November turned out to be a month full of craft and creativity.

Our first crafty caper was a trip on the 4th November to see the ‘Made By
Hand’ exhibition held in Cardiff City Hall.
This annual event is held to showcase the work of 135 exceptional craftsmenand women from Wales .
The skills on display were astonishing, delightful and in some instances beyond belief or imagination.

The makers displayed products beautifully and were more than willing to explain the processes involved and in some cases were actually making things while we watched. Almost every craft medium was represented, so no matter where your interest lay,  there was something to delight you- from ceramics to wood turning,jewellery to textiles.

Everyone enjoyed the exhibtion and the chance to make a start on their Christmas shopping.

Our second creative inspiration was provided by our speaker at our November meeting.
Alison Westwood from Eclipse Gift Wrapping demonstrated a myriad of interesting ways to wrap your Christmas gifts. In her deft fingers tissue paper, cellophane and ribbon were beautifullypleated, tucked and tied to result in an elegantly wrapped gift that anyonewould be delighted to receive.I’m not too sure that these materials would behave in quite the same way inmy hands!

However Alison assured us that it was all easy with a little bit of practice

-A most interesting and entertaining evening.

Anybody interested can view Alison’s tutorials on Youtube.

Our last craft event was a trip to a craft fair held in Margam Orangery on  the18th November. This event was organised by the Glamorgan Federation to enable WI members to display and sell their handmade wares.There were many stalls for us to browse and lots of beautifully made goodies for us to buy.  We then went on to Cowbridge to enjoy a delicious lunch and even more retail.therapy.

So it was a month of inspiration, and we have many new ideas that I’m sure our own clever crafters will be able to make to stock our craft stall at the Resolven Christmas Fayre on Saturday the 2nd of December! 

Jen Colley (President Ynysfach W.I)

 

 

The multi climbing frame was removed from Resolven Park today.  It was a “star attraction” for many years, but  was in need of repair and the cost for Resolven Community Council would have been prohibitive.

 

Now for the good news!  A replacement multi climbing frame will be arriving in the spring and the hard working team from Urban Recreation Newport, who were taking the old frame down today, were delighted to hear it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  The CISWO (Coal Industry Social   Welfare Organisation) runs a Tuesday club at the Welfare Hall every other Tuesday from 11am until 1pm where people meet and socialise. Recently, they invited Trefor Jones from the Resolfen History Society to give a talk and he chose his subject well, recalling the anthracite strike of 1925. Trefor made his talk really interesting telling us how the coal industry was run in the past and how the South Wales Miners Federation endeavoured to improve the life of miners locally. It was at the time when streets and tips were named after local colliery owners – for example, Lyons place and Tweedle tip were named in Resolven after such owners.  This was pre war, pre NUM, pre NCB and pre welfare state and the collieries were in many cases small businesses whose wages fluctuated with the price of coal.

In a nutshell, the story unfolded that after WW1 there was a boom in anthracite mining in Wales that created a takeover of the small mines in the south Wales coalfield.  Small collieries were bought out by people such as Alfred Monde and companies were created from combined small mines. This led to the breaking of what were spoken rules among miners and the small mine owners In that they were not recognised by the more affluent new company owners.  As anthracite coal became more profitable and the takeovers progressed, the intimate relationship of the small owners with their workers was lost.

In June 1925, a particular breakdown of the unwritten rules led to what was to be known as the ‘boxer rebellion’. It began in the Bettws collieries in Ammanford where dissention grew over the breaking of the unwritten rules, and they were backed by the South Wales Federation and other pits. The story goes that 2 mines – 1 in Crynant and 1 in  Glynneath – were the only collieries in the Swansea area not to support the strike and a 400 man gathering fronted by a silver band marched from Bettws to Crynant .  They met the men going to work and   requested they support the strike.  When support wasn’t immediately given the men who came by train from Neath were ‘encouraged’ back onto the train and went home – this might be where the name ‘boxer rebellion’ came from. There were a few police at the site who were ill prepared to meet the 18,000 strong crowd of men that had joined the original 400 on route from Ammanford to Crynant. The next day the men marched to Glynneath where they encountered a very different force of police and there was a pitched battle where miners were badly beaten. One father of 5 with a dependant widowed mother to care for in particular was so badly beaten that he never worked again. After this the dispute fizzled out.

The police of that day were said to have told how the crowd of 18,000 sang ‘Aberystwyth ‘en masse which was intimidating and put fear into the police. It must have been something to hear 18000 men so united.  Another story told was of how the sergeant in charge on that day was a rugby player, and thefollowing year he incurred a sport injury that resulted in him never working again just as the beaten miner the year before – coincidence?

In August, police arrived from Cardiff and there followed a series of conflagrations where the police were housed in the Abernant Inn in Cwmgors and the dissent that erupted included dynamite being thrown at police in Gwaun Cae Gerwyn and carnage was the result . The aftermath was that 1 colliery flooded and was closed down, 180 miners were arrested and jailed until the case reached parliament and a judge released them, claiming them to be dependable solid people. So in the future when you hear of the 1926 general strike you can look back to 1925 and remember the boxer rebellion that preceded it 

 There was so much more to this story and there are many more stories like this that we might never hear of without the knowledge of Trefor Jones and the Resolfen History Society and if you would like to hear more they meet monthly in St David’s Church Hall at 7pm

DIANE SIMS

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

AT

RESOLVEN

 

The annual Sunday Remembrance Service was held at St. David’s Church Hall at 10.30a.m on 12th November 2017.
The Service this year was conducted by Father Andrew Davies and the Flag Bearer standing proudly beside him was Mr Ashley Philbrick. Before Father Andrew commenced the Service, he stated that he was full of praise to see so many people from the community attending the service (every seat was taken with standing room only) and gave thanks to all who had come together to remember those from the village and the surrounding area who had made the ultimate sacrifice.

 

 

After prayers and hymns from the Remembrance Service Sheet, the congregation moved outside to the War Memorial where a large crowd had gathered.

The Act of Remembrance then commenced and all the names were read out from the War Memorial by three young children helped along by Mr David Richards.

 

The Royal British Legion Flag was then lowered by Mr Philbrick to the emotional sound of the ‘Last Post’ by Ms Karen Partridge, (who is now a familiar figure to the local community as she has been the Bugler for Resolven for well over 35 years.).

The two minute silence was followed by the raising of the Royal British Legion flag as Ms Partridge played the ‘Reveille’.(a military bugle call which is played after a ‘silence’).

 

After prayers by Father Andrew,  it was time for the Wreath laying ceremony. This ceremony is performed at War Memorials the world over, and the small community of Resolven are proud to show their respect by the many local organisations who participate with the giving of a Wreath.

The order of the Wreath Laying for 2017 was as follows:-

Resolven Community Council

As NPT County Councillor Desmond Davies was not available the wreath was laid by Cadet Davies.

Royal British Legion

Leah Thomas

Sardis Baptist Church

St David’s Church

Ynysfach Women’s Institute

Ynysfach Primary School

Resolven Cubs and Beavers

Resolven Miners Welfare

Resolven Football Club

Resolven Rugby and Cricket Club

Mid & West Wales Fire and Rescue Service

As the Service was nearing the end, the sky darkened and the rain, which was just a drizzle during the laying of the wreaths, started to fall quite heavily. It was noticeable that as the National Anthems were being sung, there was no movement in the crowd until the service was finally over.  As the crowd left quietly the Resolven heavy rain continued to fall.

Lest we Forget

“They shall not grow old, as we that are left grow old,

Age shall not weary them nor the years condemn,

At the going down of the sun and in the morning,

We will remember them”

(Taken from the poem ’For the Fallen’ by Laurence Binyon)

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A footnote of thanks

Later that afternoon Mr David Richards who is the Secretary of the Resolven Branch of the Royal British Legion was seen busy removing the posters around the village regarding the 2017 Service of Remembrance, so we took the opportunity, with his permission of course, to take a photograph of him at the War Memorial.

Unfortunately, the Royal British Legion Club building at Resolven closed its doors some time ago and it is mainly due to the efforts of Mr David Richards and Mr Roger Place and others that the Resolven Branch of the Royal British Legion is still active.
Grateful thanks to all involved.

 

A sure sign of the approach of winter as the first hard frosts arrive on Rheola Lock gates.

Image Mike Davies Nov. 13th