Dates for your Diary

Sport, Gender and Society in Wales
SWALEC Stadium, Sophia Gardens, Cardiff
Saturday 1 November 2008

Local History Book Fair at Swansea Museum
Saturday 25 October 2008

Llafur will have a stand at the Local History Book Fair in Swansea Museum. Back copies of journals and other books from the Society's Bookshop will be on sale.     

Entry to the Book Fair is free. 

Women's Archive of Wales Annual Conference & AGM will be held on 11-12 October 2008 in Aberystywth. Further information can be found on their website at www.womensarchivewales.org

Vacancy for a Political Research Fellow at Ruskin College, Oxford

The Barry Amiel & Norman Melburn Trust, in partnership with Ruskin College, Oxford is to appoint a one year Political Research Fellow commencing November 2008. This is a unique opportunity to work on the History Workshop Movement papers and related material within the collection of the late Raphael Samuel held in Ruskin College. In particular, the Fellow will explore the practice of history - making and of pedagogy promoted by the History Workshop Movement. The Fellow will also consider the implications of these ideas today in the development of radical democratic scholarship within adult education. S/he will produce a number of academic and popular articles to disseminate information about the holdings.

Based at Ruskin College the Fellow will receive an award in line with ESRC research rate of £14,300.

Applications are invited from people with a relevant degree and archival experience. Deadline 26th September 2008.

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In early November 2007, Llafur, in conjunction with the Josef Herman Foundation, held a successful day school on the visual culture of modern south Wales. The event was held in the newly opened Waterfront Museum in Swansea and the location provided an exciting setting for a day of thought-provoking presentations. A full report of the event is in our online newsletter. Click here to see the programme.

Llafur Website Launch

The Llafur website was launched at the Senedd in Cardiff Bay on 23rd January 2008. It was an enjoyable and relaxed event, helped by appropriately modest quantities of Llafur red.

Amongst the number of Assembly Members who visited the launch, special mention should be made of Christine Chapman, Leighton Andrews and Andrew Davies. Christine, who hosted the event, and welcomed all who were present, is a Llafur member who is undertaking her own historical research into women and the labour movement. It was very pleasing that Andrew, another Llafur member, who is currently Finance Minister in the Cabinet of the Welsh Assembly Government, was able to stay with us for the whole event. Leighton Andrews, the Deputy Minister for Regeneration, spoke of how he first became aware of Llafur as a history undergraduate in Bangor. His description of the Society caught its essence as well as anyone ever has. In describing its values, he talked about its generosity of spirit, the 'greater community' that it encapsulates, as well as its sense of popular democracy. He also talked about the way that regeneration can capture a sense of community spirit, and the economic potential of linking history and regeneration. This is a theme which the Society and Leighton could fruitfully develop further in future. Speaking on behalf of Llafur, Angela John, one of the Society's Vice Presidents reviewed the contribution that the Society had made over the last four decades. (Angela's talk is available elsewhere on this website.) Neil Evans, who was m.c for the evening, wrapped up the event talking about the Society's present and future.

With an Assembly in Cardiff, Llafur has another natural constituency with which to engage. Also, the website now provides an important outlet through which we can build towards the future, providing greater services to the membership and reaching out across Wales and the world…

On 1 March Llafur organised an event in Cardiff to consider CyMAL's early thoughts on the proposal in the Welsh Assembly Government's One Wales document, to 'establish an all-Wales Collection of People's History, backed by a permanent curatorial staff with responsibility for the promotion and development of the collection'. Linda Tomos, Head of CyMAL, presented a proposal for consideration by Llafur members.

Linda explained that they were seeking to create a permanent collection that would reflect the diversity of Wales through the story of ordinary people. Initial content could include stories of local communities, the role of women, sport and the experiences and contribution of migrants. Use of IT will be maximised to develop access to the collection online, including possibly through social networking sites, blogs, flicr, and through 'second life'. It would be interactive and would consciously seek to be appealing to younger people. The project would look to exploit old and new, whether existing oral history collections or through the digital stories currently being generated. She saw it as a potentially democratising approach.

The discussion was wide ranging, whether on the importance of events in history, the potential relationship between this initiative and activities in community and economic regeneration, or links to the heritage sector. Consideration was also given to how to extend current interest in family history to larger historical issues, the possibility of using 'health' as a theme, whether sport should be broadened to also include culture or leisure, and the use of languages. There was a lengthy discussion on how 'women' should be considered, possibly through work, as a part of a broader equalities agenda, which could also include sexual orientation, or as part of a wider 'gender' perspective. Attention was also paid to the large scope of the undertaking, that the resource should be indexed and searchable, and (amongst many others) copyright and permissions. Those present had no issues with the broad concept as outlined. A large number of potential sources, collaborators and media were suggested. Suggestions were made on work strands/themes and how accompanying methodologies could be structured. The (e/im) migration theme was endorsed.

Angela John, Llafur Vice President who opened the day, pointed out that the world becomes the community when using the web, and that we should be mindful of the audience when constructing a platform.

CyMAL is looking to develop sustainable partnerships, with a wide range of bodies and organisations, and hoped that Llafur would participate. Local history societies and the Welsh Women's Archive were also identified as important contributors.

Special thanks should go to Elin Jones who chaired the morning session in such an inspirational way for the maximum benefit, and enjoyment, of the 35 who took part.

Robert Owen and the Co-operative Movement in Wales
Pontypridd Museum
6 September 2008

Llafur organised a successful day school to mark the 150th anniversary of the death of Robert Owen of Newtown, the ‘father of the Co-operative Movement’. 

40 people braved the weather, and were rewarded for their efforts with excellent papers from Brian Davies, Alun Burge, Roger Davies, Mervyn Wilson, and Chris Williams.