Tributaries of the River Ogmore


A photograph scanned from a negative from the collection of the Late Glyn Miller. Glyn was an enthusiastic and very proficient photographer taking photographs from the 1940s until he passed away in 2006. Most of his black and white negatives are of the late 1950s to early 1970s era, recording the changing face of his home town of Bridgend in South Wales. The photograph shown here is of his son, fishing in the River Ewenny on Treoes Common standing in the shallows in his wellingtons. The location I have been unable to positively identify as the river at this stretch has been mostly culverted within concrete walls.

A late 1950s photograph from a wonderful set of 120-size negatives from the camera of Keith Coles who was a long-standing member of Bridgend & District Camera Club. Keith passed away some years ago and it was thought his collection of photographs and negatives had been subsequently lost for future generations, but I am delighted to have tracked them down and found some little gems amongst them, like this photograph from 1958/9.

There is so much detail in this photo that is evocative of a past era: boys in short trousers, short back and sides haircuts, well-worn jackets with patches on the elbows, shoes with worn-down heels, clothing with holes and tears, all indicative of a community that was not well-off financially. There was nothing unusual in any of this, that's just how it was during that period of hardship in the late 1950s.

The two young boys aged about 7 or 8 in this photograph do look as if they have been partially posed by the photographer, the lad on the bridge is certainly aware of the photographer; he is probably a bit envious of his young friend paddling in the stream in his wellingtons. The boy was probably wearing his only pair of shoes and he would likely have had a severe scolding had he gone home with wet feet. The other boy paddling in the stream is probably able to do so because his everyday shoes are his black wellington boots!

Anyway, apart from enjoying the 1950s sentiment of this image, I have added this photo hoping someone will recognise the location. I assume it is in the Bridgend area but I'm not able to identify the bridge or the stream. It could possibly be in the Garw or lower Garw area where the photographer lived and worked.

I like to imagine that one day, in the future, someone will be interested in, and want to track down the vast collection of photographs and negatives I took in the 1970s, in the same way as I actively pursue the work of Bridgend photographers of the 1950s and 60s.

Here is another black and white photograph from a past era, this time it is one of mine from June 1975. I've no idea who these kids were, they just appeared when I was attempting some creative photography at the little Nant Ffornwg stream that runs through the meadow just below Penyfai Church, I had seen cows drinking there the week before and with the right light wanted to capture them. In the 1970s it was considered acceptable to photograph children, they knew what I was doing, as they were chatting to me whilst rummaging for tiddlers in the bottom of the stream.

Another negative from this shoot shows there was another very young child of about four or five with these lads; how often these days do you see kids out playing unaccompanied like these boys? The value of adultless play in the local environment is now a thing of the past I fear! I think this photo now has much more social interest and historic value than the cows I had hoped to find there that day!

Photograph taken with a much used and weel-worn Microflex TLR bought for £9.10s at Dixons in Cardiff, in the days when they sold used cameras. It was my favourite camera and served me well for many years even though the shutter button never worked and I had to use a cable release. It finally came to grief when I banged it after jumping off a wall whilst photographing a carnival. I bought a Yashica TLR to replace it but hated it and consequently that has seen little use. This photograph was taken on FP4 (120) film and developed in Microphen so I could uprate it to 200ASA.

Nant Cwintin, the little stream that rises north of Tythegston then wends its way down through Cwm Cwintin towards Candleston Castle where it eventually dissolves into the sand at Merthyr Mawr Warren. At certain times of the year, and after heavy rain, the stream will flow all the way to the River Ogmore near the estuary.

This is one of my photographs from 1974 and shows some children from an organised party enjoying themselves in their wellington boots damming the stream on a mild March day. From left to right we see William, Andrew and Paula, with Brian emptying the bucket. In those days when boys and girls usually only wore black wellingtons, I remember Brian's were bright orange!

This photograph was found in a box of family artefacts; it has at some time been framed which would seem to indicate that the children were family members or at least well known to my grandparents. There is no clue as to who the children are but it would appear from the clothing that the 1920s period is a likely contender. There is a possibility that the children are part of the Simmonds family but I can't make the ages of the three (if they are siblings) fit in with any branch of the family tree.

I am also intrigued by the location, is it in or near Bridgend? Possible contenders are;

Parc Brook which wends it way from Cefn Glas down to Newbridge Fields passing under a few stone bridges en-route to the River Ogmore.

Morfa Brook, now mostly culvetted under Bridgend Town Centre.

Or do you have any other suggestion?

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