Smashing Boundaries
This exhibition was co-curated by a group of young female curators and film makers from across Carmarthenshire.
When we think of the county’s sporting heritage we inevitably think of men’s Rugby and the successes of the 1970s. But it was not only sportsmen playing in rugby teams who were having success internationally. Women were also forging successful international sporting careers in often male dominated sports. Unlike their male counterparts they did not become household names in their hometowns. In fact, many have now been forgotten.
This exhibition aims to redress the balance and highlight the sporting achievements of Carmarthenshire Women from the early 20th century to today.
Lynne Thomas
Llanelli - First Person to score a 100 in a World Cup Cricket Match and International Hockey Player.
Lynne’s cricketing career began at the age of nine, with a bat bought by her father from Woolworths. Growing up in Llanelli in the 1950s with no girls’ teams to join, Lynne instead played for the Christchurch Church boys’ team.
She trained as a PE teacher becoming a full-time member of staff at Neath Girls’ Grammar. Lynne continued to play, travelling regularly to Sussex to play for the County Team. She was soon called up for the England National Squad, playing regularly in Test Match and One Day Internationals for a 13-year period.
In 1973 she was part of the World Cup winning side captained by Rachel Heyhoe Flint. In a match against England she became the first person, male or female, to score a century in one-day international cricket. Alongside her cricketing career, Lynne was a Welsh Hockey International playing in over 100 Internationals from 1961-1978 and was part of the first Welsh side to beat England at Wembley in 1972.
Since retiring from competitive sport, Lynne has given back to the Welsh Hockey Squad through fund raising, affectionately known as ‘Lynne the Tin’. She was also part of the management set up for many years, helping the under 19s qualify for the World Cup finals and the Women’s Team play at their first Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in 1998.
Lynne’s career was not only inspiring but impactful. After a glittering career in a male dominated field she went on to create a legacy for women’s sport by supporting a new generation of young female hockey players.
Mollie Phillips
Llanybydder - The First Woman to Carry a National Flag at an Olympic Opening Ceremony.
By the time Mollie Phillips became the first British woman to referee at an Olympic Games’ ice-skating competition (1948), she already had several firsts under her belt. As a competitor she was the first woman to carry a National flag at an Olympic Games opening ceremony. The first woman to join the Ice-Skating Association Committee. The first woman to referee an ISU International competition and at a World Championship event.
Mollie’s judging career stretched from the 1930s to the 1980s. During all this time, she also ran the family farm in Llanybydder and was a successful Cattle breeder. During the Second World War she served with the auxiliary units at GHQ Home Forces, 1941-44. She was a Girl Guide Commissioner, a magistrate and in 1961 became High Sheriff of Carmarthenshire.
Of all her achievements Mollie was immensely proud of being the first woman to carry a National Flag at the Olympics. Her friends describe a dedicated, passionate and fervent personality which helped her make her way in the then man’s world of Ice-Skating Administration and Judging.
"I've just lost to a grandmother with a broken arm"
Roger Brown, amateur snooker player competing at Pontin’s in 1976
Agnes Davies (neé Morris)
Saron - Professional Snooker Champion 1949 and Life President of the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association
Agnes learnt to play at her father’s club in Saron. He was a miner, and when he contracted the lung disease pneumoconiosis and had to leave the pit, he used his compensation money to open a one-table snooker hall in the village. She faced prejudice outside her dad’s club –
"The committee of working men's clubs in Llanelli wouldn't let me in” Agnes Davies.
She won her first major tournaments at Butlins and won her first title in 1936. She won the Women’s Professional Snooker Championship in 1949. To meet the needs of her role of wife and mother she retired for nearly 30 years. When she returned in 1978 she won the Women’s Billiards Association (WBA) snooker title and then in 1980 she reached the Women’s Snooker Championship final for a 5th time at the age of 60.
Voted Life President of the World Ladies Billiards and Snooker Association in 1985, Agnes continued to compete into her 80s. After her death in 2011 at 90 years old, in 2012 Women’s World Snooker held the Agnes Davies Memorial Tournament in her honour.
‘Ask any of the large feminine contingent who drove in anything possible in the thirties if they found it worth-while and I feel sure the answer would invariably be “a thousand times yes”.’
Margaret Jennings, 1952
Margaret Jennings (neé Allan)
Scotland and Kidwelly - Winner of the 120mph Brooklands Badge, Vogue journalist and Bletchley Park code breaker
Margaret Jennings, born Margaret Allan in 1909 in Ayrshire, Scotland, moved to Gelli-deg, near Kidwelly after her marriage in 1937. She came from a family of ‘strong women’. Her aunt “Janie” Allan (1868-1968) was a leading suffragette and socialist. As a teenager, on her mother’s insistence, she learnt to drive. She began racing in the family car and due to her obvious talent soon earned drives in faster cars where she could compete seriously
Margaret became well known at Brooklands motor racing circuit in Surrey and her driving ability was noticed by the MG factory team. They invited her to drive in an all-ladies team, known as "Eyston’s Dancing Daughters". In 1935 they competed in the gruelling Le Mans 24-hour race, all three cars finished and gained a lot of publicity for MG.
In her final year as a competitive driver, she became one of only 5 women to win the 120mph Brooklands Badge, following a victory which included a fastest lap of 122.37mph. During the war she worked as an ambulance driver and then a code breaker in Hut 4 Naval Section at Bletchley Park.
After the war she became the motoring correspondent of Vogue from 1948 until 1957 and returned briefly to racing in 1950, winning the Ladies’ Trophy at the Circuit of Ireland. At her home in Llandyfaelog, she became an enthusiastic gardener, winning RHS prizes and exhibiting at Chelsea Flower Show.
Women's Football
Llanelli town - Site of the first Women’s International at Stebonheath Park
Llanelli town has a long association with Women’s football, beginning in 1917 when a women’s team was formed. The sport became popular with women during World War I as women took on dark and dirty factory jobs and were encouraged to pursue sports for their health and wellbeing. Unlike their English counterparts, the Welsh F.A. did not originally ban women from playing on their grounds in 1921. However, the following year Llanelli Ladies approached the Welsh F.A. for permission to play at the Halfway Ground and at this point the Welsh F.A. fell in line with the English F.A. and banned all women’s games on F.A. grounds.
By the 1970s no local team remained but Stebonheath Park was selected as the place to host the first unofficial Welsh Women’s International between Wales and Ireland in 1973. Sadly, Wales lost but Llanelli once more played an important role in the history of the Women’s game in Wales. By the 2000s women’s football was well established in Wales and the county, including Llanelli hosted the UEFA under-19s Women’s Soccer Championship in 2013.
Ffion Morgan
Llandeilo - Footballer and member of the first Welsh National Team to qualify for the UEFA Women’s Euros
Ffion was born in Llandeilo in 2000. She started playing football when she was just 4 years old, for Saron Juniors, and moved on to play for Ammanford Girls when she 11.
When she was 16 Ffion moved away to study at the Football Association of Wales’ elite female football academy at Coleg y Cymoedd in Ystrad Mynach.
Her first senior signing was with Cardiff City in 2019. In 2021 she signed to Bristol City, where she scored the final goal in the game that won them the Women’s Champion League and promoted them to the Women’s Super League in 2023.
Ffion was inspired to play for Wales after meeting former Welsh International player Loren Dykes when she was 7. Her dream come true would be to become that role model for other young girls.
In July 2025, she played for Wales when they competed at the UEFA Women’s European Championships in Switzerland for the first time.