Description:

The angry summer of 1926, characterised by industrial action, soup kitchens, jazz bands and carnivals. Solidarity contrasted with desolation in the coalfields across Wales. Vivid memories of an embittered struggle immortalised in poetry, literature and song.

Join Llafur for a new online summer series to commemorate the centenary of the 1926 General Strike and seven-month lock-out. Including talks, discussions and debates about the communities who engaged in the lock-out and the enduring legacy of 1926 today.

The following programme of six online sessions will take place over the course of this summer and early autumn. All online sessions will be held via Zoom at the times shown below.

Programme:

1. “Now it is May in the minds of men”: New Perspectives on 1926 – Saturday 30^th May (10:00-11:30)

• Prof. David Featherstone – Contested Politics of Solidarity: Seafarers, Miners and 1926
• Dr Joe Redmayne – A maritime and transport perspective of the General Strike 1926: within and beyond the North East
• Dr Fatima Chorfi – Title TBC

2. “Days for vision and for marching”: Community responses and the industrial universe of the coalfields in 1926 – Saturday 6^thJune (10:00-11:45)

• Dr Sue Demont – Tipcat tournaments and 280 boots: the lived experience of 1926 in the Sirhowy Valley
• Sir Wayne David – Morgan Jones MP, the Rhymney Valley and ‘That summer of soups and speeches’
• Prof. Keith Gildart – The other Welsh Coalfield: Solidarity and Division in Denbighshire and Flintshire in the 1926 Miners’ Lock-Out
• Huw Williams – Title TBC

3. “Blaring defiant tunes”: Relief, resillience and jazz – Saturday 18^thJuly (10:00-11:30)

• Sir Deian Hopkin – 1926 and the crisis of unemployment
• Sue Bowyer – Beatrice Lewis – a woman who got things done
• Dr Steve Thompson – The ‘Carnival Craze’ in south Wales during the Coal Lockout of 1926

4.”And out goes she”: The women of 1926 – Saturday 25^thJuly (10:00-11:30)

• Dr Sue Bruley – Women and the communal kitchens of 1926; the disruption of the gender order in the Miners’ Lockout in the South Wales coalfield
• Micaela Panes – With Energy and Devotion: Labour Women and the Miners’ Lockout

5. “Whose faith and courage shall be told”: Remembering 1926 in our archives, libraries and collections

Date and speakers to be confirmed

6. “Year One”: The aftermath and legacy of 1926

Date and speakers to be confirmed

Further updates, including information on when the final two sessions will be held in autumn 2026, will be shared on this web page and through Llafur’s social media channels in due course.

Reserve your free ticket for each of the six sessions of this Llafur summer series at: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/1926-and-coalfield-community-1926-a-chymuned-maes-glo-tickets-1989773157076?aff=oddtdtcreator

Once you have registered to attend an event, you will be sent the event link by email. If you have any queries, please contact us at enquiries@llafur.org.