I can’t be sure, but rule of thumb moved Cymraeg up in numbers as one moved west. We still had green paint on signs on Gower (in parts solidly English speaking) at that time. I didn’t see much sign of anything but English in Neath, but I’d be surprised if there was no Cymraeg. We have a lot of actors, so it seems just wrong for them not to be cast! Oh, and I’ll have to wait for DVD or Sky, as we have no cinema for miles in any direction!! from Jackie
Well, I seem to still find Welsh speakers in Neath when I go there without trying to hard!
The Census result for 2001 apparently gave 21.07% for Welsh speakers in Onllwyn, and that was about twenty years after.
I remember thinking when I started to learn Welsh in Swansea “who am I going to practice with here, for when I want to speak Welsh back home?”
Then Welsh speakers started coming out of the woodwork, and my Welsh social life is in Swansea rather than elsewhere.
You won’t, unfortunately, hear much Welsh if the language is in a minority (or even not a large majority when there is a common language) - but that doesn’t mean a lot of people don’t speak it.
I only realised how many people spoke it in an area I know well and grew up in/near when I started to actually speak to people in Welsh around me.
But yes, generally speaking Welsh speaking increases as you move West. Lots of exceptions, but certainly a rule of thumb.
Oo, just seen the answer from Steve_7 a couple of posts above.
Interesting! And would be much more accurate than my impressions of the area, or indeed censuses, which are not always accurate on such things. (Depends on the question, how people feel about their Welsh, etc.)
Earlier topic ‘Bronwen Lewis - Bread and Roses’ may be of interest…from my knowledge of the mining industry I would say that Cymraeg was the prime language in the collieries of the Dulais Valley right up to closure, if not in the streets above.
Just to say thanks to Steve_7 for information from someone who lived Onllwyn at the time in question, saying that most people spoke Welsh there. Always good to have first-hand information (even if it is passed on second-hand! 
)
Sorry!! Grovel!! Clearly, if one speaks to people in Cymraeg, they are more likely to answer in the same language and whenever I was in Neath, I just automatically used Saesneg, not least because dwi siarad un peth ynig o gymraeg (you see what I mean!).