{"id":428,"date":"2019-11-08T16:50:59","date_gmt":"2019-11-08T16:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/?p=428"},"modified":"2019-11-09T08:42:34","modified_gmt":"2019-11-09T08:42:34","slug":"abandoned-boys-village","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/abandoned-boys-village\/","title":{"rendered":"Abandoned boys&#8217; village"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed-youtube wp-block-embed is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Visit To St Athan Boys\u2019 Village\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VTukvu_u7Lw?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>September 2019:<\/strong>    South Wales hip-hop artist @Unity said she&#8217;d take me to St Athans Boys&#8217; Village. The village was built in the 1920s as a holiday camp\u00a0for working class children. Today it is in ruins. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-1.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-430\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-1.jpg 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-1-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-1-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-1-180x101.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nThe village was developed by the politician and philanthropist David Davies. David&nbsp;came from a very wealthy Welsh family whose fortune had been created through&nbsp;coal and shipping. He fought in the first world war, and after the war&nbsp;led a&nbsp;campaign for international peace. He helped to set up the League of Nations and&nbsp;successfully founded&nbsp;the Temple for Peace and Health which opened in Cardiff in 1938. He was a dynamic and sometimes confrontational character, driving visionary public health projects and promoting&nbsp;world harmony.&nbsp;He has been called, The Peacemonger.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"337\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-2-Coflien_mashup.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-432\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-2-Coflien_mashup.png 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-2-Coflien_mashup-300x126.png 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-2-Coflien_mashup-768x324.png 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-2-Coflien_mashup-180x76.png 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>David Davies was also a passionate activist in the fight against the lung disease tuberculosis and helped develop hospitals&nbsp;across Wales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He founded the St Athan Boys&#8217; Village which opened in 1926 for&nbsp;valley children from&nbsp;the South Wales coalfield to enjoy fresh air, countryside, sports and recreation. There was a swimming pool, tennis, cricket&nbsp;and a church. Thousands of children enjoyed holidays by the sea here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-3.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-3.jpg 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-3-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-3-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-3-180x101.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nIt closed in 1990.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"313\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-5-o_crop.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-436\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-5-o_crop.jpg 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-5-o_crop-300x117.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-5-o_crop-768x300.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-5-o_crop-180x70.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nUnity, a South Wales hip-hop artist who runs projects in schools to help bring communities together and give children a chance to explore and express themselves&nbsp;in poetry, art and dance took me to the Boys&#8217; Village to show me how&nbsp;artists have used the abandoned space to paint and write text.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-6-20190918_140638_4MP.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-438\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-6-20190918_140638_4MP.jpg 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-6-20190918_140638_4MP-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-6-20190918_140638_4MP-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-6-20190918_140638_4MP-180x101.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nHere&#8217;s the tennis court.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-7-k_MP4.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-440\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-7-k_MP4.jpg 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-7-k_MP4-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-7-k_MP4-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-7-k_MP4-180x101.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nThe church at the Boys&#8217; Village was built in the popular early 20th century Arts and Crafts style, and is not unlike other churches built in villages and towns during the same period. Along with the rest of the village the church&nbsp;has fallen into disuse.\n\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-8-d.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-442\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-8-d.jpg 800w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-8-d-300x169.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-8-d-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/penzu-8-d-180x101.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n\nDavid Davies, with&nbsp;his sisters Gwendoline and Margaret, was&nbsp;brought up in the close familial folds of Calvinist Methodism, and this dramatically shaped the family&#8217;s&nbsp;attitude to public life.&nbsp; Nobel Peace Prize winner, Lord Robert Cecil, talking of David Davies said that David&nbsp;<em>&#8220;was one who stood for great ideals, for which he was ready to spend his health and his fortune. He had the imagination of a poet; he saw great visions. His deep sincerity, his great generosity, his burning faith made him one of those rare beings who overcome obstacles and change the course of history.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"536\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Penzu-9-1917-The-first-Lord-David-Davies-Llandinam-1880-1944-244x300_paint_buffed.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-444\" srcset=\"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Penzu-9-1917-The-first-Lord-David-Davies-Llandinam-1880-1944-244x300_paint_buffed.jpg 536w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Penzu-9-1917-The-first-Lord-David-Davies-Llandinam-1880-1944-244x300_paint_buffed-300x161.jpg 300w, https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/app\/uploads\/2019\/11\/Penzu-9-1917-The-first-Lord-David-Davies-Llandinam-1880-1944-244x300_paint_buffed-180x97.jpg 180w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 536px) 100vw, 536px\" \/><figcaption>David Davies &#8211;  founded the Boy&#8217;s Village<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>September 2019: South Wales hip-hop artist @Unity said she&#8217;d take me to St Athans Boys&#8217; Village. The village was built in the 1920s as a holiday camp\u00a0for working class children. Today it is in ruins. The village was developed by the politician and philanthropist David Davies. David&nbsp;came from a very wealthy Welsh family whose fortune<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[11],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=428"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":493,"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/428\/revisions\/493"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=428"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=428"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lofw.celfapps.com\/cy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=428"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}