NOSTALGIA: The Pontypool Educational Settlement

This Educational establishment was built and equipped with £5,500 of charity aid and came about after the organisation of the Pontypool League of Service, which had been founded in 1932 following the high unemployment and poverty in the area suffered during the1920s and the Great Depression.

The Pontypool League of Service originally met in the stable block of Pontypool Park House (which is now the Torfaen Museum) but wanted to raise funds to establish a permanent educational institution for adults within the town.

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For more than sixty years this community education centre on Rockhill Road continued to provide adult education opportunities with a library and classes in the arts, arts and crafts, and music and drama.

When the new bypass and road system was introduced, the old Settlement building was demolished but a new centre was built at Trosnant, which also became known as ‘The Settlement’.

(The cover of a souvenir brochure celebrating the 21st anniversary of The Pontypool Educational Settlement. Picture: Torfaen Museum.)

Although the upper floor is now used as Torfaen County Borough Council offices, a timetable of educational and leisure pursuits, courses, classes and lectures for adults continues at The Settlement including three extremely popular Patchwork and Quilting Clubs.

Nostalgia is provided by Torfaen Museum