NEWS ARCHIVE

 

4 June 09

Great win for the Lions this Wed against Transvaal and the Welsh lads played well. New pub opened in Taff St. - The Patriot - real ales and friendly atmosphere. The local paper also has news of a Beirut 2 type development planned for the precinct (Beirut 1) which has Lidl and Wilkinson pencilled in - wow! Can't wait! Also talk of a hotel which Ponty certainly needs. Should take about a year to complete so Christmas 2010 we'll all be buying our Christmas pudding from Lidl - horray! Why am I not happy about this "development" I keep thinking...?

1 June 09

Wins for Wales & Lions with Lee Bryne and Jamie Roberts looking sharp, while Adam Jones and Martyn Williams (despite knobhead Barnes' uneducated comments) also playing well. Lots of nice weather at moment and lots of nice debate on the forum with 120 members now. Could do with 1000 but we'll have to wait until people tire of Facebook I presume :)

 

Election fever grips country, before swine fever has its turn and although everyone is disgusted at the pigs with their snouts in the trough at least people are suitably annoyed enough to talk about politics now and should hopefully all turn out and vote, although the monster raving loonies of the BNP and UKIP might benefit from this :(

22 May 09

New rugby pages finally incorporated into this site, just use the new links above. A few of the old pages kept and updated a bit. The old domain name is up for sale, call it £200 ono? Drop us an email anyway. British Lions tour getting underway soon, although far too many English in there me thinks, plus not enough Cilfynydd boys. Still, there you go.

 

Lots of debate regards BL site and European elections on forum so don't be shy, sign up and tell us what you think. Over 100 members now which is pretty good for the new board.

 

Poetry competition is in last month so still time to enter and win £300 1st prize, £150, 2nd or £75 3rd. Recognition for 17 other writers too! My new book is out now and can be bought online for just £6.99 including postage and packing.

12 May 09

New message board a bit slow these days, maybe its the "blue" colour eh Barney? Anyway, hope to get more posters online soon so look out... Only a month left to enter Welsh Poetry Competition and win 1st Prize of £300 or a runner up cash prize. If you don't enter you can't win as they say.

16 April 09

New message board launched on 13th April. 50+ members in a few days too! Ponty rugby website being incorporated into town site (this one), coming soon.

28 March 09

Dave Lewis' publishes his first book - a poetry collection spanning 24 years. To buy "Layer Cake" just visit his website or click here.

11 March 09

Very quiet recently on the board. Maybe people are reading the site instead?  Wales get ready for Italy this w/e, this author is soon to be an author (more later), poetry competition going well but no entries from Ponty yet!  Are there no poets here? Photography Exhibition - Gartholwg LLC, Friday 20th March - Friday 3rd April.

1 March 09

The Welsh Poetry Competition launches today on St David's Day so time to get writing and send us those poems. We have a new judge in Mike Jenkins and increased prize money this year. All details on the web site - click here. Wales lose to France, Ponty lose to Cross Keys to go out of the Welsh Cup so not much to cheer about on the rugby field. Wales still in with a chance of the championship though.

18 Feb 09

Lots more shops added to web site, few photos updated and a new judge chosen for the Welsh Poetry Competition! All will be revealed on St David's Day so check back then! Wales get off to a great start with 2 out of 2 in the 6 Nations while talk of a valleys region is still very much alive. Town development funds are cut due to the current situation so we wonder what projects will be prioritised? Obviously a sports centre and swimming pool but then again we don't always get "obvious" do we?

3 Feb 09

Thanks to all who made Sue's party such a great night. Thought we might do an annual "50th" every year and make it part of the Ponty social calendar? Thoughts on that at the usual address... Enjoy the snow, more to come the weather men say! :) Just hope the fans arrive safe and warm somewhere between here and Edinburgh as we all get ready for 6 Nations fever again with Wales favourites to win back to back titles. Shopping page and other links updated - remember buy online with us and help keep the site going!

21 Jan 09

After loads of argument about the way forward for the town development we publish a new column on the writing page. Weather hampers rugby for a few weeks but we are assured that the lounge will be ready for the biggest event of the year in 2 weeks time. Web Design Wales launch a new site design (using CSS), but keep prices low. Advertising in the business directory is still only £30 a year (surprised Blueberry's haven't taken us up on it?)

1 Jan 09

Happy New Year to you and Happy 11th Birthday to us.

 

Woolworths, Adams, Stead & Simpson and Ferraris closed, M&S is just an outlet now, we predict more shops (chains) to go under with the credit crunch and increase in internet shopping (just click here for bargains). But, looking on the bright side... maybe now the town planners will see that the only future for towns all over the UK is as "green, tourist" centres - cafes, pubs, food places, parks, squares, statues, fountains, artwork, history, culture, outdoor pursuits etc.

 

What will 2009 bring we wonder? Well, a few things are certain. We have a new judge for the Welsh Poetry Competition... (more later), we will have loads of debate regards the new town development because after 30 yrs+ (and 11yrs of this website) we are told it's finally happening (fingers crossed they don't just pour concrete on things and call it done but take on board what every sane person knows - see above). Wales look to a third Grand Slam in recent years, the prospect of a new valleys region seems likely and there's lots more happening in and around Ponty. So stay tuned to our website and forum for all the latest!

8 Dec 08

Lots of regeneration talk on the message board and quite right too. A new plan in the offing, lets hope they prioritise a sports centre, swimming pool, more parkland, town housing and make any development sustainable.

 

 Taff St

 

The Market Company is due to open Blueberry's this Wednesday which should be good. We've heard it's fantastic! Let's hope it inspires them to clean up the rest of town they own:

 

 Town Hall

19 Nov 08

Lots of updates to the website, including the links, shopping and writing pages (including links to published poems etc.). Plenty of bargains online now for those "early" Christmas shoppers (I'm a Christmas Eve man myself).

 

Wales take on NZ on Saturday but we're not hopeful, especially after wearing yellow last match and playing like a team of Canaries!

 

Photography Exhibition KO's off next Monday @ Gartholwg Lifelong Learning Centre, free entry, 24th Nov-12th Dec, cafe upstairs. Well worth popping along to see.

8 Nov 08

Bad start for Wales in autumn internationals as they lose to SA in Cardiff. Amazon store updated for Christmas, with lots of bargains coming up on the board soon...

18 Oct 08

What's on guide updated. T-shirt shop also has new address - www.pontytown.co.uk/tshirts. RCT finally clean up the wall by the train station (maybe the Queen is coming?). Now we just need Arriva Trains to clean up the station, perhaps open the toilets and police the platform...

 

Rows on the board about £tensofthousands's being wasted on "rubbish" sculptures and artwork for the town. A bit arse backwards if you ask me, we need a nice town first, then artwork afterwards. The lights on the new metal seats in Taff Street don't work for starters! How much did that cost?!

12 Oct 08

Lots of the usual action on our board but a disappointing start to the season for Ponty with just 3 wins out of 5 in the premiership. Political news is that Ponty AM Jane Davidson will stand down in 2011 - would we notice you have to ask? Last chance before Christmas to take advantage of our cheap advertising as the New Year will see us increase our business directory listing to £30 a year. And for those looking for cheap presents this year why not try our shopping page?

20 Sept 08

Few more businesses added to directory (still only £25 a year!), good KO to season last week for Ponty rugby with a great win over Neef, more board members signed up, the sun is out at last and Photography site re-designed.

6 Sept 08

Lots of stuff on the message board - www.pontytown.co.uk/messageboard so why not send the address to your friends and get them posting too.  Links pages updated.

26 Aug 08

Lots of debate regarding the 5th region everywhere. Vote online. New column and possible 5th regional team players we could have. Results of Welsh Poetry Competition now online - click here to read judges comments and the poems themselves.

14 Aug 08

Emailed the BBC last night and got a response beyond our wildest dreams! Asked the same ole question regards a valleys regional rugby team, too many foreign players etc. and BIG Warren (as he'll be known in the valleys if this comes off) gave the right answer. Obviously we can forget what he said about North Wales, that was just to shut up Dai "sold his soul to the devil" Young. This could be the start of something beautiful... See the rugby pages to find links to the news stories. Fixtures added too. New column on how to green our towns in paper this week - click here. Welsh Poetry Competition winners night - CYB, Wed 20th.

5 Aug 08

Lots of the usual activity on the board, but no lawsuits this summer make it a pleasant holiday period. Usual political rants and we even have a new Tory member! Lots of shopping online, 30% off offer from Lonely Planet this month. New Photography site being designed this month also with photos from around the world.

22 June 08

It's that time of year again when someone decides it would be fun to get the message board in trouble (again). Ah well never mind, we'll just have to swallow it, said the actress to the Bishop. The international Welsh Poetry Competition launched in Pontypridd has now closed to entries and results will be out in August. Great to have had entries from as far away as Australia, USA, Spain, Greece and even Blaenrhondda! Wales lose in rugby (think Grand Slam party, shoot, foot etc.) and Gatland speaks out about too few players playing week in week out in Wales. We all know the answer of course - a valleys region! Come on Eddie, JD - tell the world you think it should happen! Free pints at Sardis for you both.

27 May 08

It's been a quiet time lately, not much on the board except the usual moaning and nobody seems to want to shop online with us and stop the site closing down in a year or two. Poetry entries going well but could do with some more local ones. Ponty lose to Neef and Wales get ready to tour SA without an openside flanker (weird?). Welsh rugby still needs a valleys region and no-one here watches Scrum V anymore. Roll on June...

3 May 08

Still time to enter the Welsh Poetry Competition and win a cash prize of £200. If you think you can write a winning poem just click here. New column added to writing page. Lots of offers on our shopping page too. Codes for discounts appear on the forum/message board when they become known to us, so be sure to check back there.

27 April 08

Good win for the Ponty to see us reach yet another Swalec Cup final. Lots of debate on the message board about what's happening with old Brown Lenox site and of course elections coming soon so no doubt there'll be some dodgy posts soon...

6 April 08

Brand new web site design launched. Ponty beat Bridged in the Welsh Cup and the City get to the FA Cup final for the first time since Michael Palin tried to take some frogs across the Andes.

23 March 08

Wales Grand Slam DVD now out - click here to buy it.

15 March 08

Great day in Cardiff today, pubs overflowing as Wales beat France for the Grand Slam (what else did we expect from Gatland & Edwards?). Ponty walkway shut, Ponty toilets closed, Ponty Park closed, Taff St closed - is someone trying to tell us something? St Catherine's looks what it is - a horrible grey multi-storey car park that will soon be smelling of urine (hope the council workers enjoy it).

1 March 08

Happy St David's Day to one and all. The Welsh Poetry Competition is now open and accepting entries again. Why not enter and give yourself a chance of winning one of the cash prizes on offer? Remember the competition is funded purely by the organisers and we are not effected by the London Olympics - we don't steal your grant money!

20 Feb 08

Lots of debate on message board which is nice. Wales take on Italy this w/e in Cardiff hoping for three out of three... The second international Welsh Poetry Competition is only 2 weeks away. Nothing much happening in town on development front as usual for last 30 years.

2 Feb 08

Great win for Wales as we beat England at Twickers. Half of Ponty watch match in Old Arcade - like old times it was... Grand Slam 2 anyone?

26 Jan 08

Quite a few columns and the odd photo have appeared in the Ponty Observer of late - shame they don't pay us! Six Nations fever (where?) grips a nation - well, it does if you're from somewhere other than Ponty. This has to be the least interested in rugby everyone I know is. We'll be Old "A" in it for England game though so maybe that will light the fire again? Poetry Reading Event organised by John Evans coming up in CYB on Feb 11th and the Welsh Poetry Competition also due to start it's second year in March.

12 Jan 08

Business advertising now possible on our hugely popular message board and for only £100 a year - a bargain! Maximum of 6 adverts on page feeder (each one rotated every month so everyone gets the same coverage). Sign up here here.

1 Jan 08

Happy New Year and Happy 10th Birthday to all at Ponty Town Online. They tried to shut us down, they threatened us with court action and the police but thanks to you - the public - we are still here. So lets make 2008 a year to remember as well as the last 10. Lets get a crossing on the other side of the A470 before someone gets killed. Lets get the Brown Lennox site cleaned up. Lets make the streets safer. Lets eat more curry.

******

 

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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