These were the stories hitting the headlines in the South Wales Guardian in 1969.

A WOULD-BE safe-breaker who raided an Ammanford shop failed to open the safe and left empty handed.

The raider broke into Maypole Grocery Store, on Quay Street, by forcing the back door, but was unable to force his or her way into the safe, so was left to leave with nothing.

A TELEPHONE kiosk in Ammanford may be moved because of persistent vandalism.

Council members called for the kiosk to be moved to a more isolated place.

During a council meeting, one councillor called for engineers to devise a system whereby coins would fall into a compartment below the ground of the kiosk.

A COUNCILLOR has complained that a blast from the Cottage Hall site at Caerbryn shook his house “like an earthquake.”

It was reported that the unknown owner of a property in Penygroes had claimed that heavy blasting at the site had caused external damage to the stone masonry of his house.

AMMAN Valley Grammar school has been hit by a flu epidemic.

Between 60 and 65 pupils and one member of staff had been absent from school for a week, with a further 10 pupils absent from Cefneithin Secondary Modern - all thought to be off with the flu.

MEMBERS of Ammanford Business and Professional Women’s club were given a talk about nylon. The speaker explained that nylon, invented in 1928, was a combination of coal, air and water.

Members discussed how to care the fibre and the many uses of nylon.

This week in history

August 14 1979: Dozens of yachts are lost after a freak storm blows during the Fastnet yacht race.

August 15, 1971: Horse rider Harvey Smith is stripped of his £2,000 winnings for allegedly making a rude gesture.

August 16, 2001: A former butler to Princess Diana is charged with stealing hundreds of items from her Wales household.

August 17, 1560: The Catholic Church is overthrown and Protestantism is established as the national religion in Scotland.

August 18, 1989: Manchester United Football Club is sold for £20m.

August 19, 1964: Syncom 3 is launched.

August 20, 1858: Charles Darwin first publishes his theory of evolution through natural selection in The Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society of London.