ORAL HISTORY
Interview clips from local residents of Abbeycwmhir, past and present, now on People’s Collection Wales website
Follow link to website here
Examples from the full range of interview clips are:
Julian Lovell – The Philips Estate
Ges Jones – Forestry Activities
Jake Berriman – The Petrol Pump
Oral history is a means of collecting and preserving spoken memories about the past. It gives a different view of history to that found in history books or sets of statistics.
A group of volunteers have received training from People’s Collection Wales to enable us to gather these memories in the most effective way.
What are the aims of the project?
People are a significant part of our heritage and it is important to document their experiences. As such we are collecting memories of the village, both past and present. These memories will be recorded and preserved for future generations.
We will be interviewing people who have been brought up in the Abbeycwmhir Community and/or spent a substantial part of their adult life there. These people will be able to contribute valuable information which would otherwise be lost.
What will I be asked to do?
You will be invited to an informal interview which will take the form of a conversation about your memories of the Abbeycwmhir Community. We aim to keep the interview as relaxed as possible so that both interviewer and interviewee find this an interesting and rewarding experience.
How will we use the information collected?
The edited copies of your interview (along with copies of photographs, documents or objects where applicable) will be published on the People’s Collection Wales web site https://www.peoplescollection.wales This is a collection of photographs, sound recordings, documents, videos and stories about the history and heritage of Wales. It is funded by the Welsh Assembly Government. Your recorded interview will be digitally archived by Abbeycwmhir Heritage Trust.
In addition these materials will be used in one or more of the following projects:
• Published on the Oral History page of the Abbeycwmhir Heritage Project web site.
• Published as a hard copy (i.e. a book).
• Used in an exhibition in the village. The venue is yet to be decided.
• Used in an arts event in Abbeycwmhir.
How can I become involved?
If you are interested in joining our team of volunteers, know anyone who may like to be interviewed or would like to be interviewed yourself, then please contact us at oralhistory.cwmhirabbey@gmail.com.
We will not be conducting face to face interviews until the coronavirus situation allows, although we are conducting some interviews by Zoom. We would really like to hear from you if you have an interest in this activity.
