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NEWSLETTER August 2006
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Museum opening times The Museum is open to the public, free of charge: Monday - Thurs 10am - 1pm 2pm - 4pm Friday 10am - 1pm Saturday 10am - 1pm Museum phone number 01495 211140. Visitors and volunteers are always welcome so please call in as often as you like. You will find the Newsletter here if you miss collecting your copy at the monthly lecture or Museum but it’s also an excellent site for local news, events, history and much more. Fund raising June – to be announced
Contact Names
Vice Presidents
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Diary Dates Saturday 26th August 2006 – Coffee morning featuring handicraft display Wednesday 6th September 2006 –George Hudson – Railway King in Victorian Times by John Long Wednesday 4th October 2006 – Scenes of Switzerland by Harry Vagg Wednesday 1st November 2006 – Birds and Mammals (with owls) by Dave Cooksey Wednesday 6th December 2006 – The Haunted Hills by John Rutter The lectures are usually held at Abertillery Comprehensive School and start at 7.00pm. Entry is £1 and the public are most welcome. News of coffee mornings and other events can be found on the notice board at the Museum. Coffee morning You will see from the diary dates that we have arranged a coffee morning at the Museum on Saturday 16th September. We will be putting on a display of handicrafts and so if you sew, knit, paint, photograph or whatever, please let us have one or two examples for the display. We know our members have lots of hidden talents – now is the time to show them off! Please see Peggy for more details. As usual, we would be very grateful for cakes. In the meantime, please feel free to call at the Museum – there is always something of interest to see (or do!). Don Bearcroft recently staged an exhibition on the Salvation Army – well worth seeing before it is dismantled. There is more information on the exhibition in Don’s page 4. Local Voices It is invariably the case that our members, of all ages, reminisce when they get together. Please share your memories with us. If you’d prefer not to put pen to paper yourself then we’ll do it for you. Please contact Jen Price via the Museum or telephone 01633 482851. Thank you.
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Page 1 ABERTILLERY & DISTRICT MUSEUM
SOCIETY | |||
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Poet’s Corner I was worried when I left home My mother and father let me go
Because of the British bombing. I gave a big kiss to my mum I gave a huge hug to my daddy
And queued to get on the train. I waved goodbye, I loved them so much I didn’t know where we were going to,
I thought it would be very nice. When we got there I was worried What would I do without my parents? Then strange people came to get us.I stayed in a little cottage I stayed with my caring foster mum
She was kind and gentle to me. Four years had passed which went quickly But then there was a letter for me
It said, I had to go home now. I met my parents with great joy But I was sad to leave the lady Who was kind and gentle to me. Bethan Emily Roles A prize winning poem from the talented grand-daughter of Dennis and Elaine Roles. Thank you Bethan. |
South Wales Coalfield Peak production was achieved in 1913 when 57.9 million tonnes were mined from over 600 collieries. The number of collieries decreased to 329 in 1944 and 80 in 1967 before a rapid decline led to the closure of all deep shaft mines at the time of privatisation of British Coal in 1994, with the exception of Tower Colliery, Hirwaun, which was kept open by a miners’ buyout. There are currently six operating underground mines in the coalfield that vary in size from large collieries such as Tower to small drift mines emplying only a few miners. Small-scale mining from drifts and adits has always played a role in the coalfield. There are five small drift mines currently operating at Aberpergwm, Tower, Blaentillery No.2, Gleision and Nant-hir. Opencast mining began during the Second World War and is now the major source of coal. There are currently ten producing sites. Coal output for the year to the end of March 2004 was 1,426,000 tonnes of opencast coal and 461,000 tonnes of deep-mined coal. Opencast mining has been largely confined to the exposed Lower and Middle Coal measures which outcrop around the periphery of the coalfield. Low dips on the north crop of the coalfield result in conditions amenable to large scale opencast extraction. The cover of thick Pennant Sandstone in the central tract of the coalfield, together with the steep-sided, deeply incised valleys, precludes major opencast activity in much of this area. Structurally the coalfield is a broad asymmetric east-west trending syncline. Structures are highly complex on the south and north-west outcrops, with much thrust faulting. Even in areas of relatively simple structure, the abundance of small-scale faults created problems for underground mechanised long-wall mining. The main concentrations of coals of current economic interest lie between and includes the Five Feet - Gellideg and Two Feet Nine seams. Deep mining was traditionally concentrated on the seams in this interval – Five Feet, Seven Feet, Bute, Nine Feet, Six Feet, Four Feet and Two Feet Nine. However, many other seams, particularly in the interval from the Two Feet Nine up to the Brithdir, have been mined, largely from surface adits and drifts, as well as opencast. In addition, coals higher in the Pennant Sandstone Series have been worked and opencast on a small scale. The lower boundary of opencast coal resource is generally taken to be the Garw outcrop. Source: Welsh Assembly Government
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HOMAGE TO THE WELSH INTERNATIONAL BRIGADERSIn July 1936 a war exploded in Spain that was bound to become the battlefield of an ancestral and modern fight at the same time. It was a war that attracted the whole world’s attention from the fascist governments of nazi Germany and Mussolini’s Italy to the hearts of several thousand anonymous volunteers ready to fight the menace of fascism who were from more than 50 countries across the five continents. 174 people from Wales volunteered to go to Spain to fight in the ranks of the International Brigades against the fascist hordes. 33 of them died defending republican positions during several battles. Today their bodies rest in Spanish soil, the majority of them in common unmarked shallow graves in the battlefields where they died. However, their legacy is still present in the memory of the Spanish people, as well as in the minds of the Welsh citizens and the rest of the world. Unfortunately, in Spain we still have a long way to go to fully reject fascism, war and dictatorship, as well as in remembering those who fought for the ideals of Peace, Democracy, Liberty and Equality. Maybe one day tributes will arise in Spain that acknowledge the many anonymous heroes who died for such elevated causes and were then paid by being forgotten... Meanwhile, in places where fascism did not take root, such as in Wales, the monuments and memorials to their gallant antifascists can be found around the whole country, from its more populated cities to its greener and quieter valleys and some of its more beautiful seaside towns. There is a photographic compilation of memorial plaques and monuments is an attempt to make the memory of the antifascist fight and the memory of those who fought for
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this cause, especially of those who made the Supreme Sacrifice, last
forever.SALUD COMRADES!THEY SHALL NOT PASS! BLAENAU GWENTRhondda to the Ebro
To the men and women from Blaenau Gwent who fought for and supported the Republican cause during the Spanish Civil War1936 - 1939“NO PASARAN" Big Pit Museum recently held a well-attended event on the role played by Welshmen in the Spanish Civil War. The above extract was taken from a website for the International Brigade Memorial Trust where you can find a wealth of information including stories about the individuals involved and the evacuation of Spanish children to Caerleon. | ||
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Museum Matters
It was
decided to make this a memorable occasion for them; all the different
sections would put on a performance at the community theatre. I was
asked to set up an exhibition of the Abertillery Salvation Army for the
Saturday that the event took place. The Wednesday Fellowship which Peggy
has been attending for over 25years also displayed their craft work. It
is of such a high standard that I have asked them if they would put on
Items, photographs and old documents were brought in for me, some of these were copied, some were donated to the museum and others were on loan for the exhibition. I decided to set up the exhibition in the museum using the Corps display boards. Once it was set up it was then easier to transfer it using Corps members cars to the theatre. Sophie was a great help in setting it up in the museum, while we were doing this it allowed us to copy photographs and documents and also solve any problems that arose. One of the problems was to erect the Salvation Army Standards that are in the museum collection so I asked the site manager for the work on the Metropole if the carpenter would make two standard holders for me. This they did and after varnishing they are excellent to look at as well as doing the job they were designed for. Thanks Dennis and chippie! Two of the documents in the exhibition were the Salvation Army Orders and regulations for Soldiers 1916 and Young peoples Company Orders 1917. Reading these gave rise to some mirth, examples such as:
Food:
6.
As a rule 3 meals a day are abundant. In fact 2 good meals, with a
light repast added, is sufficient for most adult people. Growing
children may need more.
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Good appearance. 5: They must avoid anything of a larking, giggling character in the ranks, meetings, or anywhere else. To be seen laughing and jesting has a very bad influence anywhere or at any time, but especially in a service or outdoors. Young Peoples Company Orders 1917. Effect of alcohol on the brain. Tell the children that, the brain is composed largely of albumen, same substance as in the white of an egg. Pour white of an egg into alcohol: let the children see it harden as if cooked. This is the effect of alcohol on the brain. New helper.
Sophie Ashworth Museum Design Contract
The contract was signed for the Museum by Peggy as Company Chairperson, and Jennifer Price as Company Secretary. Alan Morgan of Riveting Designs signature was witnessed by Dennis Williams the Metropole Site Manager. Much of the cases will be prefabricated off site, work in the Museum itself starts on the 31st of July and I as curator have been appointed by the committee as Project Administrator, working closely with Alan Morgan and reporting the progress to them. It’s been a long involved process that was stressful at times but it will be worth it in the end. Don Bearcroft. Curator
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ABERTILLERY & DISTRICT MUSEUM
SOCIETY
an exhibition when the new museum is open. 
As
you are aware, I have been helping with documentation on the computer, I
am going to tell you what it is like to work here, having finished my
exams, and helping in my free time, it’s been quite an enjoyable time
working down here, especially learning about all of the different
historic items that are kept within the museum, I especially enjoyed
helping to set up the Salvation army display. I am also looking forward
to seeing the museum when the designs have been completed. Don has also
told me a lot about the different items on display here and I enjoyed
learning about them because history is a favoured subject of mine. I
like working here, and it has been a very enjoyable time. 
We
have been constantly asked, when are they going to commence work on the
new museum design? The reason it has taken so long is that as stated
before, certain conditions had first to be met for the Heritage Lottery
Fund. The next important hurdle is the signing of the contract between
the Museum Society and Alan Morgan of Riveting Designs. The contract had
first to be drawn up, this was a long and involved process, as it was
legally binding so advice had to be sought from legal and professional
people. A number of people were involved during this process; thanks
must go to Gareth Gregory, the museums financial advisor and Frank
Olding, Mark Saunders, Penny Jones and Anne Davies of Blaenau Gwent
County Borough Council facilitated by Councillor Nigel Daniels.