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Hill's of Tredegar were well known for being seen at most seaside resorts through south and west Wales. I'm not sure when they ceased trading, but the bottom fell out of coach trips during the 1990s.
Our local Working Men's Club would arrange an annual trip to the seaside for the kids and moms on our estate. The two favourite destinations were Rhyl and Blackpool, and for many kids that annual day trip would be their only holiday. All the kids were given a bottle of pop and a straw when they were on the coach. Actually, I think there were often two coaches. My uncle and auntie were part-time managers of the club and they worked hard arranging everything. Often, when a mom couldn't go, they would arrange for unaccompanied kids to join with another mom or even looked after them themselves. The trip was always on a saturday, usually in the first half of september. It was always an early start, with the coaches leaving about 7.30am and not getting back until around 11pm. There would be singing and lots of banter on the coaches. The older girls would occupy the back seats and entertain us with renditions of their current chart favourites. My uncle would solemnly ask everybody to be back on the coaches by a certain time and they usually would. I think the WMC also gave a small amount of money to each kid--probably about 20p to 50p for them to spend--I am talking of trips between the early 70s and early 80s. Sadly, that WMC is now no more and there are no annual seaside trips. Back then, there was a real sense of community, so you knew more or less everyone on the coaches and everybody got along pretty well.
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