THE latest community news from Blaenau Ffestiniog

Services

BETHEL, Ffestiniog - Cyfarfod Eglwysig.

Bowydd - United churches service with the Rev Adrian Williams;

Manod Orthodox - Third and Sixth Canonical Hours at 10am followed by Divine Liturgy of Saint John Chrysostom.

St David’s - Morning service at 11am.

St Michael’s - Morning service at 9.30am.

Holy Cross - Mass at 6pm on Saturday and 11am on Sundays with Father Shaji Punnnati.

Choir

THE Moelwyn Choir, conducted by Sylvia Ann Jones and accompanist Wenna Francis Jones, were in concert at Betws y Coed on Friday evening and the compere was Gareth Griffiths.

Money

HAVING had money available in the Caban account which is to be spent on the elderly of the area only the Town Council agreed to pay for St David’s Day lunch for the Day Center clients in a place of their choice up to a sum of around £250.

Café

THE town council is to ask Gwynedd Council about registering as a landlord before moving on with letting the park pavilion which houses the Park Café. There has been a discussion regarding terms for its letting. Details had been prepared and it was agreed to request a deposit of £500 towards the cost of electricity in the pavilion. In the meantime the closing date for applications for a new tenant for the cafe has passed and as yet no further information id forthcoming.

Chamber

IT has been announced that the Annual General Meeting of the local Chamber of Commerce and Tourism will take place at 7pm on Tuesday, 24 April, at Ty Gorsaf and members are urged to make an effort to attend. An hour before the Blaenau Bendigedig will be holding their meeting at the same venue.

Youth

WITH much concern locally about the future of the youth club Catrin Thomas, the Gwynedd Council’s senior economy and community manager is to outline the options available for the town council on the issue at a meeting this month.

Meeting

AT a recent local Rivers Trust Meeting Dewi Davies of the National Trust gave an Uwch Conwy Presentation where he outlined the main points about the Trust’s obligations and objectives of the current project which is coming to a close during the following months. They had focused on the area’s Lledr, Machno and Llugwy rivers and National Resources Wales, RSPB, National Trust and Welsh Water were all funding this big project and he outlined their future objectives which include the farmhouse project at Carrog, Cwm Penmachno.

Cymdeithas Archaeoleg Bro Ffestiniog

AT the latest society talk, Dr Dafydd Gwyn gave a talk on the Practical Industrial Archaeology courses at Plas Tanybwlch.

The course originally started in 1970 at the Workers Education Authority College in Harlech under the auspices of Dr Michael Lewis.

His doctorate was on the subject of wooden railways and his interest soon grew to cover the Ffestiniog Railway.

Then studying the slate customers of the FR he became fascinated with slate mines and quarries. These included the Llanberis, Corris and Aberllefenni areas but he chose Ffestiniog’s Rhosydd Quarry as the first Practical Industrial Archaeology target.

At that time attendees on the course were numbering in the twenties which allowed the quarry to be covered extensively in a relatively short period.

Eventually what would be the first compete book cataloguing the history, over- and under-ground, of a slate quarry was published jointly by Dr Lewis and his colleague John Denton on Rhosydd Quarry.

The book was reprinted earlier this year by Moore Books.

Not only was Dr Lewis concerned with the hard archaeology of the mines, but also recording the memories of the miners themselves. Together with the late, great Merfyn Williams they interviewed quarrymen so that their experiences could be preserved.

Since the early 1900s there had been a conscious move by archaeologists and historians to record the remnants of the Industrial Revolution but it didn’t gather any real momentum until the 50s when recording of sites and machinery took off all over the UK. Lionel Rolt inspired the resurrection of the Talyllyn Railway – another slate transport system - which eventually gave rise the re-opening of the Ffestiniog Railway.

Recording of the area’s industrial history exploded in the 70’s with inspired groups such as Fforwm Plas Tanybwlch led by people like Griff Jones, Dafydd Price and Bill Jones.

They surveyed and recorded numerous quarries in the vicinity and Graham Isherwood published the history of Cwmorthin Quarry.

A highly interesting talk was much appreciated by the audience.

The last talk on the society’s 2018 programme before the summer break will be on Thursday, 19 April at 7pm for 7.30pm at the Day Centre, Y Ganolfan, Blaenau Ffestiniog. The AGM will be held prior to an update by Mel Thomas on the Cofio Cwmorthin Remembered Project - Capping and Archaeological Digs.

The talk will be bilingual.

Tea and coffee at 7pm for a 7.30pm start.

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