These were the stories that were hitting the headlines in the South Wales Guardian 50 years ago on June 18, 1964.

A CWMLLYNFELL policeman who rescued a sheepdog from a disused pit shaft was presented with a certificate of merit for his "courage and humanity" at Pontardawe magistrates court.

AN 11-year-old boy died after being involved in an accident with a lorry at Llandybie railway crossing on his way home from school.

FRESH storm clouds broke over the troubled Wernos Colliery with the news that eight men – said to be persistent absentees – had been sacked.

THE first thing any government had to do in a civilised society was to abolish poverty among old people, Carmarthen MP Megan Lloyd George told a rally of over three hundred pensioners in Ammanford.

THE Guardian mourned "a double funeral" – the passing of both the Brynaman and Cwmaman parish magazines.

A LARGE gathering of sportsmen attended a presentation dinner in Swansea in honour of Mr D Ewart Davies, of Ammanford, president of the WRU, following his recent return from South Africa.

THE threat posed by vandals was said to be keeping both churches in the parish of Brynaman closed throughout the day.