{"id":17006,"date":"2026-05-30T23:39:51","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T22:39:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17006"},"modified":"2026-05-30T23:58:07","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T22:58:07","slug":"ol-man-river","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17006","title":{"rendered":"Ol’ Man River"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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OL’ MAN RIVER
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\"\"<\/a>This story is set in 1938, just before the onset of war with Germany. Paul Robeson, a famous black singer and actor from America, visited Mountain Ash in the valleys and sang for the people who died in the Spanish Civil War. Rick was Mr. Robeson\u2019s driver who brought him back from Mountain Ash.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow long till we get to Cardiff Station?\u201d asked Paul.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe should be in Cardiff in about one hour, but your train won\u2019t be arriving till five, so you have about a four hour wait.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThat’s great\u201d said Paul, \u201cI can go and visit my friend for lunch in a village called Wenvoe.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWilf Goodbody had lived in Wenvoe for around twenty years and had asked Paul if he had time to come to lunch in the local pub. Wilf was a director of the theatre in Cardiff and had met Paul on numerous occasions. When the car pulled up outside the pub, Wilf directed Paul to a room upstairs as the culture of the area and the time dictated, most people in Wenvoe had never seen or talked to a black person.<\/p>\n

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The two men had a great time in a snug upstairs of the Wenvoe Arms. Both men had a
\nlovely ploughman\u2019s lunch and two pints of Scrumpy\/Cider. They could hear the hustle and bustle of voices below them; it sounded like the pub was filling up. Paul looked out of the window onto the fields. It was a beautiful winter\u2019s day in December, but it looked like a spring day over the village.<\/p>\n

As Paul turned around to speak to Wilf, he heard singing rising from downstairs in the pub. Paul looked at Wilf as he heard \u201cMen of Harlech\u201d resonating through the floorboards. \u201cI am sorry about that\u201d said Wilf, \u201cit’s the Barry Male Voice choir. They heard you might call in and would like to sing for you.\u201d<\/p>\n

The men went down the stairs towards the courtyard next to the First World War Memorial. There stood around thirty men, all dressed up in black tie suits finishing their song. There was a standup piano in the corner, and a big crowd gathered around the pub to listen to the choir. When the song was finished everybody clapped and the man on the piano came up to Paul. \u201cMr. Robeson, it would be our great pleasure to sing with you, if it’s possible?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWilf\u201d said Paul, \u201cyou are a scoundrel.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOk\u201d said Paul to the piano player, \u201cdo you know Ol’ Man River in C Major?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYes\u201d said the piano player \u201cwe were hoping you would say that.\u201d<\/p>\n

The next five minutes of music was fantastic, as Paul’s voice rode out into the village. At the end of the song everyone in the village seemed to be watching the free show. Paul shook each of the choir’s hands, gave Wilf a big hug, jumped into the car and headed towards Cardiff. As the crowd dissipated, Mrs. Jones said to Mrs. Thomas, \u201cThere\u2019s lovely. You don’t see that in Wenvoe every day.\u201d<\/p>\n

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ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST OL’ MAN RIVER This story is set in 1938, just before the onset of war with Germany. Paul Robeson, a famous black singer and actor from America, visited Mountain Ash in the valleys and sang for the people who died in the Spanish Civil War. Rick was Mr. Robeson\u2019s driver who brought him back from Mountain […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,435,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6cWjO-4qi","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":7642,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=7642","url_meta":{"origin":17006,"position":0},"title":"Abercynon to Mountain Ash","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th June 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Abercynon to Mountain Ash The aim of this walk was to travel up the Cynon valley from Abercynon to Mountain Ash but keeping about a kilometre to the west of and above the river. Soon after setting off we came to Abercynon cemetery where there are Commonwealth War Graves. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Footsteps"","block_context":{"text":"Footsteps","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=38"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/06\/Picture10.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12366,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12366","url_meta":{"origin":17006,"position":1},"title":"The Derivation And Meaning Of Place-Names","author":"Alan Williams","date":"13th October 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES HIGHLIGHT The English name \u2018Highlight\u2019 first appears on maps in the 16th Century - during the reign of Elizabeth 1st - as the name of a farm. Before that time, the name was Welsh - \u2018Uchelolau\u2019. The name \u2018Highlight\u2019 was obviously an attempt at\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":16467,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=16467","url_meta":{"origin":17006,"position":2},"title":"The Cardiff Chain Ferry & Ely River Subway","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th December 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST SOME NOTES ON CROSSING THE LOWER REACHES OF RIVER ELY The Cardiff chain ferry and the Ely River pedestrian subway were two remarkable transport innovations that shaped Cardiff\u2019s docklands, reflecting both the industrial growth of the city and the ingenuity of engineers. The Cardiff Chain Ferry\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/River-Ely-Crossing-4-a.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":6118,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=6118","url_meta":{"origin":17006,"position":3},"title":"The Ongoing Felling Of Trees","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th June 2019","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 It is with great sadness I witness The Ongoing Felling Of Trees in and around our lovely village. When nature itself wields the axe there is little to do but acknowledge the circle of life and the safe removal of the fallen tree that inevitably follows is also a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":12857,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=12857","url_meta":{"origin":17006,"position":4},"title":"Place-Names Derivation – LLAN","author":"Alan Williams","date":"1st February 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"THE DERIVATION AND MEANING OF PLACE-NAMES We\u2019ll now look at some common elements in Welsh Place-names. LLAN The most common element by far in Welsh place-names is the word \u2018llan\u2019. If you were to look at a book of place-names, you would see that there are over 400 places in\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13549,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=13549","url_meta":{"origin":17006,"position":5},"title":"WENVOE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.","author":"Alan Williams","date":"4th September 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"WENVOE INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT. \u00a0 Maybe not, but 80 years ago it was a different story. As a child I remember my mother who at the time was living with her parents in Ely, telling me that they had a rather handsome American serviceman billeted with them. Much to the consternation\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "General Interest Articles"","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/G-Earth-2.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17006"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=17006"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17006\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17015,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17006\/revisions\/17015"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=17006"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=17006"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=17006"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}