Boys village was a small holiday camp located near the village of West Aberthaw on the South Wales coast, now over shadowed by ranks of electricity pylons marching into the Coal fired power station at Aberthaw. The presence of the power station is quite appropriate as the South Wales coalfield is entirely responsible for the camps existence. In 1920 the Mining Industry act was passed, one of its key provisions was for the establishment of the Miners Welfare fund from which grants could be made for the construction of Pithead baths to improve the working lives of the countries colliers. Over the next decade numerous welfare committees were founded to call erect bathhouse with grants from the welfare fund and contributions from the miners wages. One of these was the Ocean area recreation union which represented the Ocean Colliery Company.

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In 1930 the Union lead by David Davies the owner of the company decided to build upon its success constructing Bath houses by providing a camp for the boys of the Coalfield to spend some of their newly guaranteed leisure time. The camp was constructed near the villages of Aberthaw within walking distance of the beach. Once completed the camp was handed into the care of the Boys Clubs Movement. The Boys Clubs Movement formed clubs throughout the mining communities of South Wales in the early 1920's to provide social and educational opportunities to the youngest members of the mining workforce boys between the ages of 14 to 18. It shared deep links to the miners of Wales who made significant contribution to its development through regular weekly payments to fund the local clubs and support the Boys Camp at Aberthaw.

The camp allowed the boys clubs to allowed the movement to provide free holiday's by the seaside to its members who would have come from the poorest members of the mining communities. When completed the camp included four huts where guest slept in basic dormitories, A communal hall, dinning room with a well equipped kitchen block. One of the cornerstones of the Boys Club movement in its earliest days was the Christianity so the camp was dominated by a substantial chapel where its young guests could worship. One of the dominant social trends of the 1930's was the health and efficacy movement focusing on physical exercise and the camp was well equipped to influence its young guests in this direction with a large sports field, substantial gymnasium and outdoor swimming pool.

Over the years Boys Village continued to provide sports camps and weekend trips to the seaside to the members of the Boys Clubs but it also opened to its doors to other voluntary and church organisations. By the 1970's the original buildings were beginning to show their age and in 1973 a new residential block Ivor llewellyn house was added which provided smaller central heated bedrooms and communal lounges. The camp expanded once again in 1982 when the Sir William Jenner building was opened. This prefabricated building provided additional bedrooms to replace the original huts and also included a small bar and lounge for the adults.

However the camp's demise was just round the corner the miners strike of 1984-85 caused the donations supporting the camp to dry up and as the mining industry declined so did the boys clubs movement it supported. With the camps facilities becoming increasingly outdated and unappealing it closed in the 1990's. After its closure the camp was used for residential bible courses by various church groups for a few years before finally becoming home to an airsoft group, but by 2006 Boys Village was abandoned.