AS PART of the celebrations of the 70th anniversary of the designation of Cwmbran as a New Town, DAN BARNES took a stroll down memory lane to have a look at a few of the businesses which helped the newly-built town to thrive.
Lucas Girling, which would become Meritor, has been in the town for as long as it has existed.
The company produced gun turrets for RAF planes during World War Two, and after he war it became home to the largest apprentice school in the UK, boasting a workforce of 5,000.
The company started as a car brake manufacturer after, in 1925, Albert Girling patented a wedge-actuated braking system.
Girling later developed disc brakes, which were used on racing cars from the early 1950s to the 1970s.
Girling brakes had the quirk of using natural rubber seals, which caused difficulties for some American owners of British cars due to incompatibility with US brake fluids.
Girling brake manufacture was taken over by Lucas in 1938, but the patent remained held by New Hudson until this in turn was purchased by Lucas in 1943.
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In 1968, The Guardian reported a strike over pay by 100 men at the Girling brake factory had resulted in lay-offs further afield.
A spokesman for Jaguar cars at Coventry said 2,000 car assembly workers had been told not to report for duty, but to wait for a further announcement due to a shortage of car brakes resulting from a strike at the Girling brake factory at Cwmbran, Monmouthshire.
The Girling strike is also said to have impacted manufacturers such as Ford and Vauxhall.
Today the site, now Meritor, is the third largest commercial brake manufacturer in Europe and exports its products across the world.
(Colin Shepherd MP visiting Saunders Valve and meeting Les Davies in 1980)
Shortly after Mr Girling’s patented braking system was developed, a man by the name of PK Saunders invented the diaphragm valve.
He would go on to set up Saunders Valve Co. in 1933.
The company went on to make diaphragms, valves, centrifugal pumps and fuel systems for aircraft, growing to 1,800 employees.
In 1982, the company's Hereford factory closed down, and Mr Saunders brought assembly of its ball and butterfly valves - previously made at Hereford - to Cwmbran.
But in 2003 the disaster struck, as the Saunders Valves premises on Grange Road was completely gutted by a fire - beleived to have been caused deliberately.
Today the company remains in Cwmbran, and also has major manufacturing facilities in Satara (India), Conroe (Texas) and Cincinnati (Ohio).
(Westons - which would become Burtons)
In 1936, construction started on what was to become another Cwmbran institution. Westons Biscuits, which would later to become Burtons, began production from their Llantarnam site in 1939.
Burtons are a major employer for Gwent and produces some of the best-known biscuits in the country, including Jammie Dodgers, Wagon Wheels, and more.
(Burtons Biscuit Factory in 1983)
The site now stretches for 41,530 sqm and employs around 700 people.
(Workers outside Burtons)
Approximately 40,000 tonnes of biscuits were produced last year at the site.
(Employees of Burtons on strike in 1989)
In 1971, the company made its one billionth Wagon Wheel in Llantarnam, and there is a biscuit encased in glass to commemorate the achievement.
More recently, in 1991, Western Travel - a medium-sized bus group based in Cheltenham - bought the bus operations based at Chepstow, Cwmbran, Brynmawr and Crosskeys from National Welsh.
And this was timely, as National Welsh collapsed just 12 months later, and Western Travel expanded into Merthyr and the Rhymney Valley as a result.
Western Travel was purchased by Stagecoach in 1993.
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(Cwmbran New Town)
In 2010, the firm bussed 250,00 fans around the region during the Ryder Cup.
For the three practice days, the company fielded 90, 100 and 120 double-decker buses respectively to the Celtic Manor.
Then for the first three match days, it used 140 buses each day, transporting nearly 40,000 spectators each day between the Park and Ride sites and the Celtic Manor bus station.
For the extra day, the company managed to field 100 buses despite the short notice, transporting 30,000 spectators in the process.
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