Friends

Friends of the Friends

Special thanks to Keep Wales Tidy for the grant for hand tools, and the insurance to cover our work at White Rock.

Keep Wales Tiday

We have worked with many organisations since the project began:

  • Swansea Council Parks Department
  • Historical Association
  • Swansea Museum
  • West Glamorgan Archives
  • Richard Burton Archives
  • Miners Library
  • National Waterfront Museum
  • Cadw
  • Royal Institute of South Wales
  • Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales
  • Swansea University
  • Aberystwyth University
  • Friends of Swansea Parks
  • Connected Communities
  • Swansea Rowing Club
  • Keep Wales Tidy
  • University of Wales Trinity St David’s
  • Welsh Wildlife Trust
  • Friends of Hafod-Morfa
  • cu@Swansea
  • People’s Collection Wales
  • Geocachers
  • Swansea Canal Society
  • South West Wales Industrial Archaeology Society
  • Glamorgan Family History Society
  • Kilvey Hill Community Volunteers
  • Swansea Railway Modellers Group
  • U3A
  • Workers’ Educational Association

Friends and Colleagues of White Rock Trails

The report Swansea Eastside Connections by Ben Reynolds of Trilein, written for Natural Resources Wales, is well worth reading. http://www.trilein.com/links-resources/. White Rock is prominent in the sections on the Lower Swansea Valley and Kilvey Hill.

Swansea University coordinates the Connected Communities projects – Swansea Valley History.

White Rock Trails is a project of Historical Association Swansea Branch.

Swansea’s two museums are very good friends to all the projects – Swansea Museum and the National Waterfront Museum.

Across the river in Hafod visit our sister project at www.hafodmorfacopperworks.com and World of Welsh Copper.

Resources

Kate has compiled a comprehensive bibliography for Swansea’s Connected Communities projects: www.zotero.org/swansea_bibliography/items

People’s Collection Wales

People’s Collection Wales is a website dedicated to the story of Wales and its people.  It is a dynamic and bilingual online experience full of fascinating photographs, sound recordings, documents, videos and stories about the history and heritage of Wales and its people.  A place to discover, learn, contribute and share your story of Wales with the world, People’s Collection Wales represents an innovative approach to collecting, interpreting and discussing Wales’s cultural heritage in an online environment – and it is free to use!

Copper Kingdom, Anglesey

The “Copper Kingdom” refers to the area of Amlwch on Anglesey, North Wales which once had the largest copper mine in the world. Copper was mined at Parys Mountain and then taken down to Amlwch Port where it was further processed and then shipped around the world. The Copper Kingdom Centre based in Amlwch Port tells the story.

Swansea Wheelrights

Wheelrights campaign for improved facilities for cyclists in the Swansea Bay area. “We help get people on bikes by, eg, providing beginners’ classes; we also provide information about rides and other matters of interest to cyclists and their supporters.” The new link road from New Cut Road to the Liberty/ Hafod works will have a cycle lane, but it would be even better if we can work with Wheelrights, Sustrans, City and County of Swansea and other groups to get the west side of the river opened up for a circular ride!

Bleddyn Penny – Steel Voices of Port Talbot

Bleddyn was one of the very first student volunteers on the White Rock project. Visit his web site to see how he is pursuing his PhD studies in Port Talbot.

‘This project is part of a PhD studentship I commenced at Swansea University (supervised by Dr Louise Miskell and Dr Martin Johnes) in the Autumn of 2012. The focus of my PhD research is the town of Port Talbot, its steelworks and its employees in the post-war era. Despite the town’s indisputable industrial importance, there are few historical studies of Port Talbot’s recent history and its inextricable relationship with the steel industry. Where other histories of the British steel industry have focused on the industry’s economic or technical development, my history aims to be a primarily social history, with the steelworkers themselves at the forefront of the narrative. Much of my research, therefore, will utilise oral history techniques in an attempt to investigate Port Talbot’s steel industry through the voices and experiences of those who worked in it.’

 

Connected Communities Projects

White Rock Trails is one of the six Connected Communities projects in Swansea. Most of the projects include Swansea University student volunteers and researchers in their teams.

Researching the Mining History of the Upper Swansea Valley
Maesydderwen School, Ystradgynlais

The Maesydderwen School project informs local school children about the local community’s mining heritage and legacy. The team is researching local mining history to gather materials for a performance at the school. www.ysgolmaesydderwen.co.uk.

Memories of Old Clydach
Clydach Heritage Centre

Clydach Heritage Centre is exploring the transformation of the village through the decades. The project team is gathering the memories of local residents in the form of oral history interviews and photographs and translating research into materials for schools. The society hope to hold local community events to engage with the community and to produce exhibitions to display their research and to tell the stories of the local community. www.clydachheritagecentre.com.

Chinese Immigration in Swansea
Swansea Chinese Community Co-operative

The Chinese Community Co-operative is researching the history of Chinese immigration in Swansea. The project team is conducting research into first generation immigration using archive materials and by interviewing local members of the elderly Chinese community. Gathered research will be translated into digital stories and made available online. www.swanseachinese.org.uk.

The Daniel James Project
Treboeth Historical Society

Treboeth Historical Society is working with local school children to research the life of the poet Daniel James, composer of Calon Lan, to produce an animated life story. The team has held workshops at which local school children worked alongside an animation team to transform gathered research into the short animated film to be made available online. www.treboeth.com.

Stop press – A short preview of the Daniel James animation is available here. Contact Ivor Williams, Secretary of Treboeth Historical Society, for information on accessing copies of the animated film: ivorwilliams01@ntlworld.com

Swansea: A Town and City in Photographs
Swansea Your Story

Swansea Your Story is digitally preserving photographs and memories of Swansea’s past. The project is also creating an online digital timeline to document the development of the city through the 1940s to the modern day accompanied by collated research. The project will run community workshops and hold an exhibition displaying highlights from the projects photographic archive. www.swansea-your-story.org

 

Here is another friend of the White Rock project. Amman Valley Railway Society is the driving force behind the Swansea 9 Lines Eco Tram project to reintroduce a sustainable, affordable transport network to the Swansea Bay City Region, South West Wales and beyond.

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