The Great wars (World Wars)
The most notable times in history that would have affected the parish were the First and Second World Wars. The parish lost some good friends in both wars, and some of our priests had to help out where possible.
The
Arandora Star
. . .
.
. . .
.
During
the Second World War the Arandora Star was
called up to Liverpool, for its orders its
main purpose was to
deport prisoners of war, many bound for
Canada.
At 6:58 am On 2nd July 1940, the British
merchant ship Arandora Star was sunk off
the northwest coast of Ireland
by a torpedo from a German U-boat.
Of the 1,200 people on board 800 people
were drowned.
Parishioners
from our own Parish lost loved ones.
The Aftermath
Things were not the same after
the wars. Exact dates are not noted, things
like the Irish Pipers Band, League of Cross
Band etc. all started to fade away.
The Miners Strike
The National Miner`s Strike of
1984 - 85 had a dramatic effect on Maesteg
after all Maesteg was a pridominantly Coal
Mining Town. The years that followed the
strike, saw the death of coal mining within
Maesteg. In 1920 there were 37 mines in
the valley, now we have none.
Fewer Priests
As is well known the Catholic Church is facing a crisis that is termed a `Shortage of Priests`. In the 1950`s the parish had two other Churches built along the valley to service the community. One was the Good Shepherd in Caerau and the other St.Joseph`s Cymmer. Due to the shortage of priests the parish lost both of these Churches. St. Joseph`s was handed over to the Diocese of Menevia to care for in the late 1990`s and the Good Shepherd saw an unfortunate end when it had to close back in 2000. A three priest community has gone back to a one priest community, but we proceed forward trusting that things will get better. Despite the closure of the Good Shepherd, the community is surviving well as the parishioners use the parish mini-bus each week to travel to Mass.
As
you will see, despite all of these events
the parish has been able to move forward
to where we are today.
