Ystradgynlais & District

The information on this page is taken from two editions of Y Gurnosydd, the magazine for Gurnos Secondary Modern Boys School, these editions being the December 1948 one and the Summer 1949 one. We hope that it gives an insight and feel into some aspects of life at the school in this period.

A newspaper article from 26th February 1948 in the South Wales Voice explains in some detail:-

GURNOS SCHOOL MAGAZINE
"O'R GORAU DAW'R GWON"

Within a few months of its establishment and the appointment of a new headmaster, Mr Horace Morgan MA, the Gurnos Secondary Modern School has ventured to produce its first magazine.
This Gurnos School we are told is the first of its kind in South Breconshire. It is a pity that schools of this type throughout the land should have had their title so artificially inflated and the sooner this baptismal error is rectified the better.
The first issue of "Y Gurnosydd" has a most laudable aim, so its editors Clive Hope and Elgar Jones assert: "The magazine for a year or two is going to deal exclusively with local matters, the history of the area, its geography, its celebrities etc,"
A praiseworthy ambition and one of social significance and of real educational value: the articles contain the result of research into local history and lore and some of them, notably one on "Birds of Palleg" and another "The Geography of the Gurnos" are encouraging evidence of the way in which the varied interests of the pupils are being catered for. The illustrations are creditable, drawings of Ynyscedwyn House, Glynmeurig and Y Pandy being worthy of mention.
A section too is devoted to sport and there are the usual intimate and personal references and witty allusions which are intelligible only to the initiated.
Entirely homemade and stencilled, it is a magazine worthy of its purpose and merits success.

The Editorial from the December 1948 issue states that it is the first issue of Y Gurnosydd, which will thenceforth be a quarterly magazine of Gurnos Secondary Modern (Boys) School.

All copyright remains with the original copyright holder, and all original research is copyright Val Trevallion, YEARGroup and is put online as a free community project.

You can contact the Ystradgynlais and Ystalyfera History and Heritage websites by emailing: webdesign@wolfianpress.com
or Val Trevallion by emailing yeargroup@hotmail.co.uk.