Queen Elizabeth II Coronation June 6th 1953:

Introduction:

On the 6th of February 1952 King George the VI died, leaving Princess Elizabeth to rule the country in his place. At the time of his death Princess Elizabeth along with her husband the Duke of Edinburgh were touring the Commonwealth and at that time were in Kenya at a resort called Treetops.

The rest of the tour was cancelled and she flew back to Britain on the 7th of February after a thunderstorm delayed her departure.

The Coronation of Princess Elizabeth took place the following year at Westminster Abbey on the 2nd June 1953.

This article will primarily look at the planning that went into organising the Coronation Celebrations events in the village. Unfortunately there is not much information available on how the various events went over the course of the week, although we do know the winners of the sports events that took place on the Saturday June 6th in the school field. If more information does become available then I will update this article accordingly.

In a small village in the Neath Valley planning, as early as the start of the new year, was taking place to organise and celebrate this great event. We have to thank the local Parish Council for the fantastic planning and pulling it all together. We also need to thank the local collieries, Glynneath Silver Band and others for their support, often supplying materials at no charge.

Nationwide Planning:

The UK planning of the Coronation festivities started at the end of 1952, for instance, souvenirs were approved and suppliers identified at an early stage by the Council of Industrial Design. I can imagine it must have been a very prestigious and lucrative  opportunity to make this list of approved suppliers.

Dozens’s of Souvernirs’ and suppliers were approved by the Council of Industrial Design.

They ranged from Mug’s, Spoons, Medals, Broaches, Propelling Pencils, Ashtrays, Pencil case, Table Mats, Lapel badges, Cigarette cases, Chocolate boxes, Dolls, to name but a few.

Approved funding:

The list of approved souvenirs and suppliers were listed and published. Glamorgan County Council, Coronation Committee then decided on the level of expenditure and what souvenirs they thought were suitable, and what they could afford. For instance it was agreed that:

• The sum of 9d per child would be granted for providing a tea for Primary School pupils. 
• A souvenir Mug would be presented to each Primary School pupil at a cost not exceeding 1/4d.

The local Parish Councils who being informed of their decision and were asked for the quantities they required and to arrange how these gifts would be distributed.

* The Neath Rural District Council gave a grant of £64. 0. 0d to the Blaengwrach council.

** The Cwmgwrach ward of Resolven Parish Council gave £13. 0. 0d.

* With Blaengwrach Parish Council chipping in £3. 6. 8d. 

  Making  a total grant of £80. 6. 8d.  All expenditure from this grant had to be receipted.

(** Ed Note: At that time Cwmgwrach was part of the Resolven parish)

Planning for the event:

The local Blaengwrach Parish Council took over the planning of the coronation event, there was a main committee of council members, and  four sub-committees who looked at the details required to carry out the event. The sub-committees were:

1. Entertainment
2. Sports
3. Tea
4. Pageant

Each of the above points will be covered in some detail below.

As you can imagine there were many tasks that needed to take place to organise such an important event. For instance, how long should the event be, what entertainment was required, what about stages, material to build stages, relay audio system, printing programme of events,  presentation gifts, raffle ticket, food, and not forgetting Public Liability Insurance, the list goes on and on. So once the main details of the programme were agreed, the details required to organise the various events was left to the sub-committees.

It was agreed that the event would last over the course of the week, starting on the Sunday the 31st May and finishing on Saturday the 6th June. The programme for the weeks events can be seen below:

As you can see from the above programme, they were printed by Tom Lewis & Sons, of Glynneath. 500 Sports programmes and 1 dozen Posters were ordered at a cost of £5. 5. 0d. I’m not sure if the sports programme is one and the same as the programme shown above.

But before we look at the events themselves, we need to look at the level of preparation that was required to make the Coronation event a success. One of the main players in all this planning was the clerk Mr. T. H. Dargavel, D.F.C., A.F.C, of 3 Cedar Villas Cwmgwrach whose task it was to contact all the companies and people who were to assist in the preparations as directed by the Coronation Committee.

So what had to be organised:

Souvenirs:

At an early stage correspondence went out to a number of organisations. Letters were went out to approved suppliers of souvenirs to obtain quotations, other companies were contacted to ask for advertising materials.

• In the end, the Coronation mugs were centralised under the control of Neath Rural District Council  with the village being allocated 150 mugs. This was the number of Primary age School children in the village at the time.  
• Four dozen medals were purchased from Thomas Fattorini Ltd, of Birmingham at a cost of £7. 4. 0d.
• 5 Dozen Coronation Badges were purchased from J. H. Woods of Penistone, Yorkshire.  At a cost of £2.17.6d. plus 2 shillings delivery.
• B. Richards of Pontwalby supplied the food and drinks for the Tea parties (see list of food required below)
  

Not everything went to plan, for instance the four companies contacted for free advertising material, due to excessive demand, were unable to supply anything. These companies were:

John Player’s & Son; Rowntree & Co. Ltd; W.D.& H.O. Wills and Cadbury Brothers Ltd.

A sample medal was supplied on the 12th February for approval, once it was approved 4 dozen medals in Bronze relief, together with Ribbon suspender, complete in individual boxes were supplied at three shillings each. (15 pence in today’d money) from T. Fattorini of Birmingham. These medals were to be issued for winners of the Sports events, Fancy Dress Balls, Whist Drives and 10 were held back for distribution to children who had done well in school, be it either exam results or attendance records.

Decoration materials were ordered in May. An order for 8 pennants, 2 dozen paper garlands , 4 posters , flags (Union and Welsh) and 2 packets of red, white and blue tissue paper was made to Woolworth’s of Neath. The cost for the above decorations was £3. 14. 6d.

On the 14th May the hire of a relay loudspeaker equipment was made to Allen Fitzroy Ltd. Large in Severn Sisters. For Saturday 6th June from 1pm to 5pm. There was to be a problem for filling the order, as the equipment had been lent out the week before the Coronation event, and the equipment had been returned damaged. In the end Cwmgwrach Colliery was asked to provide the loudspeaker equipment.

The order for 5 dozen badges with Ribbon with the title CWMGWRACH CORONATION CELEBRATION and a photo of the Queen at 11/6d per dozen was requested to be shipped from The Don Press, Peristone, Yorkshire.

The Coronation Committee also received a letter from the Fireworks company, Firex & Company of Salisbury along with a list of fireworks for sale. But, I assume they didn’t take up the offer to purchase fireworks as I cannot see fireworks mentioned, either in the accounts, or the programme of event. If anyone know any different then please let me know.

The Committee also considered hiring a large Television from Llewellyn’s Ltd. of Windsor Road Neath, in order for the school children to view the Queens Coronation. Again I cannot see any accounts for this idea, and I have found a newspaper clipping which tells of poor reception from Clyne to Cwmgwrach. So they wouldn’t have been able to see the Coronation even if they had hired a large Television. See link here.

Souvenirs Gallery:

Building the Stage and laying out the Sports field:

Some of the events planned for the Welfare Park needed temporary staging to be erected.

Staging was required for the two open air concerts and  Community singing, and materials were also required for the Sport meeting on the Saturday 6th June which was held in the school field.

A number of companies were asked to help out free of charge. Letters were sent to the manager Mr. H. David and General Manager Mr Rosser of Cwmgwrach Colliery requesting materials to build a 30 foot by 20 foot temporary stage in the Welfare Park along with Lighting and Microphone equipment, they were also asked if they could provide rope, posts etc. for the Sports day. There was a proviso that the materials were to be returned as soon as possible to the Colliery after the event.  The following materials were requested from Cwmgwrach Colliery.

1. 8 bags of sawdust.

2. 150 – 200 yds. of wire rope.

3. 4 dozen wooden posts, 5 foot long and pointed.

4. Staples to attach wire rope to posts.

5. 20 to 25 empty casks.

6. Microphone equipment and lighting, for the Welfare Park stage.

These materials were requested to be delivered by the Friday the 29th May, and due to some difficulty borrowing a lorry, the Venallt Colliery and Pursers in Glynneath were asked to provide a lorry to bring the materials to the Park and Sports field.

Pursers were also asked to provide timber to erect the stage along with a pair of steps leading to and from the stage, and manpower to build the stage and a number of local men also volunteered to help as well. 

A Mr. D. R. Rawlings of 18 Ynyspentre, Glynneath, due to his technical knowledge, was also asked to oversee the erection of the stage in a supervisory capacity.

Carnival / Coronation Queen:

Carnival / Coronation Queen for 1953 was Glenda Walters, Glenda was 20 years old in 1953 and lived in Heol Nedd. If anyone has more photos or information on the Coronation Queen then please let me know and I can add the information / photos to this article.

The Programme of Events for the week:

Sunday, May the 31st:

Sunday was to be the first day of the weeks events. The Community singing that was held in the open air in the Welfare Park started at 8pm, as the organising committee wanted it to start after all the religious services had been completed in the village. The conductor of the singing was Peter Harris, and the Glynneath Silver Band supplied the accompaniment.

The Conductor of the Community singing Mr. Peter Harris submitted a programme of songs to be played to the Glynneath Silver Band. But as it stands at the moment, I do not have the programme to show what songs were sung, but  I think it is safe to assume that the Welsh National anthem and the National anthem would have been sung at the end of the concert.

If I find out anymore on what was sung, I will update this article accordingly.

There was charge of £6. 6. shillings from the Glynneath Silver Band which was though a little excessive by the Parish Council. On June 13th, the Sec. of the Glynneath Silver Band a Mr I. J. Isaac replied that normally for charity events the band had played for nothing in the past, and would do so for charitable events in the future.  But felt that as the council had so much money to spend on the Coronation celebrations then they would charge the minimum amount, just to cover expenses.

Monday, June the 1st:

Both events were planned for the evening as people were working during the day. The first event was the Historic Pageant, were people dressed up a historical figures and paraded around the streets of the village, it started at 6pm and ending up in the Welfare Park where various Tableaux were shown.

(Ed Note: a TABLEAUX is a scene, for example from the Bible, history, or mythology, that consists of a group of people in costumes who do not speak or move. The people are sometimes on a float in a procession.)

The second event of the day was a Fancy Dress Ball which started at 8pm and finished at 1am, entry was 2/-, and Ladies and Gent’s prizes were given out for the Best dressed.

Tuesday, June the 2nd:

As you can see from the programme for Tuesday 2nd June, the Teas were held in the School and the Ambulance Hall and the Coronation Mugs were presented to the children before the Tea commenced.

Jennifer Bulman can remember:

“I remember the party we had, it was held in the Ambulance Hall. Gaynor Martin and I had red, white and blue pleated dresses made out of paper. I think that was quite a trend”.

Jennifer Bulman

Wednesday, June the 3rd:

There are a few photos available of the street parties that took place on the Wednesday, and if anyone has further pictures please send them in and we will add them to this article.

Street Parties photo gallery:

Thursday, June the 4th:

If I find what One-Act play’s were shown I will add them here.

Friday, June the 5th:

Again if any information becomes available for these events, I will add them here.

Saturday, June the 6th:

A great deal of information is available for the sports day, we know what type of races took place on the day and more importantly who won. See the slide show below and the Medal Winners below the slide show.

Events held on the day:

Medal Winners:

After the distribution it was found that there were 10 medals left over. It was agreed that they should be given to the School to hand out for good exam results and for good attendance.

What of the weather over the week:

As can be seen from the first photo of the street party in Heol Nedd, where everyone is wearing overcoats, the weather was quite cold for the time of year, and a little bit rainy over the week. But the weather didn’t disrupt the Coronation events too much.

It actually rained quite heavily in London on the day of the Coronation.

Conclusion:

Looking back, I think we can all agree, that this event was probably the most ambitious community event ever organised in the village. Our thanks should go out to the Parish Counciller’s, and the people and companies who organised and provided equipment free of charge for the Events.

(Ed. Note: Unfortunately there are not many photographs available for the events themselves, if anyone has any, please send them to me so I can include them in this article.)