This is the second edition of the Treharris and District website, my first effort was dated and became redundant, so I built this one with the help of Ashley Bale.
Many people have helped by donating photographs and different items to this website, but Robert Amos from Nelson really has made this website so much better with the items he has contributed. Another major source of photographs is courtesy of Cyril Jones (Hank) the wedding photographer and former Taff Merthyr Banksman…if you want wedding photos or any special occasions photographed Hank is excellent his number is 01443 450934 Thomas Street Nelson.
We are blessed with some excellent photographers in our district and Lee Dare is another profession who has help me build the site, he is a local lad who does a lot of work in our area and can be contacted on 01443 413723. Then we have the fantastic aerial photographs from Jason Jones (07944441812) Gary Durbin who did quite a few then and now photos for the site, and excellent Janice Lane who has a brilliant Flicker page full of fantastic shots from our district and further afield
https://www.flickr.com/photos/trelewis/albums/72157594459866627
Then the hundreds of amateurs like me who take photos for fun, they are all included on the website, some are blurry, out of focus, some are incredibly clear, but all have their value.
I have also taken photographs from Facebook from various contributors and like I always say if there is anything you want removing from the site, please let me know as soon as you can, don’t want to upset anyone the site is about memories of our district.
If you need to contact me and would like to contribute stories or pictures, please email me on-
Ppaul69@aol.com
My name is Paul Corkrey, I was born at 76, Cilhaul, Treharris in 1959. My grandparents lived there, Edwin and Louise Corkrey. My father was Jimmy Corkrey, he was employed at the Trelewis drift mine. My mother was Marion, she was born a Chapman, and was brought up in 50 High street Trelewis, now demolished due to subsidence in the village. I lived in the new Wimpey estate in Trelewis (built in 1960) throughout my Youth and attended Trelewis primary school before entering the grammar school at Pengam. At sixteen I left school to take a mining apprentice at Britannia colliery, I was then employed as a Trainee at Taff Merthyr colliery in Trelewis. I had a serious accident in the B4 coal face on May 9, 1978, and I was the first major accident victim to be treated at the newly opened Prince Charles Hospital. The severity of the accident meant many months in the hospital and over 40 operations.
I was married at St Mathias church by vicar Winkle on February 12 1983, after being allowed home from the hospital for the weekend. The reception was held at the New club, Treharris. I continued to have problems with my injuries and it was decided that the best option left was to amputate my right leg, Mr Hombal, my surgeon, and a resident of Treharris in Pantanas had saved my leg for nearly five years and was disappointed but at the end of the day I was newly wed and amputation meant a better quality of life for me than spending more time in hospital.
Following the miners’ strike I started work back at the Taff Merthyr colliery on the surface, I stayed there until a few months before it closed in 1993. I have two grown-up sons, Geraint and Peter Corkrey and a Handsome grandson called Taylor and three beautiful granddaughters called Alexia, Olivia and Reeva. I currently live in Bargoed Close, Oaklands Street, Treharris and apart from a year in the Rhondda, I have always lived in the Treharris postal district.
I was visiting the Treharris Library in January 2009, and I did find information and photographs with the help of the staff and paid many visits, however, the area was also poorly served on the internet. February 2009 and I was at the Merthyr Library, once again I was astounded at the lack of reference books about the bottom of the valley in comparison to Merthyr itself. Carolyn Jacob, one of the librarians said that there was not really much about Treharris district on-line and she was trying to collate information herself, to help patrons who attended the library. She sent me the information she already had and I decided to build a website dedicated to the Treharris Postal district…that would include the six villages in the Treharris area, Bedlinog, Trelewis, Edwardsville, Nelson and Quakers Yard.
Although I spend a lot of time on my computer I am no expert, a lad from Cilfynydd, Ashley Bale, kindly built the website, using the information I had collated. We bought the domain name ”treharrisdistrict.co.uk” and will keep it live.
The site is absolutely non profit making, it will include business names that are currently thriving in the towns and businesses that no longer exist, no charge or fees will be expected for this, they are purely here as a record of life in the area.
The whole website is designed as a work in progress and it will never be completed. I will put as much accurate information on the site that I can accumulate, hopefully, other people will come along and help me continue to build the site. Any stories, information, pictures etc…that are not copy written would be gratefully accepted and added to the site. I want the site to be used as an educational tool for the future generations and also as a source of pleasure and information for everyone who has lived in the area or has an association with the Treharris district.
I am going to need help and hopefully, the schools may get involved and the local residents with a bit of spare time on their hands, will also get involved. Together we can create, build and maintain a valuable resource and testament to the people who made the Treharris area what it is today.
During May 2009, Leighton Smart introduced me to an old friend I had not seen for many years, Robert Amos from High Close in Nelson. This proved to be a massive boost for this website, especially the Nelson section…Robert has a hobby of collection things of interest, especially items relating to our district.
He had the most extensive mining memorabilia collection I have ever seen outside of mining museums. He also has collected checks from collieries, clubs and shops that used to be used to exchange for goods many years ago, once again he had an amazing collection.
He also had an enormous album of photographs and files of information he has gathered about our district, he wanted to share these with the wider world and between us, we put these on this website.
I would like to give a massive thank you to Robert Amos. Sadly, Robert passed away August 2018 may he rest in peace.
Another big contributor was the greatly missed Roger Vowles from Treharris, his album of photographs feature throughout the site, may he rest in peace.
There have been many other contributions from so many local people and we are grateful to all of them and have named them throughout the various pages of the site.
Thank you everyone
Paul