Ogmore Valley Heritage Hub

Ogmore Vale Workman`s Hall and Institute
(22nd July 1885 – 11th March 1981)

In 1872, a meeting took place in the Corbet Arms Hotel in Ogmore Vale. There were about six people present and the object of the meeting was to try to establish a “reading room” for the people of the valley.

From this very humble but farsighted meeting, a small building was erected on the plot, which later became the site of the Workman’s Hall, shown in red on the map opposite.

This original building was officially opened by Mr W Blakemore, the General Manager of North’s Navigation Company on July 22 1885. and was in use until 1893 when the newly built Tynewydd School was opened and all the pupils from the original wooden Tynewydd school moved in. The now defunct school building was used as the second Ogmore Vale Workman’s Hall, though the site was known for many years afterwards as “University Buildings”.

So it was that in 1909 a decision was taken to replace the ageing reading room, which was probably too small, with an even larger building that could more adequately serve the needs of the people of the valley.

Swansea Education Authority was the leaseholder of the land so it was to them that the committee turned in order to obtain a lease for the ground. There must have been either hard bargaining by the committee or very generous benefactors in Swansea Education Authority for a 99 year lease was obtained on the ground for the princely sum of one shilling per year. The funds held by the hall committee at the time amounted to £1,100, quite a considerable sum of money, but not enough to secure the building which would fit the aspirations of the committee. In order to boost the holdings, the workmen of both Wyndham and Aber Collieries gave a promise to increase their annual subscriptions by way of donations to the building fund. As soon as building commenced and true to their word, the Wyndham workmen sent a donation of £577 18s 5d and the Aber workmen £230 11s 7d. In addition it was also agreed to increase their contributions from ½d in the pound of their earnings to 1d in the pound and consideration was also given to increasing it further to 2d in the pound.

There were also donations from wealthy people in the area and most notably a donation of £200 from the late King. Mr Arthur Lawrence who represented the Duchy of Lancaster, was instrumental in bringing the proposed hall to the attention of the king. When all of these monies were collected it amounted to £395 13s 6d.

The sums received, with the net income from ordinary contributions since building operations had commenced, amounted to about £2,700. The estimated cost of the building including architect fees, wages of the clerk of works, and furnishings amounted in round figures to £9,000. Of that sum £2,700 had been paid and there was a debt of £6,300 remaining.

Mr Watkin Williams undertook the task of building the hall and the foundation stones were laid in September 1909. Local stone and red brick were to be used in its construction thus the building would be in keeping with the surrounding houses etc. Low-pressure hot water radiators and pipes would provide heating and it would be lit by electricity generated by a separate plant fed by suction gas.
The building was one of the largest of its kind in South Wales with seating for 1,000 persons in the main hall and 200 in the lesser hall, it also provided a billiard room with four tables and a refreshment bar. There was a large suite of committee rooms and also accommodation for a caretaker and of course reading rooms and a library -the prime reason for the hall in the first place.

In order to try to convey the depth of feeling shown by those who had strived to bring this project to fruition, I cannot do better than to repeat the words spoken at the opening ceremony.

“The difficulties had been many and he was afraid that there were still rocks ahead. It was not a light matter for a body consisting entirely of working men to undertake to find that money, but the place had grown to such an extent that the demand for the building was considerable, and though they felt the burden would be hard to bear for some time to come, they were of opinion they had been justified in carrying out the scheme. The object of an institution of that kind was to cater not only for the amusement of members, but to cultivate their minds artistically, intellectually, and morally. That could not be done in a building devoid of taste and beauty. They had too many ugly objects in the valley already”.

There now followed a period when use of the building surely justified its building costs, the library eventually becoming a Mecca for students who wished to study using the excellent collection of books held there. The main hall was used as a cinema and was for many years central to the entertainment of the valley.

Amongst the activities that took place alongside billiards and snooker, were games such as dominoes, chess and draughts. The chess team of the 1940s played teams from Barry Bridgend and Kenfig Hill. One player of note was Harry Bothwell and he was always “first board”, in spite of this elevated position he was often defeated by his onetime protégé Glyn Jenkins who was a well-known artist of the valley. The hall was also a venue for John Rees known to many by the nickname of “God” who was the champion draughts player of Wales during this era.

In 1949 a tower clock was erected by public subscription as a tribute to the magnificent courage and undying devotion of the men and women who gave their lives in the two world wars, 1914 – 1918 and 1939 – 1945. There were two clock faces on the south and west of the tower, each 5ft in diameter and of cast bronze with the hands and numerals finished in gold leaf; designed by Mr A.J. Stevens of Messrs Gillett & Johnston Ltd. Of Croydon. The two bells also cast by Gillett and Johnston were an F# Bell weighing over 2 cwt`s, which was used to strike the hours whilst the smaller bell weighing just over 1 cwt was used to strike the quarters in A#. The clocks were unveiled by and dedicated on Sunday, 20th November 1949.

On the night of Wednesday 11 March 1981, following a very heavy storm, the foundations of the hall were undermined and a large section of the building collapsed into the river. Wednesday was a regular Bingo night when up to 200 people spent a pleasant evening together in the comfort of the main hall, luckily, because of the very bad weather the night’s session had been cancelled. Had the regular entertainment proceeded then there is little doubt that many serious injuries and possible deaths could have resulted from the collapse. When the clock tower developed cracks it was decided to demolish the building in the interests of safety. Apart from losing the facility of the hall itself, the valley also lost its chiming clock by which many people checked their own clocks and watches.

When the building was demolished the clock faces were taken to St Fagans in Cardiff for safekeeping, the mechanism to an amateur clock restorer and the bells were put up for sale. These two bells were sold to the Rev Fry of St. Barnabus Church in Southampton, with their re-commissioning in St. Barnabus`s restored clock tower in 2002.

The clock dials and the master clock were retrieved from St Fagans by the Ogmore Valley Local History & Heritage Society and handed to the Cardiff Clock Company for restoration. This was completed in October 2003 and the master clock was originally erected in Ogmore Vale Primary School by kind permission of the Head Teacher, Mr. Paul Booth.

In 2023, the Master Clock was relocated to the Ogmore Valley Heritage Hub.