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Aberdare Boys’ Grammar School

Memories and Memorabilia

Old School

A photo of the planting of the Coronation Tree in 1953

from John Bowen via Dave Lewis

This photo was published in the Aberdarian in the summer of 1954 without any details, but this is a much better copy of it. According to an item in the Centenary Booklet of 1996 the tree was a beech sapling planted on the 14th of October 1953. It looks as if it was planted in the grounds just behind the old bus shelter which stood on the pavement outside the school wall near the lower gate. This shelter was later taken down and replaced by one which was built into the wall perhaps in the early 1960s, and it’s possible that the tree was removed at that time.

Tree Planting in 1953

Although we haven’t identified all the people in the photo, Dave has told us that the group includes:

T B Reynolds (Headmaster) and J T Bowen (Welsh Master).
Mr D Jones (Caretaker) and an unknown groundsman.
Gareth Freebury, Ernie Evans, John Beddoe, Hugh Jenkins, John Lloyd, Morley Thomas, Brian Cooke, Alan Biggins, Penfro Williams, John Bowen, John Manser, Colin Burke, Howard Britz, Keith Rowlands, Gwyn Thomas, Ken Powell, Russ Yates, Roger Coulthurst, Dewi Aeron Davies, Bill Morgan.