These were the stories that were hitting the headlines in the South Wales Guardian 50 years ago.

GUARDIAN readers were advised to “clear the decks” for Carnival Day - “the day when families from near and far will converge on what will be the liveliest and happiest town in the whole of West Wales.

Hazel Williams, a former Miss Wales, was a guest of honour.

THE Battle of Waterloo was won, not on the playing fields of Eton as Wellington once said, but on the banks of the River Towy.

A COLLIER living in Myddynfych called for a playground next to his home to be closed as he was unable to get any sleep in the day while working night shifts.

ALDERMAN Mrs Lottie Rees Hughes described the impending closure of the Carmarthen to Aberystwyth railway line as a “shocking betrayal of the large and growing band of students who travel to all parts of Wales from Carmarthen”.

AMMANFORD tennis club captured the Welsh tennis League title following an undefeated season.

IT WAS reported that supersonic bangs from high powered jet planes which were seen thundering over Carmarthenshire had rocked the Ammanford and Llandeilo districts in the past week.

LLANDOVERY cesspits were to be cleared after it was agreed to loan Llandeilo’s “cesspool emptying machine”. The deal came after complaints about the smell.

A CROSS Hands teenager, already on probation, was sent for “borstal training” after admitting stealing a transistor radio and a lamp.

This week in history

July 3, 1971: Lead singer of American rock group The Doors, Jim Morrison, dies of heart failure in Paris, aged 27.

July 4, 1968: Round-the-world yachtsman Alec Rose receives a hero’s welcome as he sails into Portsmouth after his 354-day trip.

July 5, 1954: The BBC broadcasts its first daily television news programme.

July 6, 1957: John Lennon and Paul McCartney meet for the first time, as teenagers at Woolton Fete, three years before forming the Beatles.

July 7, 1985: Tennis unknown Boris Becker becomes the youngest player ever to win Wimbledon at the age of 17.

July 8, 1889: The first issue of The Wall Street Journal is published.

July 9, 1982: A man breaks into Buckingham Palace and spends ten minutes talking to the Queen in her bedroom.

The Railway Hotel, Ammanford touring club. Picture submitted by Terry Morgan.