Take a look at the first newspaper to cover Cwmbran. In 1953- four years after Cwmbran was designated a New Town- and the Cwmbran New Town Advertiser & Gazette this newspaper was launched with a cover price of ‘one penny’. But this first edition was given away for free.

The edition features some wonderful statements like:

Cwmbran- a miniature London

Like a giant conjuring trick Wales’ only new post-war town at Cwmbran, Monmouthshire is emerging from a blanket of rural beauty.

The paper tells us that the town grew under Cwmbran Development Corporation and ‘throbs and bustles with the machine-gun like precision of the Army’. The corporation was led by Major General T.W Rees ‘who made his name in the epic Tobruk and Burma’ battles . Yes, this is where the area of the town centre called General Rees Square comes from.

The paper was found by Sarah Sweeney who was sorting through her late grandad’s belongings. Thanks for sharing Sarah.