These are the stories that were making the news in the South Wales Guardian 50 years ago on September3, 1964.

There were howls of derision at a trial game for Betws RFC when one enthusiastic young hopeful burst for the line only to be brought down a yard short by an overly-excitable pooch who had been watching from the sidelines.

The laughter was cut short however when it became apparent that “the little brown dog” had paid the ultimate price for his try-saving tackle and was declared dead on the touchline.

A 22-year-old Gwaun cae Gurwen miner was told he had let himself, his family, his friends and his employers down after he admitted stealing an umbrella from a Llandeilo pub one dark and stormy night.

“You have dragged the good name of your family into the gutter,” the rain-dodging thief, who was fined £15, was told

A 49-year-old Ammanford woman was on the verge of stardom – and the brink of a £1,000 prize – after being selected to take part in the Great Britain’s Most Glamorous Granny competition.

Megan Williams, of Tirydail Lane, had wowed judges at the Blackpool heats where she listed her main hobbies as cooking, cleaning, sewing and baby-sitting.

There was panic in the Amman Valley after hearse owners said they were no longer willing to drive their vehicles in the cemetery of Old Bethel Chapel in Garnant.

“The deplorable state of the road” meant funeral directors were refusing to risk their vehicles and grieving family members would be forced to carry the coffins the final 500 yards.

There was even more carriageway concern in Garnant where the road between the Ministry of Pensions building and the Prince Albert Hotel was branded “a death-trap”.

Residents were fuming after it emerged that work to improve the road between Glanaman Square and Garnant for more than 20 years.