. Time to fill out those emigration forms again.
 

18 September 2007
Looks to be some movement on the pedestrianisation of Taff Street... maybe? We've heard a rumour that Ponty rugby might be going to play in Ponty Park and Sardis Road will be sold off. Oh dear.

5 September 2007
World Cup kicks off Sunday and Wales need a good start. Bimbling about has been updated to reflect Taff Trail Challenge last weekend and the message board is in full swing again after a certain individual tried to stop us offering a great free service to the community.
 

25 August 2007
Take a look at what Ponty was like 30+ years ago. To see our old video clips visit the history page.
 

19 August 2007
Pub guide updated a bit, what's on pages changed, links updated, Welsh Poetry site updated with photos from event.
 

16 August 2007
The winners of the Welsh Poetry Competition can now be viewed online. Apologies for the downtime in our message board earlier in the week, this was due to Jonathon Bishop who threatened us with legal action over some immature argument. We decided to wipe the board clean of all messages as a result. We have also banned the above individual and hope his constant harassment and abuse of other members stops as a result otherwise we will have to consider taking legal action ourselves over his behaviour.
 

8 August 2007
The winners of the Welsh Poetry Competition 2007 will be announced next week at a prize giving evening at Pontypridd Library. Winners will also be published in the Welsh Academi's A470 magazine. More info. on the website. Ponty rugby fixtures updated on website.
 

6 July 2007
Nearly 10 years ago we posted some rather depressing and ugly photographs of Ponty town in the hope of waking up both the residents and more importantly the councillors and decision makers in RCT. Nearly 10 years on and nothing much seems to have changed. We are one top flight rugby team less and have a monstrous development at St Catherine's corner, but some things in town seem to stay the same. An example is the old Brown Lennox site... What is to become of this huge empty site? We'd like a sports centre, swimming pool, the canal cleaned up, visitor centre, a few small, environmentally friendly houses and shops built. Maybe a small skate park for the kids? There's enough room certainly. I wonder what we'll get and how soon it will be? Answers can be found on the message board no doubt...
 

24 June 2007
The first Welsh Poetry Competition closes today and judge John Evans has a mammoth task sifting through the hundreds of entries before deciding on the winners. The website gives more details of what's happening next... Homepage updated too.
 

21 June 2007
Fairtrade Picnic in Ponty Park - Sat 30th June - see message board for details. The first Welsh Poetry Competition (2007) closes to entries this Sunday and has seen a huge response in it's first year. Prizes and winners will be announced on the website and also at Pontypridd Library in August. Already we are confident of doubling next years prize money! More details on website. Surprise call up for ex-Ponty lock Will James at the expense of ex-Ponty lock Brent Cockbain for the RWC squad. If only we had a better coach I could see us doing rather well. Unfortunately Paul Turner is still at Newport. More rugby news is that Richard Parks is looking to move back to Wales, possibly the Dragons.
 

2 June 2007
Another great bimble done over the Whitsun holiday, details in the usual place. Welsh Poetry Competition doing really well and now in it's last month so get those entries in and win some money! Wales' second team lose to Oz again. This time it's a real hammering and only Colin Charvis seemed to be worthy of a place in the first team. Gareth Jenkins has to go though, even before the RWC. Put Paul Turner in we say.
Links page updated. May 2007 sees a milestone for us as we get over 1 million hits in a month!
 

10 May 2007
Election fever is over and we still have “donkey syndrome” in Ponty it seems. Anyway, we’ll say it, even though the Observer didn’t want to – “Well done Mike Powell!” The local boy did good taking 1000’s of votes from Jane Davidson in the Ponty poll. Obviously people are starting to take note of what is or what is not happening in town and voting to try to change things. Maybe next time we'll see a bigger swing or by then we'll have things done for us. On the regeneration front St. Catherine’s development is well underway and soon we’ll have yet more horrible, ugly concrete buildings in town but this time with the added bonus of yet more queues of cars and our lovely church blocked from view. We also notice that the Brown & Lenox site is falling down around us so perhaps our AM can think big and secure us some WAG funding for a state of the art sports centre and swimming pool? Maybe local and national governments could stop wasting money on pointless websites and initiatives and put the money to some good instead? I notice JD has in fact promised us a pool for the town in this week’s Observer so here’s your chance baby – an underground car park with sports centre, a few small eco-housing units and a visitor centre for the canal on top. While we’re on the subject of election pledges, another one was to tidy the town (even though RCT already pay road cleaners and have on-the-spot litter fines). We remember Labour leader Russell Roberts promising the same about the Taff Walkway years ago and we’re still waiting… Lots of good posts (as always) on the message board and a rumour that the Observer may want to use the comments of our users in the local paper – I wonder if they’ll offer to pay us? Hits hit a new record in April with nearly 800,000 on website and board. The end of the rugby season approaches with Ponty seeing the retirement of “The Chief” and a good overall season. Coach Simon King is rumoured to be joining the Ospreys instead of Lyn Jones, but has actually joined Aberavon. Wales get ready for the RWC with a weakened squad travelling to Australia (Mmm?) and then games against England, Argentina and France. Business advertising is to be kept at £25 a year for an advert in our directory. Just email the site to advertise.

28 April 2007
The Full Ponty (26th May) is back again after ruining our cricket pitch last year. Let's hope the Lost Prophets fans who will come to town from all over the world get shown a good ole valleys welcome and the streets are cleaned, pubs are given extra opening hours, the police are ever-present and maybe the town council could invest in some flowers to pretty the town and Old Bridge up? And let's not forget the people who live in town - maybe this year our children can be allowed access to their War Memorial Park?
 

26 April 2007
Election fever grips the board with every man, woman and child slagging off the Labour party, apart from the Ponty rag that seems to want to re-elect them judging by the obvious bias in the letters pages.
Dave has another column in the paper this week. Curry Club had a quick bite to eat last w/e as well which was jolly nice. Looks like U2 - Vertigo tour next... May Day Bimble cancelled due to Warren and Andy - but we're aiming for a bank holiday Brecon Bimble instead. Welsh Poetry contest going well with lots of entries but still time to whip one off and post it to us.
 

8 April 2007
Record number of hits again last month - 690,545!!! Wales RWC fixtures, pre-RWC warm-ups and next year's 6 Nations added. Welsh Poetry Competition entries going well but could do with lots more. So far we've had entries from as far away as North Carolina, Germany and even Treorchy! Be nice if the winners were from Ponty though so get scribbling and download an entry form. Great news in pubs around town as the smoking ban comes in. Not sure I agree with the lepers blocking my way in to pubs though, can't wait for the cold winters!
 

18 March 2007
Great game at 10 for James Hook sees Wales finally play some rugby, let's hope he stays there.
 

3 March 2007
Got an email from Tony Blair to say he wouldn't be giving us a Bank Holiday on St David's Day, nor Scotland or England one on their special days. Shame the present government doesn't listen to it's people... now why does that sound familiar to us here in Ponty? Curry Club gets a mention (but no web link) in Western Mail today, as does the Welsh Poetry Competition which is nice, although it could have mentioned prizes and the judge and been about a million times bigger!
 

25 Feb 2007
Lots of websites link to the Welsh Poetry competition which is good news. Entry forms available online or at local libraries. Lots of response to our "Students" column in last week's Observer on our message board with a few students even joining in. On the rugby front Wales play well against France so maybe there is hope for us... Great news at C****** as well as the Ospreys start buying up their players. Mike Phillips being the first to go. Lets hope he's not the last! Ponty Curry Club are out again for St David's Day this Friday (a day late).
 

8 Feb 2007
Launched today The Welsh Poetry Competition - click here is a new poetry competition where the aim is to encourage and foster the wealth of creative writing talent that exists in Wales but currently languishes in the doldrums. The aim is to encourage and inspire people to capture life in the present day and to give a voice to a new generation of poets and writers. Not interested in purely academic types of literature but much rather see pure raw passion burst onto the creative writing scene in Wales. Looking to the future we hope our competition will become a truly international competition, accessible to all and truly respected as an honest appreciation of populist, good quality, innovative, work.

www.welshpoetry.co.uk
 

Elsewhere in Wales heavy snow brings everything to a standstill including Welsh rugby fans heading to Scotland...

2 Feb 2007
Review of "Flagstones", Treforest added to pub guide, couple more digital photos added to website, Labour Day Bimble sorted and PCC out and about again soon, this time with minibus. 6 Nations kicks off with Italy looking good and Ireland favourite to win Championship. Wales pick a weird side though and can't expect much this year.
 

23 Jan 2007
Dave Lewis Photography updated to include a digital section. More photos to be added as time goes on so call back for latest additions.

18 Jan 2007
Ponty rugby doing well in the Premiership, which is more than can be said for the so-called regions ahead of the 6 Nations which starts next month. Lots of posts about the anti-Ponty feeling at the University of Glamorgan and people again wondering why no students come into town. Ah well their loss. Plenty of debate about the much needed Church Village by-pass, the Gartholwg Centre; with it's lovely new website (guess who), the new school and the house building program in Llantwit Fadre/Church Village. Links page updated.
 

Happy New Year 2007
Welcome to January 2007 as we say goodbye to a year of celebrations arranged by RCT to celebrate the biggest year in our history. Mmm? What celebrations I hear you say... ah well we hate to say we told you so. Great result in the rugby as Ponty beat the city slickers away from home to stay in the top 4 in the league. Board a bit quiet in the run up to Christmas but still a huge December with record hits. Hopefully we'll see a huge influx of new PC users as the New Year starts and we can get more banter going. December hits - 645,958.
 

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