NOTICE OF FORTHCOMING EVENT TO BE HELD ON 21st OCTOBER

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The Museum are very pleased to announce that it has been awarded £24,000 by the Postcode Community Trust which is supported by players of the People’s Postcode Lottery.

A small working group set up by the Museum and made up of the three Brynmawr Borough Councillors, a representative of the Brynmawr Historical Society, a local Architect and a member of the community who instigated the project.

The project is to recognise Roy Francis who was born to parents of mixed race in 1919 and raised in Brynmawr. In his early teens he excelled at athletics and swimming and played rugby for Brynmawr and later for Abertillery. At the age of 17 he was spotted by Rugby League Scouts and in 1936 went to Wigan.

So began an extremely successful career as a player followed by an even more successful career as a coach. He remains a legend in the North and has been referred to as “The Father of modern day coaching” and a man “ahead of his time”

The plan is to erect a 2.5 metre stainless steel silhouette adjacent to the Talisman Public House. On the front of the silhouette will be an image of Roy and on the back will be a record of his achievements. An unveiling event will be held on the 21st October.

The project group would like to thank not only the Postcode Community Trust for making this possible but also officers of Brynmawr County Borough Council for their help in securing the necessary permissions and particularly the Regeneration Department for their help towards the staging of the unveiling ceremony.

This Facebook page will be regularly updated with information on progress of the project and with more facts about the achievements of this remarkable man.

20th AUGUST 

It's 8 weeks to the unveiling of the memorial to commemorate the life and achievements of Roy Francis. The following is a brief description of Roy’s early years spent in Brynmawr......

Lionel Roy Francis was born on the 20th January, 1919, his father Albert Francis had been in a relationship with a white woman called Evans, when Roy was born she decided she couldn’t keep him because of the colour of his skin, so Rebecca, Albert’s wife who was also black agreed that Roy could live with them. The census of 1921 showed them living in King Street and Roy shown as an adopted son. The family later lived in Well Street.

Roy’s first sporting love was boxing and he trained with an uncle who had trained the boxer Gypsy Daniels, at the age of 10 he became involved with sprinting, when he was only 14 he came 3rd in the 120 yard sprint for the under 18’s. He then changed to swimming and won prizes at swimming galas. He went to watch a Brynmawr rugby club trial, one of the teams was short of a player, so Roy played, he did so well that he was selected to play for the first team. In the games that followed he played on the left wing and regularly scored, the Merthyr Express reported that “he showed much promise” Abertillery, who were a far more prominent team, wanted him to play for them but before Roy made the move a Wigan scout came knocking at the door.