1984 MONDAY NOVEMBER 4
More arrests during the miners’ strike, a schoolgirl’s stamp of approval, a cane ban, and a cricketer vows to return – all this and more happened 35 years ago this week
Victoria’s letter gets top stamp of approval
By the age of nine South Wales schoolgirl Victoria Toms had scooped a top letter-writing award – out of a field of 134,000 entries.
A dramatic letter about the hijacking of a plane written by the Aberdare schoolgirl for the Post Office Writing Competition won her national honours after regional success earlier earlier in the year.
Victoria, of Broniestyn Terrace, Aberdare, had made her mark as one of Britain’s best young letter-writers.
Her colourful letter in the undernine section – written while she was still eight years old – caught the imagination of the panel of judges for the national finals, who awarded it first prize in its section.
Victoria’s proud family watched her receive £250 in National Savings and a cash prize for her school – Comin Junior School, Trecynon – from Barry Took, host of BBC’s Points of View programme, who was among the judges.
The theme of the letter for Victoria’s age group was What A Fantastic Journey.
She penned a letter to an imaginary friend about a trip to Paris, which included plenty of excitement in the tale of hijackers, the world’s biggest diamond, a china cat and a £40,000 reward.
Mid Glam warns of cane ban ‘disaster’
A disastrous breakdown of classroom discipline faced Mid Glamorgan schools if the Government allowed parents to prevent heads from caning their children, councillors said.
The warning came from some worried members of the county education committee.
The ruling Labour group and opposition councillors across party lines agreed that Government proposals to introduce a dual or “two-tier” system of punishment for pupils were ludicrous and could spark serious problems in comprehensives in particular.
The new caning law would operate from the following summer if the proposed Corporal Punishment Bill was introduced before Christmas.
Fury mounts with rebellion at pits
Police arrested 17 pickets early in the morning as 500 miners turned out at two collieries to check the back-towork movement in South Wales.
Two policemen were injured at one of the collieries: Cwm, at Beddau. They were taken to hospital but not thought to be seriously injured.
The number at work in South Wales dropped on the day from 35 to 33 after a lone rebel at Nantgarw and one of the two miners who reported at Cwm stayed away.
Nine arrests were made at Cwm, where a policeman was struck by a milk bottle as rebel miner Mr Tommy Hughes went to work.
The other eight attests were at Nantgarw.
Cordle vows, ‘I’ll be back’
Cricketer Tony Cordle left Cardiff for Canada after more than 20 years playing sport in the city – but vowed he’d be back.
Tony, aged 44, still smarting from the controversial decision by Glamorgan Cricket Club to end his coaching contract, said: “I’ve had some wonderful times here and I’m not going to break my links with Cardiff.
“But I feel very badly treated by Glamorgan after all those years and there’s no doubt they have forced me to pack up and go.
“My parting has been tinged with a lot of sadness, but it’s only the past few days I’ve realised just how many friends I have in the area.”
Tony came to Cardiff as a 21-yearold in 1962 and lived there ever since, playing for Glamorgan in their glory days of the late Sixties and then coaching for the club.
“I don’t like people to think Glamorgan and I have always been at loggerheads.
“But towards the end the uncertainty and the way they told me I wasn’t wanted any more was very bad,” he said.
He left for Canada, where he hopes to start a new life with his family and get involved in the local cricketing scene.
“I consider Cardiff my home and if I could sweep the streets I’d stay, but cricket is the only job I know and can do,” he said.
Report rips into hall toilet rolls
A survey of the economic efficiency of Cardiff City Council came down hard on St David’s Hall for its soft approach to toilet paper.
The management of the hall were told the soft toilet paper, preferred at the hall to cheaper varieties, cost far too much, and had been ticked off for buying from a non-contract source.
The criticism was made in a report by the National Audit Commission, which examined a sample of 20 items purchased by the council with an estimated annual cost of £1,600,000. The total cost of buying by the authority is about £20m.
The report was complimentary about most of the purchasing arrangements, but pinpointed two items that were thought unsatisfactory.
The report said the concert hall was spending £1.49 on a dozen rolls of soft paper, when they could be obtained at £1.20, and £14.09 on cooking oil, compared to £9.95.