Editing Pontypridd (section)

==Entertainment and social history==
===Sport and recreation===
[[File:Sardis Road Rugby Ground, Pontypridd - Geograph-3442821-by-Jaggery.jpg|thumb|Sardis Road rugby ground]]
[[File:Paddling pool, Ynysangharad Park, Pontypridd.jpg|thumb|The former paddling pool in Ynysangharad Park, now removed]]
[[File:PitchAndPuttGolfPontypriddPark.jpg|thumb|The pitch and putt golf course in Ynysangharad Park, now removed]]
[[File:BandstandPontypriddPark.jpg|thumb|The bandstand in Ynysangharad Park]]
*[[Ysangharad War Memorial|Ynysangharad War Memorial]] Park, opened by [[Edmund Allenby, 1st Viscount Allenby|Field Marshal Viscount Allenby]] on 6 August 1923, features a [[bandstand]], [[basketball courts]], a dog exercise area, a lido swimming pool (dubbed the National Lido of Wales), [[tennis courts]], [[lawn bowls]] greens, a [[football pitch]], a [[cricket pitch]], and memorials to the war dead of Pontypridd and to the composers of [[Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau|the Welsh national anthem]]. It has also hosted festivals and music concerts, including the annual Ponty's Big Weekend festival.
*Pontypridd hosts [[Pontypridd RFC|Pontypridd Rugby Football Club]], one of Wales's notable [[rugby union]] clubs, with a successful junior rugby and age-grade sections. It frequently contribute players to [[Wales national rugby union team|the national team]]. Formed in 1876,<ref>''Fields of Praise, The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union 1881–1981'', David Smith, Gareth Williams (1980), 26 pp.</ref> Pontypridd RFC play in the [[Welsh Premier Division|Principality Premiership]], [[WRU Challenge Cup|SWALEC Cup]] and the [[British and Irish Cup]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.ponty.net/british-and-irish-cup-draw-announced |title=British and Irish Cup draw announced &#124; Club News &#124; News & Views |website=Ponty.net |date=2013-05-13 |access-date=2013-05-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304223329/http://www.ponty.net/british-and-irish-cup-draw-announced |archive-date=4 March 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref> Pontypridd RFC plays home games at [[Sardis Road]], with its junior section playing at [[Taff Vale Park]] and Pontypridd High School Fields, Cilfynydd.
*[[Pontypridd United F.C.]] is a Welsh [[football (soccer)|football]] club which currently plays in the [[Cymru South]], the second tier of the [[Welsh football league system]].
*[[Motorcycle speedway|Speedway]] racing was staged at [[Taff Vale Park]] in the town's Broadway area in 1929/1930.
*Pontypridd Bowls Club plays in the top division in the Cynon Valley, Mid Glamorgan and the Cardiff League, having been promoted in all three divisions after the 2009 season. Home games are played at Ynysangharad Park.

===Media===
*[[GTFM]] is the local [[Community radio in the United Kingdom|community radio station]] based in Pontypridd and broadcasts on 107.9FM to the town and the surrounding areas of Rhondda Cynon Taf.<ref>{{cite web |title=About GTFM |url=https://www.gtfm.co.uk/about/ |website=GTFM |access-date=26 April 2023}}</ref> Its studios are based in Rhydyfelin, near Cardinal Newman School. 

*Pontypridd is also served by several [[Independent Local Radio]] stations: [[Capital South Wales]], [[Heart South Wales]] and [[Nation Radio Wales]].

*The ''Pontypridd and Llantrisant Observer''<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/2000localinfo/pontypriddobserver/ |title=WalesOnline: News, sport, weather and events from across Wales |website=icWales |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061020015729/http://icwales.icnetwork.co.uk/2000localinfo/pontypriddobserver/ |archive-date=20 October 2006}}</ref> is the local weekly newspaper.<ref>{{cite web |title=Pontypridd and Llantrisant Observer |url=https://www.reachsolutions.co.uk/brands/pontypridd-llantrisant-observer |website=Reach Solutions}}</ref>

===Culture===
[[File:JamesJamesEvanJamesMemorialPontypriddPark.jpg|thumb|A memorial in Ynysangharad Park to Evan James and James James, composers of the Welsh national anthem]]
*The Welsh [[national anthem]] [[Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau]] ('The Land of my Fathers') was composed in Pontypridd by local poets/musicians [[Evan James (poet)|Evan James]] and [[James James]]. 
*Pontypridd was home to the eccentric [[William Price (doctor)|Dr William Price]] who performed the first modern cremation in the United Kingdom.
*Pontypridd hosted the [[National Eisteddfod]] in 1893 and also hosted the 2024 Eisteddfod.
*[[Côr Meibion Pontypridd]] (Pontypridd Male Voice Choir)<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.malechoir.com/index.htm |title=Archived copy |access-date=6 October 2007 |archive-date=8 August 2007 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070808144825/http://www.malechoir.com/index.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*Pontypridd holds the [[Welsh Poetry Competition]], the biggest of its kind in Wales.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.welshpoetry.co.uk/ |title=Home – Poetry Competition |website=Welshpoetry.co.uk |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-date=11 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220111190611/https://www.welshpoetry.co.uk/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>
*The singer [[Tom Jones (singer)|Tom Jones]] was born in Treforest and often mentions his home town in interviews.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.tomjones.com/news/index.aspx?newsid=32 |title=Tom Jones |date=13 November 2006 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061113032502/http://www.tomjones.com/news/index.aspx?newsid=32 |access-date=11 January 2022|archive-date=13 November 2006 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/south_east/4588611.stm |work=BBC News |title=Home town welcomes back Tom Jones |date=28 May 2005 |access-date=22 May 2010}}</ref> He headlined in a 65th birthday concert at the town's Ynysangharad Park.
*The [[Pontypridd Market and Town Hall]] contained an auditorium, latterly known as the Town Hall Theatre, which closed in 1982.<ref>{{cite web|url= https://wsa-ondisplay.co.uk/2020/category/undergraduate/year-2/pontypridd-performance-space/  |title=Pontypridd Performance Space| publisher= Welsh School of Architecture, Cardiff University  |access-date=3 December 2024}}</ref>

===In popular culture===
*The name of the fictional Welsh town of Pontypandy, where children's television programme ''[[Fireman Sam]]'' is set, is a [[portmanteau]] of Pontypridd and [[Tonypandy]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/arts/sites/themes/children/fireman_sam.shtml |title=Wales – Arts – Children – Fireman Sam |publisher=BBC |date=2009-02-11 |access-date=2013-05-23}}</ref>
*The Welsh TV show ''[[Belonging (TV series)|Belonging]]'' was shot in Pontypridd.
*The [[BBC]]'s ''[[Doctor Who]]'' and ''[[Torchwood]]'' have been filmed at locations in and around Pontypridd, such as at the ''Market Tavern'', a pub in Market Street, and the Lido in [[Ysangharad War Memorial|Ynysangharad]] Park. Other locations include Treforest, Hawthorn, Graigwen, Upper Boat, Trallwng, and [[Ynysybwl]].

===Twinning===
Pontypridd is [[Sister city|twinned]] with [[Nürtingen]], [[Baden-Württemberg]], Germany. Initial contact was made between them in 1965, with a visit by [[Côr Meibion Pontypridd]] Welsh male voice [[Choir]] to a choir called {{lang|de|italic=no|Liederkranz}} ("Coronet of Songs") based in the Oberensingen area of Nürtingen. The visit was returned a year later. Reciprocal choir visits have continued and the partnership prompted Pontypridd Urban District Council to join with Nürtingen in formal twinning relations, under an agreement signed in July 1968 by John Cheesman, Chairman of Pontypridd UDC, and Karl Gonser, Mayor of Nürtingen.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.rhondda-cynon-taf.gov.uk/EN/LeisureLibrariesCulture/TourismandTravel/Towntwinning/HistoryOfTownTwinning.aspx |title=The History of Twinning in Rhondda Cynon Taf |date=31 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120831103311/http://www.rhondda-cynon-taf.gov.uk/EN/LeisureLibrariesCulture/TourismandTravel/Towntwinning/HistoryOfTownTwinning.aspx |access-date=11 January 2022 |archive-date=31 August 2012}}</ref>

Pontypridd is twinned with [[Mbale]], Uganda, since an official twinning ceremony in 2005, following links by local churches and health-care workers under the charitable Partnerships Overseas Networking Trust.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pont-mbale.org.uk/main/en/faqs/214-faq6 |title=Q: Are Pontypridd and Rhondda Cynon Taf really twinned with places in Uganda? |date=2 April 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120402021356/http://pont-mbale.org.uk/main/en/faqs/214-faq6 |access-date=11 January 2022|archive-date=2 April 2012 }}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pont-mbale.org.uk/main/en/overview/background |title=Background |date=1 May 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120501230356/http://pont-mbale.org.uk/main/en/overview/background |access-date=11 January 2022|archive-date=1 May 2012}}</ref>