Leaflet of the Aberdare Big Week Official Souvenir Programme, 1930

Description

The Official Souvenir Programme Aberdare’s Big Week, November 2-8, 1930. The book is plain paper with standard black text. The front page states that the programme is ‘Issued by the Aberdare and District Chamber of Trade in conjunction with an Organising Committee representative of various Town Bodies and the Empire Marketing Board.’

The individual pages scanned show advertisements for Jewish businesses operating in Aberdare: M. Jacobs & Sons, outfitters and general drapers, advertising ‘up-to-date Ladies' and Gent's wear.’ and Victor Freed, advertising the sale of pianos, gramophones and furniture ‘for Mansion or Cottage’

Victor Freed was a prominent member of the Jewish community in Aberdare. Born in Russia in 1883, he opened his first shop in Mountain Ash in 1904. By the 1930s he had opened multiple shops in Aberdare and by the 1950s had also started trading in Cardiff.

The shops sold house furnishings, musical instruments and electrical goods, with many stores specialising in one type of product. The entire family became involved in the Victor Freed business, including his two daughters, Edna and Beatrice, who worked as shop assistants at the radio department.

In 1941, he was elected as President of Aberdare Rotarian Club, after being a member for 8 years, and was recognised for his public services in the valley. His son, Aubrey, became President in 1968.

Victor was known for his philanthropic works, helping to furnish the 1960s council houses in Aberdare and in 1958 funded an entire ward in the new Penylan Home for the Aged Jews of Cardiff.

He was heavily involved with the synagogue in Aberdare, filling a variety of roles including being its last ever secretary.

Victor died in 1966, aged 83.


Morris Jacobs was born in Russian in 1855 and already a naturalised British citizen by the time his first business was opened in Mountain Ash in 1874. By 1884 he had opened a second shop in Aberdare.

Morris became well known throughout the area for being a pawnbroker, outfitter and jeweller. At first, the shop in Aberdare operated as a pawnbroker’s, but eventually shifted focus and became a draper’s, offering working men’s clothes such as Wrangler jeans and workwear for coal miners, and later, boys' and girls' school wear and sportswear.

Jacobs and Sons Ltd was still trading into the 1980s, as their advertisements were still being published in The Aberdarian in 1983. However, there are photographs from the late 1980s that show the shop boarded up and displaying a FOR SALE sign. It was the last and longest serving Jewish shop in Aberdare.

Morris Jacobs was a significant figure in the Jewish Community of Aberdare. From 1889, when the first synagogue in Aberdare was established, Mr Jacobs was confirmed as the congregation secretary. He was also elected as the President of the synagogue congregation from 1892 until 1905.

Morris died in 1925, aged 72.


At the turn of the 20th century, the Cynon Valley had a small Jewish community, consisting of some fifty families throughout the towns of Abercynon, Penrhiwceiber, Mountain Ash, Aberaman and Aberdare. Most of Jewish families came to Aberdare from Eastern Europe, mainly Russia. The earliest record of Jewish presence and activity in the Cynon Valley dates to 1858-9. The name of Harris Freedman and the partnership of Lyons and Hyman are listed as trading as pawnbrokers and general dealers in Aberdare.

Initially the Jewish community worshipped in individuals' homes or business premises but in 1887 David Hart allowed the use of his premises at 19a Seymour Street, Aberdare, as a permanent Synagogue. The Aberdare Hebrew congregation was at its largest, with around 90 members, from the 1910s to the 1930s. However, the community declined and services had virtually ceased by 1957, when the congregation was down to 35. In 1966 it was reported that services were no longer held there. The building, now a private residence again, received a blue commemorative plaque in 2015.


Depository: Cynon Valley Museum: ACVMS 1991 149 1

• https://cynonvalleymuseum.wales/ (link opens in new window)