1909 – as part of annual charity event 2,500 children were treated to a roast beef and plum pudding dinner, served in relays of 800 at a time. The event took place at the Rodney Hall with large oven set up outside. 2,500 bags of sweets, buns and oranges were also distributed as part of the event.
At the turn of the century it was reported that traditional New Year festivities included watch-night church services, youth banging pots and other instruments to ‘create a din’ , the tooting of works hooters, church bells and the use of detonators on the railways! As well as the singing of ‘Auld Lang Syne’.
Traditional sporting fixtures in rugby and football were a feature of the period. Newport RFC often played away over the new year period playing match against Plymouth Devonport and Exeter. Other fixtures against Llanelli and London Welsh also figured. Newport played away at London Welsh on New Year’s Eve at Queen’s Park, Kensington winning 12-4. Newport County were often paired with Swindon or Cardiff in the holiday period.
Politicians offered their perspectives on the year passed and the one to come. 1889 was marked, for example, as a year of great progress including new housing in the east, repairing the dip in the town bridge and the reading room at Maindee!
