Welcome to Cowbridge 400

The son of a railway signalman, Leslie Manfield was born at Mountain Ash. Les became head boy of Mountain Ash County School. Although from the first he showed outstanding talent at rugby, he was handicapped by a bout of scarlet fever when he was 11, so that his elder brother sometimes had to carry him piggyback part of the way to school.

Since his widowed mother had only 10 shillings a week with which to bring up four children, she could not afford a new pair of boots for Les to wear in his first match for the Welsh under-15 side. So the school staff clubbed together to buy them for him. Their confidence was justified when he scored the winning try to clinch the 9-6 victory over England at Arms Park.

On leaving school Manfield read Physics and Chemistry at University College, Cardiff, where he skippered the rugby side and also appeared for Neath, Bridgend and Penarth. He went on to study Physical Education at Carnegie College, Leeds, where, as a boxer, he won the light-heavyweight Welsh Universities title in 1937.

Manfield played for the Welsh senior team in 1939 after being offered trials for both England and Wales on the same day - this was because he lived in Glamorgan and had English parents. He opted for Wales since that was where he learned the game, turning out as lock in the match which earned the Welsh an 11-3 win over Scotland at Cardiff Arms Park. Later that year he helped Wales to a 7-0 win over Ireland in Belfast; because of the war, this was to be the last full international for eight years.

Mansfield taught briefly in Cowbridge Grammar School, but in 1940 he joined the RAF.
He volunteered for aircrew duties and was commissioned as a bomber navigator before being posted to No 104 Squadron in the Western Desert. In 1942 he was transferred to a special flight supporting SOE operations in the Balkans. He and his crew were allocated the Wellington "P for Peter", but excessive oil leaks from both engines led them to christen it "P for Pisser". On their first sortie an engine failure caused the aircraft to be ditched.

The burly Manfield escaped from the wreckage; then, realising that the rear gunner was missing, went back inside to make two rescue attempts before having to abandon his efforts as the aircraft sank. With three other surviving aircrew he spent two days in a dinghy before they were picked up by a torpedo boat.

Within weeks Manfield returned to operations in a long-range Liberator, locating small dropping zones illuminated by torches or paraffin lamps in Greece, Yugoslavia and Romania.
After training at home as a navigator instructor he was posted to No 282 Wing at Heliopolis. He was thus on hand to skipper a Welsh side at the El Alamein Club in Cairo on St David's Day 1945, which beat an English team 22-5 before a crowd of 15,000 servicemen. There were leeks on the goalposts, a Welsh flag flying and more than 100 Welshmen forming a choir.
Seven days later he led a Wales XV to a 6-3 win over a Rest of the Empire XV at Alexandria. He then returned to England, where he was an instructor at the Empire Air Navigation School before leaving the service as a squadron leader in 1946.

At Christmas 1945, Manfield turned out for Wales against France in a Victory International at Swansea, and then against the "Kiwis" at Cardiff. He also captained the side in the Victory game against England and played against Scotland, Ireland and France.

He did not make the Welsh side in the 1946-47 season because he broke ribs in the final trial, but the following year he won a place against Australia, England, Scotland, Ireland and France. A groin injury in 1949 finally led him to decide, at the age of 34, that his international career was over. He made his final appearance for Cardiff Past against Cardiff Present in 1952.

Manfield first returned to Cowbridge Grammar School, at the invitation of Idwal Rees, before going back to his own old school, Mountain Ash, where he taught science, and became an inspirational deputy headmaster.

William Charles Percival Harfoot.  Classics Master.  Killed in Action 27/07/1942

Charles Harfoot , originally from Devonport, started in the Grammar School in 1935 as Classics Master after a distinguished educational career, (Open Exhibitioner, 1929-33, Keble College, Oxford, and 1st Class Honours, Classics). A very popular master, he was responsible for constructing a fish pond in Old Hall Grounds.

He enlisted in the RAF Voluntary Reserve but in July 1942, while flying as a Sergeant Navigator in a Stirling bomber of 7th Squadron he was killed with the rest of his crew.

Having no known grave his death is commemorated on the Runnymeade Memorial

Thanks to Mr Alan Thomas (CGS 1935-?) for providing much of this information.

Wynn Oliver  (1940 -