1969 Loch Morar Monster, Hurricane Camile and much more made the news 40 years ago this week.

ONE of the two men who said their boat was attacked by a monster in Loch Morar explained why he kept silent for two days.

It was because of a legend prophesying death in his family, he said. "There is a legend among the older people of Loch Morar that if this creature appeared and it was seen by a McDonnal or a Gillies there would be a death in either of the families," said Mr Duncan McDonnal.

"I would not say I believe that. They say it has happened, but I don't know. I kept quiet about in case it worried the old people." he said, "I didn't say a word about it, I did not even tell the wife until she heard about it, and then I had to tell her." Two experts of the Loch Ness Investigation Bureau had gone to investigate.

A CONSERVATIVE women's skittle league was in danger of collapse - all because Tory men didn't seem to like the idea of women party members playing "their game".

A strong protest against "this 19th century attitude" came from secretary of the league, Mrs Joan Gregory, of Brook Street, Abertridwr.

The Conservative Ladies Skittles League, which covers an area from Bedwas to Barry, won't be able to start the winter season in October because it had dropped to only four teams, she said.

"The men tend to regard the skittles alley as the holiest of holies," she said.

Mr Charles Hatton, secretary of the Cardiff Conservative Clubs' Skittle League, said: "It has always been a man's game. It is only in the last four or five years that women have come into it." He thought it was often the club committees which adopted an anti-feminine attitude. The women's league started two years ago with seven teams - but the other three have now disbanded or joined one of the many other leagues.

Mrs Gregory said she was not standing for this treatment. "If I can feel this strongly for my party up here in this little village, surely some of the girls in Cardiff can feel the same?" she said.

Was this attitude peculiar to Conservative men? "I am beginning to think so," she said. "In a Labour club near here they have women on the committee."

Mrs Gregory was taking the battle straight into the male camp and hoped to put her case to a meeting of delegates from every team in the men's league. Mr Hatton said, however, that it was the feeling of his fellow officials that Mrs Gregory would not be allowed to do so. "But," he added, "I have promised her I will consult my chairman and see if we can say something to the delegates to persuade them to show a more friendly attitude to women's teams." RHONDDA CID were trying to trace the people who lived at a Rhondda house about 40 years ago, following the discovery there of two separate piles of human bones.

The bones were discovered in the attic by one of a team of workmen repairing the roof of the house in Mount Libanus, Treherbert. They appear to have been tied in two separate parcels covered by newspapers, one dated October 1929 and the other February 1930.

Pathologists at the East Glamorgan Hospital, Church Village, confirmed that the bones were human - those of young babies, possibly stillborn, premature or babies that lived for only a short while.

The youth who found the bones, Dilwyn Lewis, aged 18, of Ynyscynon Road, Trealaw, said: "I happened to see the bones through the roof, near the entrance to the attic and it appeared they had been thrown up through the trap door."

Workmen informed the police and CID officers removed the bones in two cardboard boxes. A police spokesman said that inquiries were continuing to establish who was living at the house at the time."

A VISCOUNT aircraft, returning to South Wales with 62 holidaymakers from Gerona, Spain, shot off the end of the runway at Glamorgan (Rhoose) Airport and came to rest near the airport boundary.

Full emergency procedures were put into operation and passengers were evacuated by canvas chute. No-one was injured.

The aircraft, owned by Cambrian Airways and skippered by Capt Ken Thomas, of Cowbridge, with a crew of three, was landing in a heavy storm. It was believed the aircraft may have aqua-planed as she touched down on the shorter of two runways. The passengers, from all over South Wales, were returning from inclusive tour holidays in Gerona, organised by Hourmont Travel. A Cambrian Airways spokesman said: "Full evacuation drill was put in operation by the cabin staff. No-one was injured and there was no panic."

CIVIL defence officials said the mounting death toll had reached 100 as reports came in from Mississippi's ravaged coastal strip - shattered by Hurricane Camille (above), the worst hurricane ever to hit the American mainland.

State Senator Nat Cassibry, Civil Defence co-ordinator, said the toll included dead from along the Mississippi coast, stricken by 150 mph winds, raging tides and fire.

"We know where there are more bodies," he said. "We estimate the final toll will be between 150 and 200. There were more than 2,000 injured."

Camile disintegrated over Central Mississippi but weather experts watched another approaching storm to see if a bombardment of silver iodide from aircraft had calmed its violent winds. Five aircraft dropped silver iodide seeds on clouds around the eye of the hurricane Debbie, which was last reported to be about 700 miles east of San Juan, Puerto Rico.

TWO women were evacuated from their terraced house at Troedyrhiw when a tanker carrying hydrochloric acid partly demolished the front boundary wall of three dwellings and damaged electrical, gas and telephone fittings.

A hitch-hiker, who was a passenger in the lorry, was detained in hospital with head and hand injuries. Fumes from the tanker blotted out the main Cardiff Road as scores of people, awakened by the crash, ran from their houses to the scene. Firemen, who were called to wash away the small amount of acid which splashed on to the road rescued two women trapped in their house by piles of rubble which blocked the garden path. Mrs Dorothy Boswell, aged 59, and her daughter Greta, aged 28, wearing coats over their nightclothes, climbed to safety down a ladder from their home at 21 Cardiff Road. They were evacuated to a neighbour's house for the rest of the night.

PLANS for a giant Usk reservoir above Brecon, which would have meant the flooding of 1,900 acres of good agricultural land with churches and historic buildings, have been turned down by the Secretary of State for Wales, Mr George Thomas.

Mr Thomas will not allow the Usk River Authority to conduct surveys and sink bore holes to see if sites in the valley above Brecon are suitable for the reser voir.

He said he "cannot feel justified" that it is right at this stage to contemplate the building of a big Usk reservoir and to incur the expense of investigating its geological feasibility.

Details from the report were disclosed in letters sent to landowners affected by the proposals. The report states that the inspector who heard the inquiry, seven months ago, Mr John Dhal, felt the reservoir would have a profound effect on life in a substantial section of the Usk Valley.

THE main Cardiff to Merthyr road was to be closed to traffic during demolition of the 120ft high viaduct at Taffs Well. The viaduct was being demolished to make way for the Whitchurch to Nantgarw stage of the new Cardiff-Merthyr road.

A spokesman for the Welsh Office said that demolition would involve the removal of the pillars along the line of the superstructure.

A ROLL of honour containing the names of hundreds of railway men who died in World War I had been stolen from its glass case at the high level station, Aberdare.

The document, measuring six feet by three feet, had the names of the Great Western Railway victims of the 1914-18 conflict printed on it.

The theft was described by Major V D H Elkington, organiser of the British Legion for Wales, as "a sacrilege." He added: "I would appeal to the person, or persons, who removed it to return it immediately."

A spokesman for British Railways said the roll of honour was a copy of one issued to various parts of the Great Western Region, and whereas it had no monetary value its true value to the bereaved was priceless.

The high level railway station is no longer used by passengers, but goods trains still passed through it. The theft was being investigated by the South Wales Police.

THE Port Talbot steel blast furnacemen strikers, after a meeting lasting two hours, decided to return to work from 8am on Sunday, bringing to an end their eight-week strike.

The mass meeting of the 1,300 men was held behind closed doors at the Bay View Club, Aberavon, to consider the report of the court of inquiry into the dispute. At a Press conference the chairman of the strike committee, Mr John Perrin, said the men were "extremely happy". Mr Perrin said the return-to-work decision was carried with only two votes "against." The 10-man strike committee was given a standing ovation by the men.

Archive information courtesy of: Central Library, Mill Lane, Cardiff, CF10 1FL. Tel: [phone]. E-mail: [e-mail]. Website: www.cardiff.gov.uk/libraries. Opening hours: Mon to Wed, 9am to 6pm; Thurs, 9am to 7pm; Fri, 9am to 6pm; Sat, 9am to 5.30pm

CAPTION(S):

Dammit, you might expect this kind of thing in Scotland, but Roath Park! Recognise this spot? Regular users of the main Cardiff - Bridgend road through Ely 40 years ago experience difficulties as workmen busily remove the old bridge for a new one to be completed early the following year