At.igusL 1919 s aw t:he .. loiurE! o f t.wo- fine Svanse,a

Schools. l. lwyn- y-Bcyn and T}yna\toc ~~ ,.'Vi'd the com11._ooit)'

~ch dtidnct i on f (:-t mBl"y ye,n·s. 1JoLh ..ar...booJ.s had u.a..di tic:n.s of e):ce J 1 ence l.n a U f i.e tds. or endeavou.r and

prc,duetd lll"D a.od women of whom tt.e d-ty l..lJD be proud.

In SPpter-~--t 1978 the "'"'\.I schoo l ,. hi'- VP'-' Dyne.vo r , vas born an"ic-u.i. co live up to the h.igb i aeals of i .ts

cii, 1 i~gvif:h

THE JOURNE Y OF HIGH HONOUR LIES N OT lN SMOOTH WAYS

The journlfy@f f~.5h h@n~lur Ui~s no·t in iffl@@tht W~J$

When t.hP la~l t ate of ~••t-b~~~& ts pJcked up aod r,.1,p h.& r tlr;. grer:cl" . .:.ad $;? VSE- f(lf',g ... gcoc gi1 1 = tr.- f,-6.aC1'1to ended st 1~1.:h-t-;me anti .a.trer-nor,ni '-'f.":'" de.·Jrt~d r.o f'tCJHit'd .i::n. At busk .:-r 1 :-~.st tlt:,1!' 1 r.h

we m~y catch a gl i mpst Qf t~e shad~ of a budding Mxs . L-a.ngt ry wbo Pl ectt i fied tM wbo l e school one. day io a dr~ss ('If royal blue t-ran~pilrent voi le ove.r an o J"".ange satin l ining.

I f we. cheat a Li u l e we can follow our: young l adies as l'hey wal k decorously tc l he Albert Ha l 1 for the Sl-nual Pdie Giving o.f 189S. We wi 11 find i t dif ficult to recognise the i nteriot ~f t h is building, wi t h its b8l cony festoone d in p~le greeo and sa lmon pi nk, set off vich Japanese la t erns . flags and fan£ .. • ":.ere is Mis s \lint f'C' agai n aod t he Mayoress being prcSf'~Le.d wi th bou4uecs tied wi t h ribbons of the school colours, and her e are t he gir ls all dress ed i o ~hite for the occasion. e a.eh proudly weariog her green school sash. this prize- giving day is tm important one i n t he hist o ry of t he new school. lt i.s t he 1at.t time tha t our young ladies will appear as private pupil s , An Act has been pa s sed which provides for highe r educ.a t i on for both girl s and boys, and from now oo the High School at Llwyn-y-Sr yn will become pa r t of the s tate system of e ducation .

Soon the old house is LOO s1;1all to at:commodate the expanding school and our girls no.w have an assembly ball and a real gymn3sium. 1f ~F peep around the gym door ve may catch a glimp~" of them being drilled by ex- army ier.geant Bird, i m=nMula re l n 'White flannels, whil~ the girls ~eat modest calf- l ength blue serge; d:-esses with t"ed sil k tie,s and ;o.ashes , On a Wednesday a.ftornoon· beho l d &bll'M? intrepid female scientists trnd t heir atteodan t mis t r e.s ~ bi aving a bas tion of caa le privi leg~ - the old Ccamroar Schoel crt Mount Pl easant Hi ll . i n o-cder to study cbemi s t:r )' i n the. nolrC!TlptY laboratories - for Wodnet.days are a half-boJiday for the boys. rn 1902 het e i s the whole s chool p rocessing to Sc. Mary ' t. Chut:ch fo r tht memoTial servi ce fo r Queen Victor i a .

They are anxious Lo 1earn1 the&~ girt, wlw are b~ing p tepared to me:et the growing d(•mand for e,du('ated women i n an 1-nc.rnasiogl y t omplex1 .industn.~Used society, ar a time long beforE rhe suf f rage ttes had won political e.qu:ility for women. Aglln t hey are fo,.tutHlte in t ht-ir teachcts, especia l ly the ir headmistte~ses: fir$t Miss Vinter , then Mi&s 8engerl (~ho i n 1895 visired all the technic.a.1 schooh in London LO Hnd o ur how best to teach ce~hnical subject, at the ne~ Tntenntdiate Sehool and who i n l 902 beggt:d we~l thy cit-i..zeos of t.be borough to provide money for grants tc send he.r girls to University). t hen io 1921 Misa Csmeron 1 a dignified and highly respected heodmistress fo r many yenrs. These dedicated cultured ladi es , prodtacts i n the. early days of the Bngl i sh w~men's coll eges 1 inspired awe ~nd affection in their girls, who remicmbe~ed them with gutitude years l ater.

Do they sound too good co be true, these girls f r om th.e distant. pes-t ? They weren' c a lways angelic . The re is on record the ( ac t t hat the schoolgirls cclebrat~d the Re.li

Lf you stand on the terrace 0£ the old house and lis ten vety carefuLly -you can hear yells and cheers from the direction of Swansea Beach on the area where tbe Guildhall now stands. These ar(': the placts whete t he Llwyn- y- Bryn girls once pl8yed hockey. as for many years t he.y had no permanen t gan;;es field of their own. Games were not compulsory at first. but it was possible to play basketbnll. hockey and cricket in the S\1mtner. The school still has an act:.a of green called ''the cricket pitch", which is at.range , as cricket ha$ never been pl ayed t here. Perhaps it was on the beach th at thi.s incident, now bt:come ;>. school legend, took place,

A rathec sensitive games mistress, &upecvisin.g some game was woken from a day-dream by the taucous cry of " Foul ! Foul!". She ru$hed over, wringing her hands and squeaking "Oh where, girls, '-'here? Don' t hurt the dear creature! 11 one. \o'Onders if the cry of a long- dead sea-gull iltspire.d that story .

Most of all the spirits of Llwyn-y- Bryn Pa$t lfUSt linier in the garden so beloved by all who have. "grown-up f rom. childhood to approaching maturity with

one in 1953 wbc-rc the &t3ff ,.,ere i nvited to vork off the. frustratio ns, o f the academic- yeti r at a chi na smashi ng sta ll , In t he s an:ie year cai:.ie the Coron.;)tion Party, wi t h dancing on the netball courts, the scene. of so maoy h i larious staff versus pupi ls netball ~atc hes.

So they c81'!1e and wM t , the .staff .md the girls of Llwyn-y- Bryn School ; in l ess th~n a cen Lury r eflec ting the startling ptogress of the movement t owards equali ty of opportuni ty for all. Here are the spicics of older schoolgitls with upsw(lpt hair and lon g: skirts > later thos~ with s hingl ed

1t hen 1 pel"Gled ' hair, wea ring the

High School gym•·slip slit to the waist. i n long black s tockings , theo i n whi te ankl e - socks. He re ~re th~ 60 1 S girls, veiled by thelr long s t raigh t hair, wear-ing the. most m:iniscule. of school skirts . ller e, finally, in 1970, is Miss H::will welcoming t.he School's first comprehen,ive sctiool pupils , as Llwyn-y- Bryn ,ilccepts its fina l challenge in t he last pilt't: of t he twen tieth century, with 790 girls now.

And these thousands of g..i rls who look back with affection to their years ~t Llwyo-y- &ryo, what happened to them? Hundreds saine d high academi c honours and became. useful and impoi:tant members of society ; man)•. of course, manied sod saw daught ers and grand-daughlers retuTn to thei r old school . Some bec ame f amous i n t he \rorld of t he arts: ~mong these are t he accress R•chel Roberts: and the singers P~t Kern, Pauline Faull 3nd Mary Thoma.s. Amoog its dis c.iugulshed c~- p1,1pil.s the school cat> count a world- f;uoous botanist at Kew C3rdens . a physic ist who worked on atomic research during the Second ~'orld War , a chemis t research-ing detergents , an archeol ogi&t., a cutato r of museum.~, an ~ir- line p i lo tJ the sub-editor of " Vogue" and a Ccmale president oJ;" the Dcbat.ing Society of che Londoo School of Economic3 . For al t t hese .._nd f or r:.he s choo l vhicb produced rhem it b.1s irideed be.en "a journey of high hono ur".

(The quotations and indden LS cecocded hi t h.1..s a.-rLide were all found in ol d Ll ~yn- y-Btyn m3gazi.nes.)

It wa$ d- g r ey geim September morning but we we.re still det~nn.ined to makt- the be.u of it . Th~ Low~ r and Upper Si ,cth Biologiscs were: to study se.1shore ecoJogy fo r .a "1eet< and as it waa during school time what more could one ask for? Every nte:i•ber of the pa.tty had visions or sc>1ooth i ng 21-mila.r t.o ButLin, hol iday c amp. Bo-wPver, t.hese illusions '"'~re to be shattered.

"'hen vc tttriv~d at Rh.os i:;ili 0u1 door Pursu,l rY Centre ve unpacked and were pres~nted wirh fa$hionable att i r e vhicl, consisted of plasti c• b r ight red trou!-tr6 and jackets. The resemblance of each one of us t o a berry v -as remarkable. For our fee t. we were provide.d with h ik-i ng boots 1 rematkablc pieces of en3U'le.e ting which were quite venoroous i n prod ucing blisters 1 corns and aching feet, as we we~e soon to find out .

After lunch MT. Levi and Mr.s . Poley decided we woul d have a " g-cncl e 11 walk, We soon found that th is courae was to be tougher than we thought as we trudged over rocks , beaches and, what · appeared to the less experienced (whicl1 i..neluded practically all of us). 90° -s lopes.

Eventual ly WP, vcre relieved of our exercise and returned for our eveni ng meat wbicb. we prepared accordins to a duty rota. There were a few dis-asLets such aa s~usages so cris p o ne had to guess what t hey vere., a few overcooked cb.ips and undercooked peas, but we were usually so ravenous by evening i t did nor re al ]y matter wha~ we ate ,

Rowever1 we soon adapted ro t he outdoor. life and b~~ame quire proficient rock cl iruberr and enjoyed e~l l e~ting spe~ime~s. One member ad$pl~d sG we ll she bithed t wi< e j n toc k pools , emi t t jng c-des of jd to fashionabl e shoes and fout wheele-d t:raosport.

--- &Z-•

Miss e. F., H.avill , M.A., is the last of a line of distinguished Head Teachers of a school which has achieved over the, yea~s ao unequalled reputat ion in Wales.

Now that Llwyn- y-Bryn is to be no more, but is to be fully ~malgamated with Dyntvor. i t is fit t i ng that a tribute should be paid to on outstanding personali ty io edue..~tion, not only in s~aasea. but in W~les .

Her association with Svansec1 bego.n in the summer of 1928 when, with chtee. other sixth- form f inalists, c.om-ptting for two of the fi rst Geneva scholarships awacded by t he ~~tsh League of Nations Uoion, she vos successful i n winning one of the cove ted prizes , Kiss Havi11 e;ained a first-class Bonou.rs degree i n Uhtory. folloved in the nfXt y~.;r by ii fiut- ehss Honou rs d&'gr~e in English. Her Teaching DipJoma was obtained at Cambridge.

Jn 19t.9, Miss 1-lavill roceived her M.A. degcoe, cogether .-i eh cbc Pd.nee tlywelyn ap Gru.ffydd Memo-rial Prize. ari a11nugl award of merit for the best thesis on a subject rf'lati.ng to the: history of Wales 3nd che Welsh M{lrches . lo tbt same year , she became Headmistress o! Swansea High Scho~l (new LJwyn-y•Bcyn) a( tc~ somt y~ars as Htad of Hi story aL Bcidg.end Girls ' SGh-O\)l and Lady ~racgctret Righ School, Cardiff.

Miss Ravill's talents bav~ bQen recognized publicly, too. From. 1949 to 1976. she was 3 1?1erober of the. Mtois~ry Team for Reconstruction of Ge.rman Education snd a Council member of the Wetsh Secondary Schools Association , Utti.1 1974 . sbe was ii Council membeT of Swanse# Unive-rsicy College and a member of t he Court of tbe Universi t y of Wales . She is a ,egular co1tctlbuto, to the Welsh Secondary School s Association Review ~nd writes occasion~) ,lr-ticl e.~ for the Wtstem MaiJ.

During her twcnty""SC\t6tl ye.axs ar LJwyo- y-Bryn . Mi.ss Rav tll organi$ed the transition from CraGED9c School to Compreh(lnsive. . introducing a11 e~rended cange of subJects including o Comme·r-ci.al De.partmenr. ln those years . the premises were enlarged to include n new H~l l and Biology La.bo·rarocy and the use of llirian~a ,:md St., Helen' s.

W'ben l re.tvet'led LO Lhqn-y- Bryn ,s DepL1ry Head in 1963, 1 w~s immedi ate)~ imp~~ssed by the a tmosphere evgend0 red by Miss Havi11 . U\\r whole-bea.f't:ed .mri s-i nrece devotion to the ed\lCatioo i>Od future of evecy girl in · the school W8$ evident. She knew the name and form of every one i n the. school, he£ ability a(td hopes for the future. Thu "Was not only because of her prodigious memory for deta i l but because of her concern and awareness of f'3Ch pup il as individual. ~o tnattet w3s considered too unimport ant for het ~ns1decad and Ealr judgement. She wa$ ungt1otint i n h~t efforts t o plan meticulously for an ~11 - round education.

H:'3r v itoe a!ld f a1' -l;t"Citi& gu!d3t'l~e of e3d, of hPY pvf;Il.; wllJ nt-YPr be. fo"SOt t-eo . "11.ss Uavi It vil 1 alwaye rank ,;i~ ~~e of the a~e~r. He~d-teachers .

»~s. E. ~luned EVANS

An Otttl loey r,m&mlec.r,

When 1 et'lr: ... red Oyn;o,vor in 1925 the s-chool was very different f rom today , There was no school buildi ng in l)e-l.a:-8:ethe St reet ; .inste{ld , at that time a row of houses ext,."de

E: r.hool hal I UC'W ~i .;.tHL Thsa !J}'re.,ur 1'1Mt./.Oe- l .a- B;:o-b€, Sl.rte l i.Orr.er ccnsi£t.ed \--. f ~n impresislve tower, , a r..ht bol tom £loot: of. "'hic:h commercial subjects we l.'(' t.:iught.

The ne.xf important ev~c i o the history of t.he bv-ild-i ng wM; the Second World War. In 194t, on the first. night of a three- nigh t 1 81iu' o n the town of S-.ransea by-German bomber planes, many cf t he w-st er mains in t he centre of the t oo,m. we re damaged and the , ubse.qul'nt dropping of i ncendiaTy bombs destr~yed the top f Joors of Oyoevor and De-la- Beebe buildings, and~ high exp los i ve borrb demo lished t he corner where the smal l car pack is now loc.a ted. oc -la - Beche girls were s ubsequent ly shared between t he Girl s' Hi gh Schoo l and Clonmor , and t he boys wer~ then s pread o ver the two s i tes that remained o f the: original two s chools.

r os:.•-~a .:- years were very grim at Dynevor . There. was no r eal r oo f to the school. and rooms i n wh~t is now t he present middle £loo r , CQns t an tly le.:iked wa t.e r which had t.o'be caugh t in bucket.a ! Tbe. c,e wer e many r umours t hat Dynevor ~as co be closed . One s trong ruruovt at the time was th~t t he s t~ff 3nd pupils ve re to be moved i n to a oew large school to beruilt on the outski rts of SwMsea. These rumours came to not h ing and the school su rv ived. Perh aps t he feelings o f tht schoo l we re r ep-resented in the var-iations g i ven to the name. " Oynevo-r" thoogbt up by the pup i l s of t he time. When the school survivt d in s pite of tht>$e nm1our'8 . Oynevor became ' 'Oie-neveT" ; just -ll~ earlier t he noise f rom the buses starting off i.n Oynevor Pl ace caused pvpi l6 to io t erpr rt thfl name as " Din•e.vcr" !

1958 s aw the comi,letioa of the u - bui l d ing of the top floors of both buildings .. cogether wi t h t he. con-s truct ion of a n~w hall ~t the school . When the new top floors 'We (e , e - coostruc Led i t was t hen , of course, a s 1 og'e ,choot . and a MW" ha ll :oe.lnt c.h.it the top flccTP which had pre.-.. iou&}y bef.'.n uae ,j as school hall5 . c.Gu.Jd Mt t,e us:ed Foe c lber purposes . Thus tl"t the De:-\a•CPc~e Bu ilding nt w, m, d~rn l abcratvc~~s wece

cC1r;e t c•J...r. ed .md 1 0 th ~ Dyr.;;;·,,o c 6,j) 1d :...ng al\ (' )(Ct>!Jera r.it>rary Act RoC"C'I ard a new modern Geog "aphy Room we rP provi ded , Th~&f ~dd i t iona1 f acilitLPs we~e , of rourse newer than t hose of the t wo . then , e.cent.ly bui 1 t , comp-c6hensive schools which had j~st been o pened oo the ouL-skirts of S"1.&n$ea.

Mo re recentl y. with the. Lh.;yn-y- Bryn amalgamation , changes i o t he bDserr.ent of Lhe De- la-Beebe Building lHtve p rovided new lavatories for girls, a ces t -room, s i xth-.fot:'tn common•t'()Oms, etc . One of c_be shclten benea t h t he gyi:i,nasia has ptovided new girls' snd staff changing rooms , and ~ooms of the Youth Employment bvi.ld.ing "Will sho-rtl y btCOC3e a Home Eco-nomi u;-ses in che sec-ondary modP.,n schools fr;om which they came had been deli.b-e t,H,ely a

Of rcuc~e , 3 gra!l'l!Ila ~ ~~ho~l wa~ n~t equipped to deal witr rh~ a:onU!' t c f ~r aft rtqu\ rcd i ~ a l arge comp re -b'"odvP S

~lk~ 1£~11mfilcm~$ !l .t o ~ tr~ffi i (g)~

The. ~even t y- f i f t h .a.nni vena.ry number of rhe Dyne.vor Magazine i nC'1uded e xtracts from the school l og. We ~r e indebte~ to rhe edi tor s of tha t magazine for peTmi ssion l~ repr int an ~bridge d ver s i oo of t ha ~ ar ticl e .

lbc ,;,riu r ha~ had rhe p r i vilf'-l\f" o f rn v- ng- the p e_ge s of Lhe \'&t y first. fog bo uk kep t by 1:bt 1>doc.J.pal TeaC'he r: c,t_ ::tu.r S~h c-o:,l; afld vhil,- a r\" tb.t!a injunction rirnt "No tcfi(',~icms o c pte.mber 1/ub f88"3. ... tu eh i-P.cnrds :

110 pi:-.oe'1 lhE ~ls,he-r Grade Sr~c.ol i..a!=I t-fo.,d /J)f mor.nin& V;ih 51 bcys .n t"h0 U-pp-?t ntpa.t t ree.ii t aod 38 i r. 1he. Lovtr \-1\itk '"d ci.:;r ~rdiog CO 8 -p t o-:1iH01li:il Tune I vet bePr:>. lll ~ pobl • .:: e lemen.ary school. "

Mr , J o nes • he adshi p lasted but one tem.ior he moved i nto t he elevat e d c.i rcl e of ffe-r Ma jesty ' s Inspectorsh.ip i n Janua-ry . His l as t en tcy in t he l og pays 3 ge.nerous td bule to the firs t staff ,

" My btief connec tion with tltis Schoo ] 1 et:mina t:cs to-day (De cembe r 2 l s t 1.8 83). My successor , Mr . $. Roberta , 8 . 4\. , begins his duti es be.t e on Jatlu.aTy 7th . AH Lh.e teachers i n t:he t wo boys' d epa..t tme.n t s have di$p t ayed gcea c_ devotion to the i r d ut i es- and discharged them with grea t thoroughness . "

lfhe. fint enuy in tbe 1.og by H.-r , Robe tts fo r J an uary 17 th , 1884 , ls it le.ngtby one and has Sc>"Jeral i t ems of l nteres t .

"Occup1ec. t h.>W\ole lf e arh day ,,d rh su.ndar'dS V and VI • • ,lt c~nd ance irregu l &l ~tl-d uripuo.(·t ual E-xam.J.Ot"J

s todr on Satu t"-:fay . J.-ouary 12th, and fou.od msoy defieiend.e.! . Writ.ins Arit.hnldl.c. and " l aes subj>'Cl-9 1,1~ 11 need mi;ch

a t t entiQn , Drawing bs dc..;.ard . Qu..ieL and or-df"• ly bob H'. o f work1-ng .'lnd ~banging l P'i-t.oos 01.Jrh needed . Registe r!) 'Jnt {dl: kepL Mau)' of the b~'JS u nusPd to e.d'!,:,ol d1.a~tptine "

atference. to r he rcghtc:rs s1,1.ggctH t ilaL Mr .8.cbel r .; ' t roubles w-ert' noL wl1olly co do w-i th- rhe bo)'i, but. 1 hct Lhe. S taff, too. we r.e gu:.. Lcy c.t ",Jcawi ns b ad(11rtn·d'

1

EJ u-cotion •.ta$ no t 1 ree. \O r"he.&I:' ~a.r Ly day & be-fore t he 1:1dve n t ;;;f Lht. " scheyla uthip" ~-nd ao e,.ilt rV -,f d >e c.P.X( w..-elc- ':'"e·.c:a l ~ thf excenL C'f Lhc pa.rer,,ts ' ffnancHi.1 C,111(11\. Lmt!Ot& h:r t h~ pri\.'i-legt o l sc.nd10g their boy:; le thP.

11Hi ghier c,.-adf "

1os~•hc e> l l!an.B.gt:tnefll Coamu.t ree t'('SOlv~d tbit; .... eek Lh:.!t. Lhe w.et\l. ly t:et be 9 d. and t b s.l t h e. ~h i.t-dreo be LfQ11iTet.l. Lo buy lbeir liome t,e!)s,on book$, ' '

l Li!agine t hat i1ot c n ly M.'f , Joru.t Ri.:.bat(h, the p-.t:1-f'IJI M•E i c. Ma.s: tec. b u t ()t.hets ot his cr::1 lea1guts lo'bo ceot'h ln e.d j a.('en t class r:ooltS whe.n tbr rboit ls u('Jeq;

"The 1,o,-.er School is progressfog favour a bl y. The singio.s in this departtDC1\t is rather boisterous but receiving atten tiol'l, "

Our Senior School will be inte res 1ed in 8 decision of che M3nagers cecorded at t he end of t he first school ye~r:

' 'The Managers hsve decided th3t. che Lower School shall c lose at 4.30 in the aftem oon : the Senior boys to con-tiuue work unti l 5 o'clock. ' '

Add to t his the fact recorded in a fol l owing entry that the Sutll111Cr Vac~tion did uot C:OQ'ffllence unti L August lSth~ albeit theYe vas a day off on the prece ding Rank Holiday, and one may well con clude that tiu,es were indeed bard.

l nc..rea.se.d fhrnnchl responsibilities on the part of pupils ' pareoLs a re i ndicated by an entry of Septembe r. 1884:

" Thr' children are- r . ' '

lt 1s interesting to find that ill (885 , thougb the..ce wer(• 186 boy.s on t he (egiste cs . the tOt-(!1 staff numbered on ty five. rnrludiog the He'.1dt:1Mter who evidently was coi:,pel led t o li vP- up ro hi$ 0-ffic.ial t itle o f "p r incipal t ea.,•h~•·", And a.i l th•~se \o'Or kcd io t wo school--~oms., probably di vtded hy q 1r-ta.ins , 111easudng. S4 feet by 20 feet. \.'hat" a problem

it must have been when a mo.mber of stnff was ob$ent , and wh~c relief when an occ3sional holiday broughc the unwieldy machine to a t emporary halt '.

Though the s caf f was obvious!)' overwotked i s\ t hese early days and an occasional day of£ was do ub tless veyy desirabtt and even necessary> some of t he ~easQns given fol' requesting 14!:avc of absence seem rather unusual. Thus, one ioember requested leave to attend a picnic; a llOt her. in order t o go to t he Mumb les ; a third> to mee t a friend f rom London, and a fourth 11i n o rder t o attend the funeral of bis bndlocd."

B. C. -

------- ---- --. C

Nearly there

(g~ fi.r-st. lime. school examinations took p)aee at t.he saee 0 tiroe .i.o both Dynevoc and tlwyn-y• Btyn Schools, folio,...__ ing which th~ Upper \1Ith were deli8-htcd to have the opportunity co visit the Sherman Thea~re. cardi ff, to

Thi.s was. a strange. time for the Lh.•yn-y- Br yn section ,ee a, prod.uction of "The Rivals". ln mid-February of the school. Por most of the otef~ct sys~em, i~s own '-"!i fonn and its O'M pa.rti- Oo February 20th the school was honoured to be chosen cu lar way o! doing thL~gs . ~et already the fourth as eh, background for a school scene for a new film and lower nxth-fo.-11 g1;1s had . mo~ed to Dynevor! and about the life of Dylan Thom.JS . The building w.as in .. many of t he Staff ~er~ cOllllDUtlllg rather uneanly vaded , no t only by actors and uchn icians f rom Cardiff, between the two build1 ngs . but also by boys from &ishop Gore School , who played

However, at 77 l,ialter Road, business was more or Dyl.an Thomas' class- mates . t he-re was no Eis teddfod less as usual. During t he year Kay Kissock von the at Llwyn-y- Bryn, but ~veryone was delighted co have the firs t prize ac the Nation.;il CC>"'Opecative Schools Art t raditional half-d:Jy holiday o n lsc March. One o f t he saons aud Carols , ptesented for parents and were delight ed when it was i:mnounced that. Ou£ senior f riends . On the. followin.g day , th& same set'v.ice ,..,as swimming team had come third out of all t he schools it'I repeated fo r the pupi.h. themsel ves , Wales '"hic.b had C(lrttested fot the Sladen Tt'ophy . The

Th. N • ., team members, Claire Richa rds, Cl are Willi~ms, Julie i~ar b~S3U vith Theatre vjsits. sports -·ards and rtl'· On , 1 b J • Keys and Cheryl Murphy we'C-C especially t o be con-.. w . pa ... s. ,. t anuary some senior gi'rls wen t t o see "A Midsummer Night' s Dream" at gr atulated , coming as they d i d from a schoo l wi th no

swilllDing poo l of its own. the t\ldwych Theatre in LOl\don. and on ,J.a11uary 17th and t81b, t he third and fi fth-forms ce.leb~ated t.he N~w Year i n rat her b~la ted but very enjoyab le part:ies . B,A. C.A Gymnastics Award Scheme Cerr.i(icates ~nd BadgP.S \l(lre preseuted and Lb.e. cpper school was given a talk on careers in t hl! Cjvi.1 Sf!cvic·e. . Fc>r t he

Early i n 1.-be: Sumn:,er Torm, Angel ..1 Mc-Givern wa$ p:-esented with the Hnywaxd Award For. e~ee llence . On W~dn~sd3y. 19th April , th~ Vtth form: r-etu rned t.o tho Patt i Pavt lioo , th.is ti11_,, for ., h.!.stoty coofennce . In May the: School rongca.~.ol:ated Hrs . ll.l.] 1 tmd t he girls who

had been so ,;,uccessful in Ille National League of Pity Art Competition. La ter in tbtl term. V~.nessa Ma.son was presented with cbe Albion Cup for comint first in t he comp-et1t1.on. The winning entries from the school were e xhibited 9t the Glynn Vivian Art Ca ll~ry, at David Evans Store and The Ostceioo Art exhibi tion. On 18th May, Goodwill Day ,. t he message from t he children of Wale·s to the Children of the World v~s re.&d in Welsh, £nglish . French and Cenu.an , and t he schoo l was very pleased to welcoflt(' Madame Bourdi eY, the moth~t of our French Assis tant. vho chose this best d~y of ~11 to pay us a visit.

A succ~ssful Careers ' Convtmtion took place on t he evening of 21 th May , th3nks t o the efforts of Mrs ~ Palmer , Mrs . Lloyd and the P.T. A • • who provided the refreshments. On 5th May and 8th May. Mr . Bea)e and Mr. Mords prcset1ted Si.bles from rhe: Gideon Society to girls from Forms land 2, and t he school appl auded the efforts of Susan Vesuviano and Ctaite \rickety who raised i l l .20 for the loca l Associ~tion for t he Blind, by tak i ng part in a spoosoTed walk . Rather oore start-ling, but equall y praiseworthy . was the success of Fo~m VN who raised El3 to be given to Ynys-y~P\ant Children' s Rome by - of all things! - 1;1 sponsored silence. .Setween 5th and 30th June the whol ~ school 6Uffe red, more or tes1 i n silence , while Forms V and VI att2mpt~d t~ commir to paper al l they had learnt i n t be pre~ious five . or seven yean . Immediately afler t he external C. C.E. examinations, a partf of, sixth·· formers• vi t.h a levening of fom three~ visi t ed St ratford to see a r~ ther s t art-ling production of "1'he taciing of the Shrew" This roi oi-tour . which took tvo days, also i.ncluded a visit to Coventry Cathedra l , a lee cute on Shakespeare and Stratford , a tour of t he most lmportan t Shak:cs{l'!re-o.n pcop~tties and ihe washing of dozens of baeon :md bean besn,ear.i!d p l ates at t he, Stratford Youth Hostel.

The pupils of what h3d nov become the Llwyn · y-Bryn Annexe of the new Dyneva r School departed light• heartedly a week before what should have been t.be ceal end of t~rm, le~ving the staff to cover t heoselves in dus t and glory as they pocked tea-chest after te~- chest of books for t ransportation to th~ main Oynevor building , ' Nearly ther·e' was over - a nev era had begun!

The period 1977- 78 has seen many trturoatic changes i n the llfo of tho school. The f irst •t•&• of the aroalgama• tion of Oyne vor and Llwyn-y-Sryn was accomplished with the ar-rival of 140 girls at Dynevor. Theyha ve contcibuted a great de3l t o t he acad('mic and s ocial life of th~ school.

It is wi th much sadness and regret t.hat we mention t he death of Mr . Cyri l Jones, a Te$pected aod very popular member of $Cai(. Mr. Jones bad suffered from a long i llness which had forced his premature retirement.

The academic scandards of previous years have been maintai ned. Andrew Clemes, U. Vlth A(t 5 1 is to re ad Lll'W at Jesus College , Oxford, ,md Mald,.•yn Pope, U.Vlth Science , tconom:ics a t Christ's College , Cwnbridge.

Extra-c.unicular activiti.es have bee:n much in evidence this year . Our e xcellent School Band g,1.ve a concert in November, which p,;-eceded their successiul norchel:"o tC>u'r , The Ch ristmas term also sav che producc:i ol'1 of "The Government Inspector," by Nicolai Gogol. Tbe fo llowing tettll chc Music Depart ment staged the musica l, "Jo$eph and the Amazing tccbrticolour Dreamcoat., . by Andrew Lloyd \t.'ebbcr and Tim Rice.. Boc_b productions wet:e extremely successful, so much s o th,1.t t here were tYo extra pe~-fu rmances of t he ~usical

lt affords me gxeat pla asure to wtite a tribute t o Mr. O.A. Morris, our ionnM Deputy lie-ad • on beha\ £ of the generations

"Ihe Goverr.men l (ospoccor" "J oseph and His Af!,(lzi og tech-n) colour Dr eamcoat11

£ ~l©fil~ t ~flg~[b&tJ

With a party of abouc thirty pupils consi$ti~g of third and f ifth formers, 1 visi ted the Patti Pavilion t o attend a medical display. ThoYe were people from all professions> such ~s Speech .Therapists, Physiotherapists , De.ntists, etc.

We all dispersed and ~ent to see whatever interested us. With mv frie.nd1;1 I ve-ot first to see ti,e s urgeon and I very poli te ly asked why be was holding a string of s ausages. He rather sharply replied th~t they were s upposed to be laTge intes t i nes .

rn the course of interesting people. conce rned with c h.c

t he morning we spoke. t o many W(' also obtained many le~flet s

jobs in which ve wPre interested.

As there was s till t i me lef t we went outside and explored the inside of a modern- day ambulanco; ~his -,lso was very intriguin.g. We t b.en returne.d into t he ma i n hall where ~e c3ugh t a male nurse. readiog a Of'wapaper. When he saw· us be i.mmedialely pushed the newspaper: under the bedc.loth.e s • knocking off the arm o{ the poor model who was lying in a bed pretending to b('. a patien t.

After we had seen a l l that we w~nted to see, ve reported to t he teachers and returned to school .

', -~

I

( lt all started when Caynor Vine, Mary Slee, Angela

Jon.e,, Lynne Williams ~nd I (Debbi e. Olsen) were picked to go to~ competition in Cano ldre Gym Club. lt wa.a a very exciting day and ve ~11 got through. The date of the co~ petition vas 12th May,1979, but ~e started out on 11th May . My birthday was 12 th Hay so it W3$ very exci ting for mo . We all 1?1et on Friday morning, 12th May at the Central Library , Sa•ansea. When eventually the ' bus catllle ve put our cases in the boot and clambered onto the ' bus. We were travelling a long time .and at l ast we stopped for a meal. We set of£ again and wbe.n we came to the hO$t school we got to know each other better. Tbt ' bus set off again to take us to t he house& where we vert staying . When we came to tbe ' bus stop ve all parted to go our dLfferent ways. I had an early night• as our 'bus was _picking us vp at 8.30 a.tu.

We were taken down t() t he L~isure Centre where t he compe t iciQO was held. It WH a very long day nnd we won quit e a \ot of silver and gol d iood•ls. We did quite well at gym but 1 waan't really included because l was the reserve, but the othe r boys and giTls did q uite ve ll . 'Cher e was a boy in ()Ut' team who d.id round-o.ff flicks. and do·uble back somerssults. He came first i n everything but, most surprisingly.none of the. girls won anything.but the important thing was tht'lt t.'e e njoyed ourselves.

After a t ir ing day we went home and t ,-,en t Str aight to bed ~nd fell asl eep. In t he morning I woke and packed ioy t hings and made sure 1 had eve;rything. We waited at the 'bus stop and when t he ' bus e:amc. we 311 went on it and sat down, ready for our long~journey back.

Debbie OLSEN (Porn, 1/25)

i~ho ssi. li

f

Ori Monday. l2ch Mar~b 1ven1y-£our girls . tlong wirh Mr$ . Bashfotd and Mu . Cuy . c.og we finally a rrived a t l he Centre i tse l f , deposited out l ugg~ge i nside aod sat back for an in t.-roductory tolk by t he tao Ulst r vctors; Rosemary and 1.indsay .

l?be.n the .'.il'' t 1 v1-uea r,f Lbe week wer~ i> 11.-p l ained to u~, many o f the gir ls would have been q_.,1jte happy to $ p.rln l b~ck to Swansta, evpn wltb ~hei r pi les of lugg~ge . But , a.s we. we:re to ld, the whole objec t cf t he wee~ was t o " have a go" at everything 1 however f righ tened, or al least- 1 dubious i,ie might f~el. i\fte1 unpai:.kiog, we we.re issued with hick ruclcsa:cks. 'Wet ""'ea t he r 0 1Jtfits and ~nonnous walking boots , guaranteed to g i ve t he weat~t ei t heY compl et~ comfort or blisters!

During the week half o f us would s1eep o u t in tents Oll alternate nights ;.l!ld so we wtrc shown how to put them up~ Rovcver. t he fol lowing G'.!Orning , t hose of us foolish c~ough co t ake only one blanket out to the tents were f ull of reg-rct . I don ' t think 10a.ny of us had betl'I Lhat co l d i n our lives ! Of course, t he facl lhat it also 6noved that night did not makP t his i deal camping ~eatber.

After breakfast~ t,;e splil up i.nco t"1'0 g,·oups of twelve one group golog pony- treltkulg and t he olher roc.k • I l mbing The pony-t r ekkeTs . dressed i n red wtt-weathet o utfits . we~e g i ven~ map and pointed in the general dirertion of t he t idi ng stab l es ar t.langenith o few mile& away . As"'-'@ trudged tbcough the mud a.od soov. echool le sson.s in t hose Love ly va.no c: lassrnou seemed very inviting. But once we e ventually found the stables, t h~ ~r::~nhc t br itb t ene-d up and eh~ d3y•s c,ekkin& Wai tho~cughly rojo; ~d by O'IOS l giT1s , marred oo lf by on~ o r two horseE a ctually c&l ling Gn th~ i t cLdecs f~~ no ~pparei,t ceason . tt was not unLil we arri ved bick .et th~ Centre lau:r rhat night t hat r.he-soreness io certain p;Ht:s cf che anatomy began tc make i ts presence felt!

On the WedncsdDY , the group& changed ove r an d the cock ~cl i~bets . having b~td hai c- r~ lsing j ccounts of tlle cliffs to be t lS.\' Cl ned , were quite absorbed w L tb t he it' own thoughts a.nd fears. Late., , down a t t he rUfts , ,:omp l tte with o~ange hf l mets and s~fety harnesscs ,we pr~ - t l-;~d .crambli.n& (H'et , ·ma U cocks and t.hen on to ~e ~liff~ t hem.i~l~es . Ev~ty gicl atfempted each , timb altho~gb a [~~ managed t ~ s~t s 1 u\ k hatr~~ay up t he fa~~

Aftc-r tun.eh , it vas cu..r t uro to absei·l down the f amous "alow-Hole " . Su.nounded by ropes and s&Cety belu we launcht d ourse lv~s through 3 small opeoifig at the top of ~he t li(f which ope.ned up into a eav~ seventy feet high. The t d p down was; absolutely brseathraking and we were 8ble to stop h-,Jf--,,,ay down and hang..-4-n r:::dd·-aic to pose for photographs. Those girls who e.ndu-re d t he joucaf\y with eyes tightl>• .shu t until t hey were once again on f i rm ground seemed to make the• best photog't'.aphs. Unable t o have a see~nd go because th~ tide had come in. ve~~ekked back to the Cent~e •fter a compl etely nerve- racking day.

Out last day was spent ori entee ring and after a mot:niag ' s i..ns t ruction on map vork and the three-mile cours e wo were to attempt • we set of£ in pairs• fol low-ing maps t~ t he various check poi nts. A few of us vere out to beat the onP hour fourteen minute re cord for the cour se. held for che pt ~vious t.wo years s but those accursed boots made vaulting ov& r hil l end dale like n,ountain goats an eKt remely arduov& eask . Later, with the qo~stions at the last checkpoint ansvered and th~ Centre in sight. two of us, Chit'e Williams and Katherine Ley, c lamb~red o r perhaps f el~ -down th~ lase hillside. to find that wt had , in .fact• bc-oken the. e xisting record by cwelve minutes. Again it was not unt i l later that night that out legs took en a feeling of corople.te detachment .

The par ty that took place on our las t night put o temporary end to 11wcll- l0Qked- after11 figures as infinite supplies of·swtets and biscuits wete passed around the room, Offedng challenges to the all but lead stom.tch lil:ling:s . Thxougbout the week the food bad been very good, and although p~epared by permanent kitchen staff, was cremated to perfection by the Lower--sixth culinary experts.

Our mid-a,otning concert before we left on che Friday G:K> rning included a supetb rendition of a te-viaed "Swing low Swee t Chariot'1 , by c.he massed choit of t he Lower

Sbtth form and then , a.fte r we had rhauked Rosemary and Lindsay tot a wonderful week, the coach catri8d us back to Swansea. nearly evet'y girl havi ng overcc-me fesr and havi ng at tempte d each a c t ivity during the 1.tumGnse ly enjoyable week .

I t m t r f, e-ing gi ve.ti freedom of one ci t y ' s top b.:iut-.iquea to choose sP.veral outfits p l us full accessotlos . ·Fo,-aomeone vbo has to ssve cvnstantJy t o buy a single item it vas 3 vecy enjoyable change .

The pleas u·re- of choosing t he. outfits vas lacer to be great ly ovetshado~ed by the utter terror felt on t he night of t he fashion show. The walk we woul d have to make bad beeo p~actiaed p~eviously , but even sol on the .1rt1,1.al n i ght 1 had ;a dreadful fear of falling flat on my lace .

Th& dis i--:jO('key anoounce-t' , b t ighc I i ghts and catwalk presented a very pro£ess iont11 show to t he aud{cnce. but if on ly t hey had seen behind the eucr:ain. It:- was ChaoR, elothes s t t'ew everywhere . half naked girl$ ran Eran t i ~slty to and f ro; ~ear ching for make-up , ahoe...s . tights aod haiygrips. The air was ful l of tension, smoke and hairsp~ay. Al) the girl s were v~ ry ner vous and the same though c was c,ccupyfog t hei t' mi nds 1 "Be careful not t o fall ".

As 1 walked onto the St-age wearing my fitst o utfit l felt ve1;y lonely,. cbc bdgh l l ightS made it virtually i mpos s i b l e t o re.coguise an i ndividual member of the audi en·ce . Not th.at it mattered , I was -80 ner vous l ~as unable to l ift my ey~s from the gro und AS I scanned the catwal k , pos ition-in& my every step.

On re turning b.ackstage my c l o t hes were instantly torn from me by a do?,en strange hands. aod in a momen c I was dressed and ready for my next walk i n a completel y new outfit.

ThP, clotbC'S bei ng modelled were vet"f p cctty , light tmd sumu:ery and a completely new set of acce ss-ories was •-tom wi th each outfit; voven baskets,

s n-a9 hats a.nd bags , £ lowe rs .at'ld .scs~ves were very popula r ,

An i ntecesci.ng patt o f the show vas pto'lided by the C.S . 6. and ' O' level nee dlewo C'k students who modetle.d the outfits t b(!y bad made. as part of rhei r examlnation work .

,b.t: c..he end of t he ntght all signs of ri.e.rvcusness had disappeared and all involved - the aud iancc , girls, organi2ecs and helpers - had ~ojoyed a very p l easurable evening.

This vas due rrrainly to the cxc-remely hard wc>-(k ~nd en~husiasm of s~veral members of s taff and r.ep-resentati v8$ 0,f ''}Liss Selfridge".

One ~El ~ft e rncon in Apr.il ) Mc3 Bvane took a ,m.a ll group of 1h i i-d ;rd Ii.lth fct me.cs t., th 0 Pbysi.othe.t apy Uoi t oE Mo ct ist~n Ho : p!tsl. i'E c~ug.ht g ' bu~ there and ~hen we arrived ~e w~rP s l ~en an i nter esting talk by Mr. Wi lli am,sl a l"P.media l gymnast who bad be,en at the Nursing Exhibi t ion a t t h0 P~tti Pavi liot1 lu MaTch. when he b3d kind?y LDvlted Ui t o 1l$i t the bosp i t aJ. He t o Jd us about the importan t par t phyaiotherapy pl~ys in our livP,s . The cem(".d.ia l gy1nnas1; •~ fi cs t usk "''itb many p

An~t.o Z of t he Scho.£!~ting Activit.ics

A'i'St.Ei!CS BecauS'i ·of i ncce-asing pressures upon t he P. E. Staff, p0or we-athec conditions and other factors . activities have hod to be eurt~iled. However, the school tC,tlm.$ per for-med well i n both West Glamorgan aQd $wooaea Schools' ChaU1pionship& . Tn the previous season Gina Williams gai ned a Welsh Vest.

There was also a very succtssful sports day at vhich girls wer~ w~lcoroed for the firs t t i me . 9Alll11lf!Otf ---;.ie.mbership of the Badminton Club has gr()t.lQ over the last t\JO seasons with the introduction of giYls into this previously male domain . The club meets on three afre.moons a lilCek and on one evening a week , 'fhere h ave been two successful seasons , All but two gomes were won under t he supervision of Mr. Devereux.

Congratulations to Simon Clark on hi s good voik and his selection to the West Gl a.norg.J:n Squ.$d. BASKETBALL

Mr. David Gwynn has reawakened inte rest in t his sport in the school. A club ha.a been fo tmed which has ga i ned strength over t he last two seasons. The c lub meets during one lunch-hour and on tvo ~venings each week . Two t eams are en tered in the Schools' League. Some mtmbe rs were selec ted for district trials and Anthony Bunows g$ined. ioternational honours. CANOEING

Facilities arc avai lable in school for pupils t o buil d their own canoes . The s chool also bas a canoe of its own and,reccotly, Mr. Ray Craven has become. a q~alified canoe ing i ~stTuctor. The coming seasons bo ld excitin$ possibil ities , Some boy~ have a lready achi~v~d profi c i en cy s t andards~;)nd Tim Andrew came second in the touod-the- i s lands canoe race.

CRICKET The 1977-78 season saw only two schoo] ceams. Some

o-f t h.it ea.n be a ttributed to t he falling interest amongst the pupi ls , Thanks are due to Mr. A. Balch, Mr. J. Hopkin and Mr. N. Hawkes .

nic 1978-79 season bas seen nothing i n the form of cricket owing to the lack of adequ~te facilit i es and, of course , tbe poor s ummer. weather. CROSS-COUNTRY

There were no suc·cesses of note amongs t the boys who ran regularly in t he S1,,•ansea Schools 1 League. In the 1977-78 season tbty were helped gre3tly by the interes t sho•.m by Cat'y I rving,, a sixth-former .

Two girl s, however , succeeded in being chosen for West Ghmorgan.

The cross-couotry club ceets on Monday ev~nings under the eaTe of Mr s . Cuy . at Llwyn-y-Bryn . GYMllASTlCS

There has be.en a fluct:ua tion in the i nte res t in Gyr.ma&tics. l n the previous season a boys ' team was entered i n to t he West Glamorgan School s' Championship , and it came second.. This seasoo has seen a drop in the ac tivity undertak~n, however, tbt girls g:y'l'lllHl.Stica continues tQ f-lourish.

Cl ub sessions i n Oynevor were held on Monday l unch- time~ io the care of Mr. Evans, whilst a t Llvyn~y-8ryo Mrs. 1?hitford meets ~rube.rs on Monday lunch- time ~nd after school . The inter~st shown cu_lminated in two $Uc;cessful vis i u to \lembJey to ..,atch inter1iational gymnastics disp lay$ .

The gi rh of llwyn-y-'Sryn also gave a highly competent display at one of the f.T.A, mee.tings. ROCKE~

Surpri$ing ly, the only real interes t in Hockey at present is in t h~ boys 1 depa~tment.

Although no t in'1otved .in cany league act iv ities, t he team has been reasonably successful it\ fde.ndly in.at..cbes . Act ive oembera of staf f i.n t his fiel d :tre Messrs. E•.,ans, .8.:t.shfotd and Myers.

Solt'le boys have oow fouod p: aces in local hockey clubE , NETBALL

As~ result of the school •s ~etball activities. girls were selected for the West Glamorgan Sq1)3d and higher honours . F·ull details of thi s can be found in the girls ' repor t..

Practices for the various teams are held during lunch-break on F-riday and a.fter schoo l on Thursday in the c-0.mpany of Mrs. Whitfor d. Despite all t.he p-r:u::tice. the senio.r girh b.ave not yec suceeeded 1n ·mastering the invincible mal e staff ne tba l l team. ORIENTEERING

11,is ls now a well-established activity in the school . Over t he last cvo seasons the school has p roduced two internationals , Tim Andrew and Phi lip 8rowno.tt.

At the 19 78 J •. Iatt in evening and weekend sailing , Some pupils are seekin,g membershi p of local sailing- clubs ,

Suso,n Jenkins and Bet tina Jensen have rep resented the school i n two ~e lsh Youth CJ1ampionships a t Sala and Pont ypool. Othe rs have done wel l in the West Glamorgan Sailing regatta .

The highlights over the, last two seasotuJ have been the launching of the school ' s home.-ptoduced boat, kindly provided by the P.T ,A.; camping at the Bala and Pontypool Championships and two sailing camps ~ t Milford llaven.

In the course of a year iL is true to say that some 25 or 1n0re pupils have be come. reasonable sailot$ . Inform-ation on sailing can be obtained from Hr. Evons, Hr. Craven , or M.r , .L . Mo rris. SKIING

A number of pupils annua lly utidenake_ a skiir& holiday in the company of Mr. Glyn Jones. These pupils ret urn having attained a reasonable standard and 1 above all. a proudly--•beld reputation for good behaviour. socceR

The 1977-78 season saw th6 Senior X1 again winning the West Glamorgan Under-19 co~etition. This gave them entry into the Esso Under-19 English Schools Championship. Unfortunately, they lo$t co Torquay Grammar School who subsequently reached the final. This latti:r season has be~n a quieter affair . All other $ides in the tvo seasons have ~chieved only moderate success.

_ Notable over the seasons are th_e facts that Mark Baker was signed for Sw3nsea City and gained a Youth Cap and chat six boys were selected to represent Swansea Schoolboys . Two boys were chosen fo r courses at Oanycocd. W'ayne Morton, Kevin Rope.r and Mark Abrahamson appear to be making fine progress cowards honours for themselves.

Mr. Tim Williams, Mr. L. lk>1,.,yer and the Mr. R. Knowles have. been the suppor ting mea>ers of ataff. Mr. Meredith. H~s. Suba, Mr , ~oodcock and Mr , Lewis j oined t he band of helpers in che l atest season. SQUASH

As a result of the n~wly introduced visi ts to the Swanse~ Leis~rt Centre, t he senior pupils formed thei t own Squash Club . They are to be congr3tulated on org,nising thei r own toutnament and for providing their own trophy. SWIMMING

Cred~table performances were achieved in competitions over the last two seasons . Compe t itions ~ere attended at Brecon and Cardiff. The West ~lamor gan and Swansea Schools Championships gave us

some.good cesul cs in both boys ' and girls' sections . So~ pupils were chosen for the West Cl~roorgao team.

Club acti vi ties take place on Thursday evenings at the Univer&ity :Baths, w-hen available. lnfotmation e.in be obtained ftom Mrs. Denis~ Cuy. TABLE-TENNIS

O,.,ing to Mr. D.J. Taylor 's retic-emant from the T.able-tconis Scene I activity de clined until Mr . Bashford to.ok ~n interest. Club mee t ings ~ere re-established on Thur sday and Friday lunch- time$ in the Lowtr Cym .

lt is hoped tha t a team might be formed to play school matches. TENNIS

Ovec the lest seasons Mr. J. Lewis fonned a Tennis Club , which played twt.l matches . Hopes are tha t the. futur~ wi ll brillg increased activit)' in this Held . WEIGHT '11lAINING

This lunch-time activity on Tuesday and Thursday is uttd~rtaken by a dedicated few. l'he emphasis is upon che ' ' train ing" and is supervised by Mr. Craven .

The pupi ls merely wis h to main tain and acquire a peak of fitness either for other sports or for their own ~ell-being.

11.B.E.

SE)flOR Cl RLS ' AIHLE'l'ICS

Georgina Williams bad great 5~ccess on the sthleties field las e year. She ran fot her country against Eire , s~otland and Northern t~et~nd , as ve l l as tsking pare i n. an Under-21 l.ntet'l\ational. She ran foe West Glamot'S~ School s on several occasions, and created a new record in lSOO m. She wa& Dynevor School Champion in 1978. The school is proud of her record.

SW!Nl!WG 1978

Second Years Kim Taylor Alison Coombes Debbie Yea tes Aoge la Ed!INnds

First Ye.ars Janie 'J'a.ylor: "Nicola Robe rts Christine Walters Elizabeth Andrews

Seniors Ju11e Keys Cherry 1 Murphy Sheila W~s t Claire Wl l liUIS Claire Richat'ds

Results of t.he Swansea Schools SviG1Ding Championships - Pontardawe Baths. 23rd M~:l

2nd Year 2nd Year 2nd year 2nd year 1st yeot

Team ~dley - 3rd Team Squad - 3rd 100 m, Back Stroke - Kim Taylor . 2nd

50 m. Butterfly - ((i1a Taylor. 2nd 100 m. Prone Crawl - Janie Tay lo r_, ls t.

$laden Trophy 1918

Tea~ Medley Events held ~t The Natiooal Sports Centre , Cardiff. M.trch 1978

Results : Senior He.dl~y to the Final :

plaeed in 3rd Position Cheryl ·Murphy, Julie Keys, Cl~i t'c Wi 11 iams, Clai ra Richards.

2nd Yea~ Medley placed 4th in t he rina1: Audrea Muq>hy Kim Taylor Janie Taylor Debbie Yeates

SJ adeo Re l.iy .Team he.ld at Breco·n Pool . Apri 1 1978 3602or Squad as above placed 5th 1n Fina1 2nd Ye.a r Squad.

Swansea Schooh Swi.mut.iug T::ria.l.$ SW.11\SCa Batha, 10th Ma rch

4 th Form 2nd Yeat Florence Evans Janie Taylor

3rd F'ot"n:i Kim Taylor Alison Coombes Debbi e Yeates Andrea Murphy

1st Yea~ Debbie Olsen Tin."l Albrighton Tracey Yeates Jul i e Ph illips

.... Swansea l979

Finals of t he Swansea Schools - Swansea Baths, 10th April 1979

Results~ 2nd Year Ba~k S troke 3rd teaT " ,.

100 o. lOO m.

.SO m.

- Janie 'Taylor - 3rd - Kim Taylor - 2nd - Kim Tayl-or - 2nd Jr d Yea£ liutterfly

3rd Year Team Medley 4th Year Breast Stroke 100 m. - Florence

- 3rd Evans- 6th

GY11NASTlCS

CQnraatulations to the follo1o: i ng girls who were c.bosen co represent West Glamorgan Schools at the ~'ebb Championships held i n North ~ales over a ~eekend stay. ~efo re reaching this point they h,d to go through Swansea Schools and Wee r Glamorgan Tr ials, f or floor work m:i.d apparatus. be chosen for a squad and h:wiug to go to Squad t raining S~ssions for .several week·s before t he actual competi tion. Cougraculations t o thiCE/GYMNASTIC DISPLAY June 1978

Over fifty gif'LS took pare in this co1ubined show of dance

diffel"'eni age~ performing lOotL,, ... ,; t>L va iryi ng difHc v: Ly. c.~n.g,ar·u191 ;,\nn a ce. i.11 •l!'d.et~ fot :; 1 J t:he g i r ls t $k i ng p 1rt ond m=kin6 Lhl$ sbcw f ~ t h= p,,e~t~ such a '\'Uf' o h igh ~tand.ard .._, f W,:\. k fo th,dr hm., h--tLII? m.i ifl e1 1>t:hocl.

ClWSS- COIN'l'R'i

s~----d as: 'Fro,.!!!._ s~)t eir.ber l~?8

I &,I .?n.ii 2rtd ,•fars : Nic~la-R~herls __ _ I ane t Go id )udy Pcpham !.i h.an Fulford i>'-brs WtlHnson M:lt>dy Pctdui> r la; (l!' Js1:11es m•• l t=;.Cl l,Oll'l l'(~y Ttdl'~} Hopk ins Ni

c.1 urawins by Steer

L

Schoo( ~ot~ As you are all well aware, t~i $ is the f irst schoQl

COtlgatine poblished sioce th.e amalgamation o f the schools of Dynevor and Llwyn- y- Br.yn . The new schoo l now nvelbers llOO. v i t h a combined staff of 74 . [ ft l t t hat t he amal g3lllation of tne two schools took place smoothl y -t h it new girls settling in to t heir new environmen t very usily .

Reg&Yd ing &c~dtudc aspects, the ' A' Level resul ts amongst the boys in Dyoevor and t he girls i n Llwyn-y-Bryn var ied in $ tandard. Exceptioo~l res ults were obt..aincd in both schools by the pupils, ~hree of whom gained place s at. Oxfoi:d 3nd Ctwibddge . ' O' Level, C.S , £. and C.E. 8 . r0sults •ere quite pl c~sing, many candid3tes have either cont:inuc d their academic scudi0t'l and has regular outings .

The School Rugb)I h t XV 1,ad quite a good sea,on . In ~ovember t he school beat a touriog teamXrom London . 80d in llecember defeat ed a team from Jesus College , O~fotd. Mark Lynch c btabuid • o ODcle.r-19 Welsh Cap , and proved a worthy sclectiOQ Jo all his io t e.rna t ional miltc.hes~ Although I.he ream eJ:ijoy, the enthusiasm of a small number of me.mbers. it :is •ad t .bac members are few. this i s also t rue o( many of the Bc.bool 1 s other teams. I can only ~ope th~ t in the future ~ony more pupils wil l p~rticipare 1.n the .sc.hool's eponiua a

I I

I I / I . ' • I

' I

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After t he suc-eeas of las t. ye.ar ' s produ

On th~ 9thcf May , Mrs. McGaughey and Mr. Taytor hel'ded a t hrong of Sixth-fo roe:rs to London to see the Sbakespeari an play "tove • s Labour Lost" a.t the Aldwych theatre, London ,

Ovr paren t$ all too wi l l ingly signed the Consent forms. gave us packed luoches, and at 8.t.oon the Wedoesday morning -..,e left High Stree t Station for Paddington, Fortwiat~Ly , only two people, (members of the Lowei'.- sixth). had to sprint che last few yards t hrough the station and t o t he tr8in altn0$t as i t was pulling away. The journey to Paddington was slightly less t han exciting, liven.ed up only by e xpedit ion$ through the commuter-packed carriages to the buffet car for coffee and packets of petrified British Rail biscuits .

When we finally aYrivcd in the "Big Ci ty" at roughly eleven o'clock, we were given our theatre ticket$ and t hen escorted. via the undergound, to the Aldwycb so t hat we. knew where to returJ\ in tia:e for the performance at two o 'clock . f or t he few hours remaining before the pl ay commenced. we $~lit up into groupa, som,e disappear-i ng completely . wbile otheri s pent the time shopping. or seeking refresh~ent . Several of us invaded trafalgar ---.:r , Squsre to find that, as us1.1

by the- ·;1,,1j od ty o r people . al though ~"'vP..ral hought it: waE tat hec lons 1 b.ut even t.hcse- o{ l l& oritio Lated more tOlf:ards sri,rnc.c- ~ere impcessed by bo th cbe p.l ay i tse-lf and the perfo,mance.

A.ftec the play ) ve again t p1it up, knowing that we h3d to bl' !:la.ck. a t Paddio.gton a·t. 6. t.S p. w. to catch che 7,15 p.m. t.rain , Again, most groups vanished from the theatte and vcre not s een again until we me t at Paddington, but several . with the he lp of t he se~soned London travellers amongst us and one or two stree t 11t3ps, he8ded fot' Piccadilly Circus and th"- surrounding area. Even though i t was no t yet late enough {ot the Picc adilly "night-life" to appear, it was sti.11 quite bu$y and we had a very inter"C-sting tinte walking around the streets inspecti ng the various shops.

Finding our vay back t o Paddington on the Under-groUl'ld pr oved co be an education in itself. The: St3tion at Oxford Circus was reminiscent 0£ a c3ttle-market, but fin.al.ly we. m.-inaged co get our ticke t s and. with some effor t. boarded the correct train. Wheo we all arrived at ~~ddingcon Station and when ve hsd exch~nged stories of our. exploits , we found our seat s on the train and sat back for the absolutel y riveting return journey.

Por m-,ny o f us the f irst balf- hoor of the j o ume.y was spent devouring che r emaio s of our l unch - d.i~ts completely for goLt en.

By lWency-pas c-ten we ~ere al l extreme ly glad to ge~t off the U 'ilin , alt hough m.1ny had hoped t o .arrive in s .... anst"a .a good half- how b~fore 10 . 30 p .m. Every-one then spl i 1· vp for the 1 as t t i me to c-atc.h buses o r t c- walk home aft1n a Lomplc te ly exhausting but \•e ry t~joy-,bl e day out.

TI )d,.l f ~ \ l _:. .... 4,, .;i 11 . ' ' .... -·

Pupils interes ted io debating gained v~1uab le speaking experience in the Ju.n.iot Cha.mb~r of u>mmerce Debates . This ~unual competition, held i n the Christmas term, attrac t ed great i n t erest from many s chools. Dynevor en tered c~o teams at both senior and i ntermediate level s . Each debating team hes three members who are j udged on deb3ti~s tecbni que, speech- content , de livery and general presentation. The t opics dealt wi t h by t he Oyoevor teams concerned Hospi tal Pay- beds . Violence on Television , Fairies , Life after Death and the Abolition of the House of Lords . Al though ve did noc reach t he finals , 3 lot of pupil s were able to see them at 1lwyn-y~Bryn School , when Mr. Dav id Mercer led a di s t inguished team of j udges. Swansea Sound recorded the f inals and transmitted chem just af te~ Christ~u .

Dynevor enjoyed 11l0re .success in the. annu.al Public Speakfog Competi tion . sponsored by the Swanse.i Rotary Club, and held i n the Y.M.C.A. Each team consist$ o( a Chairman > Speaker and Proposer o f Thanks, vho speak for th:ree, seven aad two minutes respectively. the Dyn8vor Team gained stcond pl 3ce in the t eam Awards .and first place in the Individual Speake r' s Cup . Katherine Ley~ L . Vl Science . arnused and enchanted the audience with her original ideas on "U r rule.d t he Worl d" . Bvery pupil invo lved in these c.ompetic-i.on-s is grateful to Mr. Ktetschmer 3nd Mr. Thomas for their time., help and enthus iasm.

Davi::! 0 1 CALLAGHAN

Crime Prevention and Road Safety Quizes

During t he past year or so Dynevor bas competed in a Crime Prevention Quiz , organised by the Crime Preventioo Panel, and a Highway Code Quiz , ~nd both teams hav~ been success f ul . The format of the Crime Prevention Qui~ vas a series of knock-out rounds , concluding with two teaau in the fin3l. Our teao, vas David o ~callaghan , Chris Cousins , David Jones and Andrew Reynolds ,with Peter Cousil'.ls as substitute . A bus filled vi t h s upporte.ts and parents left Oynevor School at 6 .0. p .m. on Tuesday, 9th May, en rout~ to the Police Headquo.rtera :.lt Bridgend. We ware not particularly nervous, but we certainly vould have been n,orc relaxed if i t w~re not £or the f act that the even ing w3s being recorded by Swinsca Sound .

When we f inal ly arrived , Hr. Rey Cr3ven , our 11lianager t•, gave us some final w-ords of ~dvicc . Then we to.ok up .Qur places on the stage , and the qui2 began. The questioo-master, Dave 6-owen (an Old Oyvorian) . tried hi s best to be neut ral ; we could have done wit h some ass ist~nce as Olchf~ vent into an early l ead. At t he end of the qui2 the scores we~e tiod - so ~e had a WTit ten t ie- breake r - naturally , this ~as also s tie. As t he question-o);')Ster ~ppeared to have roo out of questions, t he contest vas declared a draw.

this year . on 9th Mal:'ch , a local Road Safety competi-tion vas he ld a t Bishop Core School, and Dynevor entered two teams. David Jones , Chris and Pet e r Cousins and 1 wet:e. the ' A' t eam and the ' B' \earn wer e Keith Pbillipart ,

Cl:fry Neil, Mrirk Neil and Adrian .Tonea. Our I A' team. won wi th sixty-eight poinu , Oys t e rmou t h were aeeond with sixty, and Oynevor 'B' Tea.m was third vith fifty-eight points .

And rev Rt:'iNOLDS

An Eis t eddfod . Such~ simple. We l sh word , meaning a sess ion of poetry compos i tion, but it baa an entirety differenc meaning. Wheo this quite innocent word vas men t ion~d in assembly one day las t term it caused qui t e ..m uproar! Whereas some gfrl.s "-'Clcorued t.h i s .)S a c hance to use thfoi r tal eJ) ts ,'.IJld smiled happi l.y ,. t he teachers sigh~d and l onged fo r hol iday~, and we (the norm4l people) nearly cried . Now. there would have t o be poems )earnt. stories written , songs s ung, dravUlgs dr3lffl and, to put it bluntly, t here would be absolute chaos!

We left the hall quire disheartened, yet noisy. We t

An Eis teddfod comes but on ce a year, But that's too soon fo r .... I fea-r. l.'ork. work, work , that 's all we do, And we. have got no choice , coo . 11[..e.arn that poe.11. " "Learn t hat song," Th4t' s all l gee, al l day long.

" Write a poem, " Wrice an e ssay" ,

We g.ec no choice, we get no s ay.

'' If you f o rget , t be ce ate l ines t o l e arn" .

Oh , f or holidays. how T yearn!

And when, at last, che ~ot k's all donf,

You find you h4Vll1 ' t e.ven won!

I t is vorth the sweat and tea r$ ,

The 'off-stage"nerves and Ill.any rears ?

I don 't think so, ~nd ask t he schoo l,

They a l l agree, as a rul e!

Si,rn PRICE, Form 3

n© wondering ,that sort o evi 1 ish scheme$ the teache.rs had in store for us t his t ime . Ac tually. i t proved quite interesting. Please bear in mi nd that it was~ hist ory trip, and a history trip cannot ~eally be enj oyed , but i t is possible. co cake. ;:, great deal o f interest i n it.

We. set off at about half-past- nine , and two coaches ~e re needed f or the vhole of t he second year.

Our ( irst $top was Neath Abbey, whi ch is 3bout ten miles away £rom Swansea. The Abbey w3s founded in 1130 by a man called Ri chard de Cranvi l le, on l and conquc ted by h i m from t h~ 1':elsh . lt was otiginally a daugh ter house of Savigny and fo ll& 7 it j oined t he Cistercian otder, I t tr~ded in wool and hides for a time.. The present church was bui l t between t280 and 1330, and the monastery was ooce described as 1' the f airest abbey in all Wales" by a man called J ohn tel ~nd. the king's antiqu&cy.

Ho•.tever, t his cnee p roud abbey now stands in ruins, which is ha\'dly $u-i:pt'ls i ng bec.ause i t seems e.very vis itor t akes a lit t le piece of s cone or tile a~ay wi th them!

1Je went to Caerphilly -Cas t l e from th0 ab~~y. This castle was bui l t by a ~~n called Earl Gilbert de Clnre. 1n Britai.n only Windsor C.a.s tlo is l .ireer i n siu. At t he momeot Ol0$ t of the pass~g,es 0.11d e tsin•£i7:a h:i.vc been eons i dered unsafe and blocked off , and i t was r~ther t i ring :ua·r ching b;JCk snd !crth ~ton, dc::::!-~n.:t passage.;. One inte res t ing point, ho·.,,c, ,er . is: t he famoui 1 l'!.!nio:; tot.-er. This h.ip'!>Cned when Cr.:imwc.11 ' s ~n, o~ Rotmdhesds, actcr:,ap ted to blo._, .1p t he cower duri ng the Civil w,n: , Gunpo-r..der was put in it. ~=id it vas meat1 t to be. b l own up entin:1,ly , Uut ii. oul y ooved a little .

We spent a ton& t ime at Caerphil l y (pa.rely because we had our l unch t here). but we f i nally moved on to o ur last s top, which was the ne\o' StonC' ;\ge Tomb a t Tink inswood .

After vinding i ts way a l ong a precarious, narrow road t he bus finally halted i n hone of a gate. in a hedge. we c la~bered out th rough the gat~ and emerged i n a field. The t omb could be seen in t he dist ance . We took some deep breat hs of the fresh coun try air (which was mingling with not-so- fresh countcy smells), as we strode ~long. We final ly arriv~d at the tomb . which was s imply tw stones on their side , with a Larger on~ on the top. le w~s about s ixteen feet wide and eight feet high . The tomb was bu i lt by thl: Celu t housand$ of yea rs ago and was used as a budal chamber.

we were quickly C'l3.r

~ ®U M e ecuo~ ~ th ghij~ijil

preparation fot the May elections , Dynevor did not pass unscathed. lodced. so incenae. was the fervour amongst certain sixth-formers, an in tern~l elee~ioo was quickly bPgged for, soon granted and fanatic canvass i ng was unleashed . The. date vas arranged by the powe'tS above 10 coincide wi t h the relatively insigoifi~ant national elec tions, in order to try and ach ieve_an unbiased,un-~~~1udiced and uninfluenced vot~ . As it hippcoed . ,..v : d .cal theory and policy ~ere re l egated if not aban-doned, in the coune of the build"'up to tht school electi-ons.

One morning late in April a very suspicious- looking group o f c,onsp ir.itors met over co ffee in a ~omer of ~he. famous Oynevo r can teen. Spectators w

Fe godts i am hann~r--awr-wedi-saith a r fo r e Dydd Llun. Fe ymolches i a gwisgo ac yna fees ii g3el pe&h br ecwasc. Ar 81 cae l br~cvas t fees i i ' r ysgol. Re roies i fy mag yng nghar fy ff rind ac yn~ fe aec.hon ni i I T ysgol. Fe gythaeddon oi mcwn pedwar munud ac fe aethon ni i ~isudd i lawr ar fainc dan y aeuadd ymarfe.r corfi ac aroson oi am y bws yna • . Roedd y bws yn hwyr i awn , fe aetbon ni ar y bws am ug3i n- rounud~wedi-deg . Fe gyrhaeddon ni ru.ewo dwy awr yn Ll3ngranog , Fe aetho~ ni allan o'Y bws ac i ·me'-'U i'r gwersyll. Fe P-M,,J&On ni t "'-'-beth i 'w fwyta ac yna cymeron ni ein bagiau i 1 n+ hysufc.ll-oedd , Yna fe aethon ni 1 nofio , raerlota a cberdded . Fe es i Ierlota yn gyota , yna nofio a chetdded yn ddiwethaf. Ar ol hyn f~ aethon ni i gyd i' r caban bvyta i gae l bwyd. Fe gavson n i deisen a jam ac yna f.e e.s i i cbwarae t.Cllis -bWTdd _yn ystod fy amser sb8r. Fe gawsoo ni swper. Ml saith o ' r gloch ac ~r ol swper fe gawson ni wers pan roedd rhaid i ni siar ad Cym.raeg gyda'n gilydd a gyda'r athro. Roedd gwasanactb gyda ni bob nos- hefyd ac .:ir y n.os gynta fe ddarl lenes i'r weddi . Ar ol y gvasanae th fe. ae thoo ni i'rgwely.

Pc gododd pawb am wyth o'r gl.och y bol'e ncsa . Fe godes i , ymolchi 3 mynd i f recwast. At 61 brecwajt fe aethon nl i'r wers nesa. Siaradon ni am y gwersyll ac unrhyw beth roedden ni 10 gallu dweud . Chwaraes i denis-bwrdd tan hanner-3~r--wedi-deuddeg pan e.s ii g~el cinio. 6r 61 cinio fee$ i nof io ' n gynta a~ yna fees i i'r caban cysgu, i sychu fy ng;.1alJt ~ fy nillad nofio. Chwaraes i ' pool ' gyda fy ff.rind. Fe ges i d'e run bt.UrHttunud-ar-hugain-wedi--pedwar ac ac 01 byn fc .g.)wson ni ddisgo. ond doedd neb yn dawnsio a~ amser by r ar y d~chrau. Roedd gvasan-aeth am naw o 'r gl och cyn i ni fynd i 'r gwely .

Fe godes i am aratoiot\ ni am yr Eisteddfod yn y bore cy-n gael cinio . Yn y prynhaOl-n b ctn.•an:1.e.s i denis- bwrdd Y'R lle mynd i nofio a c.h~rdded . Ar ol te fe gawson ni Ewy o amser i baratoi i'r Eisteddfod. Arlt s3ith o' r gloch fe ga~son ni s~,per a daetb yr Eisteddfod er ,SJ hyn. Roedd wyth eite.m ac roedd pwyn teu am y gorau. Enni ll odd Lli~ y gysc3d-leuaeth. Fe- ga'!;,'SOn ni wasanaeth ar C>l )'1" Eisteddfod a c Jna £e aethon ni i ' r gwely.

Fe godes i am bum-m.unud-i-wyeh ar y dydd di wetha. Ches i ddim br ec~as c ond fe becies i f y mag yn lle. Fe gawson ni ""atHi.na:eth am ddeg o ' r gloch a.c yna roedd amser gyda ni i bacio ei~ bagiou. Roeddwn i wedi pacio fy mag fe l ly doedd dim unrhy,..• pe th • ... ...,.,,,td --·•dg £i. Eist-eddodd pob un i lawr tan dae:th y b'WS . Roedden u.l adref mtwn un-awr- a-hanner ~c ~oeddwn i wedi blino'n f ~wr i~!il'O , ond wedi :mwynhau wythnos dda yo Llangrannog.

Anthony REES 3/37

Towards the end of September 1978 , a not-ice appeared in school briefly mentioning a " General Course for Sixth form Pupils " at Dyffryn House . lnteresce.d, I asked foe moce. de.tails - only to discover th3t none \ltt:e av.aihble. Therefore , attracted by i t s novelty, I put my name down for the course. 'the school heard nothing roo re for eight weeks . Then , iHJ we wondered if t he Education Office had emigrated~ a let t er arrived to confirm the dates and to advise pupils to bring pencils and paper. Consequently. i.31)ot:aot of the possible Con tents and purpose of t he course, I waited patiently .

Early in December , 1 joined up vich thircy- nine other bemused six.tb-fonn~rs at Dyffryn House, which is near Cardi ff . The t.enn ''House" is something of an under-state:nent as the main buildings and g rounds resemblo a mini- Bucklnghim Pa.lac~. Raving been shown co our rooms to unpack., we wet'e in t roduced t o the organi ser who revealed some of t he long-awaited d~t ails of t he course : "We hope you'll attend the l~ctures and enjoy your week he r e". Very s oon,howeve.r • a printed timetable told us $ verythi ng we needed t o know. each of t he following days was spent in a ttendi ng a number of topica l , i n teresting and infonnat lectur es given by t he County Education Advisei;, . A certain part of e a ch evening was devoted to even t s termed dubiously • ''Croup Act ivities" . 1-'e were given t he choice of spending these periods i n one of four g roups: 1'Engliah" , "Art . "Orama" and ''Music " . My pe rsonal allegi ance fel 1 for: the Eriglish gr oup, so I j o ined abouc teo other six th- formers in a l arge room futoished vi t b a circle of armc.heirs. Under the supervision of a keen 8nd enthusias t ic g roup l eader . we spent these periods i n debate, religious and pol itical discussion, and reading poetry.

We "-'(He occasionally evacuated by the Drama Depor.tr.:ient wi shiog to shoot wild chases wi th their video- camera.

Throughout the week, the avai l ab i l ity of billi;lrd ~nd table-tennis cables from seven in the morning ensured that we did not delay in getting up . A l ate disco, every evening, was organi.sed by diffeten t sixth .formei:s and received with gre.lt enthusiasm, Visits to St. Fagans Folk Musel.1#'.1 ~od The Welsh College of Music and Drttma were 3runged to supplement ce·rtain. discussions and lectures .

The morning of o ur depar tur e everyone ~ssemb l ed to presen t t he products of the i r Croup Ac t ivities: there were deb~t.cs. scul p t ures , du.wings , essays, video-films aiid mus i cal itelll8 .

this course was wel l worth actending and . if ir is repe3ced , I strongly i dvhe love r - sixth formc-rs to try to ob t ain pla ces - e ven if the initi81 information i s decidedl y vague .

David 0 1CALLAGHAN

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11

tc is a fact universally acknowledged t h~t o student i n possession of an OXbtidge degree wil] not be in want of a job. The purpose of this ~Tticle is to examine whe t her Oxford and ics younger s ister, CambTidga, are all they are made out co be, aod co suggest pe·rha1H1 that the advantages to be gained from going to either university aYe not as great 3S many people seem to think. l 3tn no~ io my third year of a LaY degree at Christ's, Cambridge - so my knowl edge of Ox.ford is. limited ( limited, some · would say, to a passing ~cquaintance with some of the pubs ...,ithin sta.ggering distanee of Oriel College . ) However. as Oxfo~d ii run (and populated) by peop lo vho share the same SOt't of ways of " Jooking at the world", then (I'!)' comments vill 11pply by- and- large to the Dark Blue city as ~0Ll.

Why talk about Ca1nbridge anyway? Didn't 11Clictering Priies" say i t .all? The 8nsver (a:o.d the excuse.. for this piece of hack-wotk)is "No". Yes. of courae, it ""-TI provide you with the best time of your life - b l.lt to some, like William Wordswonh. t h~ only good thing about it ts the lenglh of the holid.iys , He saw the dons as .,Men uuscoured • gtot.esque in chnacter,tr icked out like. aged trees". John Milton descdbed hi s alma mate.r (Christ's) as " a s-tony .. hearted ste.p-mother" and was rathe r less than rl'"spect ful to his tu.tot. His eriticism of the poot man led to ~he great (~nd boring) p-oet beiog rusticated fo-r ooe term. More recently, .i lecture.,: was beard to say "It i s extraordinary t hat an all - male society should pt'Oduca £0 many old 'wou::eo' . " Many~ true word .

Of course, many of t hr old barrien are a t long last comiog dow, . By 1990 , mosr . if not al I , of th~ college$ should be admitt ing women as volJ as men {apan froo M,3gde lene. . where they think a mixed

college means letting 1n g,ammar sc.hool boys) . So at. last the ia.1..c sex can uke a place at the. two univ-e.tsities withouc the fee ling t.hat they ate "oo ly wanred. for one thing11 bei ng quite so acute . No longer will having a lady-fr i end (usually c.:illed Fiona) in Girton, c.any quite as many kudos. The voice of a vociferous minorit.y is beginning to be heeded. That doe.sn I c mean that life in Corpus Chrhti College is nC> longer ak.in to living in a monastery.

But let me not be too dispnaging . If y·o u a.re blused. with a sense of history, you ' 11 Jove: i t . To think that your room tnight be the very one in which Cba.rles Darwin slept, or John Clcese c lowned about in. (N.13.A. preposition i s not the righ t word to end a sentence. wi th). And you too coul d e111crge from the college bar afte r a h.J;rd luuchtime.'s wor k , o n ly to be .s~•bmerg.e.d by .;) flood of f at American tou.ri sts w.earing tastel ess out fits 3nd brandishing hide.ous1y e xpensive cameras . If you are really fortunate, they mig.\lt even barge into your room and toke snaps of "A t'eat goddam Cambddge under-graduate 's room. Emily . " T.he.y have a sense of history , you see .

But seriously, I ham> enjoyed wt t ime there . Ye t l .£eel vety St rongly that a l ot cf academic humbug is spouted on the s ubject. Per the record: it is harder to gee a place ,0;t "Oxbridge " t han at most o the"t- univ-versicies - bu t once you get the.re, it i s quit-e po&si-ble to survive by doing very little ~ork i ndeed.

Also , the two towns are no t populat e d exclus i vely by pubtic .. schoc. l mo-r:ons vho weac tweeds and go bea,g-liug (although some of t his d,ti.og breed do $u c-vive.).

And •c'd ec-ly tc- end,, where t beg.:in . Yes it is sti 11 t::rue thai cmp- loyer:s take a little more notice of you .if tb.e magi(; letters M.A . (Cantab - or Oxon) appear a fter your name, So if t hac' s "Jhat you want aL the end of your three yea--rs (and mttny people do), t.h.at's .fine. 81.1-t. 'C"emembe c you won• t be spending your time 1.o an idyllic city a f dreamUl.g spire~ - but ~n •n odd ~ 1nachc-onls ic city of pe-rsplr ing dreams . ·

One. of the first chlt13.s T, noticed on st.arliug oollege was bow friendly the. students and lecturers were. ,\t Hrst it wa$ diffi c.uJt to disting uish one ..fi:om t he o the r 3S all ths Jec tur~ rs were known by their Christian naD>es. This i s soo.ething 1 took some t i me to gel used to.and even n0"'1 i t does not seem quite r i ght.

The majority of peopl e are. very f riendly, aod as T aai on an Art Course I have found that IIIOSt of rny f riends have t he sam0 ittt~rests and hobbies as myself . The social life in the co llege is extremely hectic; t her e is har dl y one night t hat passe$ without soma kind of funct ion. Tb6re are many distrac t ions and it would be very easy to be s ide-tt'aeked from oi1e 1 t; studies . Tt is i mportant to find an equal balance between work and anjoyment , and also to be truthful to yourself and admit if work i s being neglected.

Most peopl e who attend college realize that a l ot of hard work is necessar y . but t he re are a l ways a ftw who are there only t o was te t ime.

Unfortunat e l y the t i me""W~Sters are usually very influential pcople ,.ind "skivi ng off" for a day or an af t ernoon neve-r seems quite so bad when it i.s done i,n a crowd . If this had happened i n school undoubte dly several teaeher& would be after your bl ood .

College diffets i n t his way. nobody says anything. bul afte r a wh il~ a heavy feel i ng of guilt appears and long o i&hts a re spent frant ically trying t G cat ch up o n mi ssed work.

One maj

Tc all started when my Uncle Fred came.. k-ome one evEning. We wete i n fits 0£ hysteric.at 1aughte~ •t·Aunt Cltds latest deacYiption of Uncle Fred ' s rather ~ecennic behaviour in a supermaTkec.

'And t here ve Yere, standing in the middle of the floor1 , she .st1id 0 'suddtnty he gra.bbe.d a tin of baked be:,ns off the she l f and sh

' Well , at l eas t 1.bat gets us out of i t, ' Nar ge said l O roe..

A young police.man t urned atouod and lock~d be.mused at m)' unc l e as he went pasl ll.l m i n a t i ger skin. The traff-ie ba ' l'e,cl ,i ch a crescendo of screechi ng brake.s and honking horns ,

' fl i ppin' se,•en s tone Ta r z;m, ' exclaimed t he police-man, t wonder whor~ Jane is?'

AJ\Qther p~rson, a Japanese Tourl s t , vho was taklng a pho to, lowered his caineta ~nd s tared unbelievingly a$ a tiger , s itting on~ bike, whis tling the ' Blue D3nube' waltz , whiske d past him. The tourist ~ut tered aome-Lhing, which could have probably be.en trans lated as •t eust ge t m)' glasse9 fixed' .

As my uncle turned into the stud io a drunkard who was sitting on th~ pavement, stared .at the bottl0 in hit hand and t hen threw it ioto the gutter shaking his b-tad.

'Will you look a t this guy?' said the director. choki ng back ro~rs of laughter.

'Well. I 'll be a monkey ' s uncle ,' sa.id the producer.

I don ' t. know Whc t he r you ba,a, evct .seen • five-foot-six . seven s tone we3kling tryiog to do a Tarzan shout, but r assure you i t i s not a pl easant sight. (\le were t 'Celted to an examp le vhen he ca:ne home.~) He di·d not pas s. the auditt

'·

!O(!~~Q al l my dol l~ and my la~ge t ~ddy bea ~

moveJ :ill th~ il.flhian• f.rom all !he chair~-

1 1 heVen '1. found t..het l!p1de.r v i th inHt1i•"' u:>.

Ii C\ lobk~d io r~ cepbo scd and und,r ,be

r 'nie..o_!.Sna Vft ~ t e r t he g l t ll)Q~ n:f/,_~ hc bou•• • t he-"dc:-t-urned up. Unkempt , starved and fit"thy, obviously it was a s t r ay. So she fed tbc cat and kept i t as a companion for her in tbe old hou.se. She'd moved into the house, as htr parents we re. ..forcing her to be this and that, no t caring at al l about her or w~at she "Wanted. She was to -settle down, marry a 01.ce, respect-able young man vhoro her parents ~ould choose for her. Sha could pict~re them advertisi ng for him: "Wanted, nice young , respectable. 1%1/lII , must earn a t le.is c £),000 p.a. '.For Ma.rriage". So she le(t .

She'd seen the house advertised in the paper, so she packed uP and moved in. It was an old house, with damp wa ll& , loose wooden floor-boards , and c~acked ceilings, but it was her home and she loved tt. the cat was ever-present. washing i tself or j ump ing about the pl3ce like a demented aquitrel. The cat never ne~ded to be let io or out , solilehow it managed t() do both coming and going vithout a ~are in the world and ~ith such a disdainful 3ttitude, Sometimes she would li.sten to it, l ying awake .li t night , 3S i t . shaq>ened i ts claws against some unfortunate chai r or door.

A veek aft'er its bedraggled a r rival i t was gone, no longer co be se.en, va.ni.shed. She felt" sad. but after all it was a stray and no one could own cats they just happened to live in the same place at the s;urie time, for a while anyhow. Tll,t night i n bed she heard s cratching . She jumped out of bed thinking it was the cat. She searched t he house. No cat. She must have tMde a mistake. She woke up twice more during the night1 . he-aring scratching, but she s t i ll found no cat. It had left , gone, \•cm.ished.

The next day she asked the nci&hboun if they I d seen a cat. N.o ooe had . The.re. wet"en ' t any cats around here , none at all , ~o cats . She returned home late from work that evening. Scratch, &eratch, scratch, we lcoiaed her 3S she opened the door• but no. that vas i:npossible , the house was eQPty. She awoke.repeatedly due to the noise, it del)fened he r. I t wa.s 1n every r oom of th~ house. Scratch , scratch , scratch. It was upst airs , downstairs, ~n my lady's chamb~r• ev~rywhere quie t ly deafening, t.okrns over her cortsc.1ous 111.i.nd, takin& her over . The next night she slept , if s l eep she could, with a rad io on . tryins to drown the noise. But still sht heard it . Scratch. Scratch , Scratch.

That day after work she decided t o go for a dr ink, not because she was 1,,•orried or frightened, but she felt she needed one to relax after work. She stayed until sh~ was 3sked to leave, nocdrink ing. Wbe~ she r~turned home she wa• greeted with silence , nothing, Lying in bed, she strained to listen but heard nothing't only the sound of a gloriously deafening silence. At three a.m. she woke up, Scratch, scnitch. scratch. lt ~ontinucd spasmodica lly until dawn. Then it stopped fot tvo hours and she slepc fitfully, almost missing the scratching, fearing the absence of it from her ears.

It "·as he.r day off . the noise of scnitch.ing followed her around the. house again, -wherever she wen t . 1.n d~sper.ation s he asked her parents t.o lunch. No, t hey couldn't hear any scr~tching, w~s t he answer to the question vhich she asked t ime and time ag,in during cheir short stay. Her parents ex~hanged wortied glances as they were hurried out of tb(i house . The rest of the day was silent, thst was worse than the scratching. She vould jUD'lp up at the slightest sound. Gradually the scratching started again but this time in her head. it took her over-, it was her end. She was it.

On the morning of the follo",..ir.g day. she could reme.mbe.r no night et how it had 1n1.ssed,; she decided

to go on a short holiday away from t he pressures of wor~. She packed quickly . A sudden urge to be out o f the ho1.1se demanded she le•ve. As she was g9ing t hrough the hall , she heard it ag~in, scratch> seratch , scratch. She ran out , slamming the door violently b~hind her. tn,ide something fel l to the floor, she was desperate to be away, she ran.

She spen t a vonderful week in a s~art London Hotel, dancing in the night or perhaps watch ing a shov. LOndon was a: gian t amusement arcade , and iihe was the only one with a key to open it . She di dn' t s le ep vel l though on the fi rs t night - she awoke to hear scratch , scc~tch, scratch. Ftom then on she ·refused t o sleep , dancing each night th rough till dawn . When she retut'ned she had almost forgot t en about the scartching. Almost.

She slow1y walked up to the front door, put t he key in the l oc:k, t1,,1rned it, t he sound of it turoing, cryi ng out· to her , pau.$ed . She pushed t he. door op-ea , slowl y, inch by agonising inch , it bac~ed away fro~ her . Nothing. Silence.

She walked in . stopped, the'd stepped on ~omething, stepping bock she l ooked down at her feet. Scratch, scratch. scrat ch, exploded in to her mi nd. She ,creamed once and pluim,,e ted into beautiful, grateful , utterly s i lent oblivion.

She was found by the neighbours, sitting, rocking back and forth. singing ;1 lullaby. vitb the thin wasted body of a dead cat held tightly to her bteast,

ReT father came , picked her up and took her home t o be nursed back to health. As he closed t he f ront door behind him he felt sutc he heard somethin g. Scratching.

Clive M. CQNOON (L. VI Arts)

Whot is Black?

Bl3ck is midnight

And a dark stormy day ,

And a sack of coal used

In cold winter,

Black is for evil

For bad

And for d i re,

Witches are black,

And so are their cats,

Black i s soot ,

A di

-----' .

The Association usual ty holds NO meetings every school yeac . one at Christmas time and one at the end of t.he summer term.

The Wi ntec Reunion. t b i$ y~ar was held at College House, Singleton Park, on Monday, 8 t h January _, when sixty-t~o membe r$ enjoyed a deliciou~ me~l in pleasant surroundings .

After d i nne-r t he re v.as .i lively discussion eon-cernins the a r rangements for the 1979 Sumer Reunion, i)nd i t was s uggested that the Old Gi-rh shou ld bre.1k with Lradi t ion and hold the summer meetings , not in school ~ but at Coll ege House . or one of ti\e hot.els i n Swanse3. The 1978 sums,:er meeting bad been held in tbe Ll~yn- y-Bryn building as usual~ and it had been an e s pecial ly successful 01\e which had been arranged co mar.k the occasion of the amalg

The report Lhat a large nu~ber of young Old Dy'vorians had attended r~e pt~viou& annual dinn01 was r oted wi th grea t pl~asu(e by membt. rs- a.t the Annual General MeeLing. The fae r r~At iO oa~y rec~nL school leavers wish toy~-t.ain an fo1;enst in thee affairs c;,f Oyne.vQr is 3 good sign fo~ th~ future sucress of tb~ Associ~tion; v~ ar~ fur L~et Pncoura.g:ed by the pcospec.t of ex tending roembershi p to the. girls who are no~ for t he fi r st tic-.ie entitl ed to join upon leaving school , All pupils caP be assured of a warm we 1 col!le to our r .i.nks ""hen they 1 e ave. Oynevor.

I t was also ieported at the meetl og that a group of. ia;medi a t e past pupils wished to form a music.:! society under t he auspites of t he Association. Un3.11ioous appro-val W3S gi ven to the suggestion and several people voiced their hopes for che s ucct:SS of t he ventut'e.

Mr. J . Alan Hughes. last year ' s popula r and active President, inve•ted his successors Mr. Geoffrey Hibbe rd ~ Q'it.h bis b.:idge of offi ce a t. the aMual dinat''t' io April. Our new Preside.n t t ook a pt"omioCl'lt part in the social success of ehe func tion and wi ll no doubt show an equal interest in the remainder of this year's sctivities which include fixtures by a very .1cti-JC Golf Society . an a.ut\ll!ln socinl evening and, o( course . the annual rugby match agains t t he school team a t St . Helen' s .

Past and present Dy ' vc-ri.ms ""ill be inter~ttcd to learn of the con tinued su.:cess of t he Cat(>Cts Register of names of t hose people. prepared to give .1dv-ice. to individual school l eavers at t heir pl3ce o f employment. The register now covers .1lmost every form of occupati on and has been of ser~ice to many young pt~sons in deciding on a choice of career ,

Our best wishes are extended to al l those. l eaving s chool t hi$ yeaT , tf you wish to continue your inte rest in eh~ achoo l and would li\e future oppor t uniti es to renfQ former acqvain t anees , please cOn$ide~ joining us.

]n recetlt yean we h3ve seen t he re tit·emel'lt of several members of s~a£f who l ong se.rv~d Dynevor with a d~e.p sense of loyalty and ptofes~ioo1,Ll pride. Th~y wi ll all be .:.ec.cmbered wirh afft" ct.ion and gn ti tude by several gFt'lenniona of paH pupih , We re.c.• gnhe our great debt t o t hem and wish them go-od health and happiness .

G.11.

•

ll£TTREl!BNTS

Mr . Ji'hD LI. Will Unu ('aioo to Llwyn- y- Brya 1n l9 70 vh ('t1 $"-'"311,.e.ea ' s policy for ccmprehe.111,-i ve educ ni oo va.; i (l)pl emwr.ed tbtvughout 1he _:ry. t-le had previo\l!:\y t augbr ,s,- 0yst:etmo1Jth Secood~(}' Sl;'hoo l for ?5, yeacs. It was no r en eH-Y time to begi.t> ;il a r,01J ~t.lioo I and LL U le !-fr, WH l i.~' .: re d 'll rb&t du , ing s pei,,od ol •:on>it.ar.1 ("\tang€ ~a Lhf' ll f £ er 'LL,;,,11l- y-Bt>•n h"" has !111s~ed oaly 1vn- dsys

~ £arly :".ampaisne r: fo, ·ompr~hensJ. 11f!. ¼duc--1dou b &:1 f-'x-pr t-l l'!don-aJ Uni ell of Te af'her~ • I) h>C3; bund• o f •Ntli ~h he Is a pa..~l p~e~ idenL and delrgate ro ~hP Sf rondary Ccnmalt~PE f c,r W31es .

Mr Wi il~a;;:_hara c.ted:>t i -ca.l ly m;u n taio.P.J he .. ;nt.~r'l!L in t·ht= -: chcol. Her: loya l ty to th.2l:C d,epart,n.?nt ha~ bt.?n a e;oor.c.P. of i nspiration and joy t o .hP c co 1 leag.ue-s and puf)i I~ a.J l ke-.. Her de,..ot ion a.J\J integrity a,e not easy tu ccplace.

Unusual 1 y gj f ted s s a p iani ': , s he. ,1 1 oc posstsoes dw , 1>recioos gift t o a tc ach"t - t he art of comn,•;nic-.iti.on . Hew often ba$ she been able to t urn a difiJ c.u l ty inco a snaile! WhetheT teap:-.J t.:ll('"r , has l1.?.t PllflJ I j bsv~ p( .{Cded utbt'-' un-..v .... c-:.u.ies

Many Dyoa~9r pupils arc grateful iYc 1b~ opp~tton.i•~t; pxovide.d by ~:'6 J;;:o,es a•:O;?r the y~ar'9 tC> visi, f "tanc.e or s!hool ei-:.

le is with regret that ve le.irn of ;he impending retirement of Mis& Jennie. Sims , L,.R.A.M. , A.T.c . 1.,. }tiss Sims h3;s been Ele;)dmaster ' s Secret ary ;:)t. D1oevor School for twenty years . She had previously been ~ member of the Bdu~acion Dep.1Ttment at the Cuildb3l1 and, prior to that~ had t~ught music at a Girls

1

Boarding School at Burnham-o~-Sea, Somerset.

Du.ring her earlier years at D)'nevor Grandll'lr School Miss Si~s was the $Ole member of the clerical staff and on many occasi ons ...rorked very late hours to clear the terrific volume of work,

Jennie Sitt:S is a first'""class pianist and org~misc. and for many ye.an was the aceol:'i().lnist to the famous ~rtis ton Orpbeus Choir. Oudng this period she accompanied;:) number of world•EamOU9 soloists. such as Gwyneth Jones and Stuart Burrows , bo th of whom have appeared a t L.o Scala, Italy, and the ' Me-t ' Opera House, Ne~ York .

Jennis Si ms will be l ong remember ed and respected by present m,d former staff and ~l so b>' Gany genera-tions of Dynevor pupi ls, We ~re i ndebr.eJ to her (or her meticulous work, her helpfulness ~nd, above all , for her coo,plete in t egrity .

We wish he r a ~el l•deservcd , long and happy re t i. re men t.

the editors wi sh to t hank :

Mi&S Si ms fQ r typi ng t he magtitine with efficie.ncy a1id never failing pati el,ce ,

Mr . Jenkins , the care t aker , fo r his help aod understanding ,

Edward Lawson Studios fot penni£si on to vse t he photograph of 'Miss Havi ll,

all tho&e members of Staff who have helped with the pToduction of this magazine.

The front cover?

..

Some observers have guessed a cnop of Aus tralia and 'Fathcc

Chri sttn.as 1 • The centre piet:e of the i llus tration i s a photograph

of a Cherub, the oldest part of Dynevor School, to be found by t he

Dynevor Place enttancc. I t is a ll that. is left of the Ol'igi n.tl

Municipal Secondary School for Boys.

Printed in the Dynevor Art Room