Have you ever wished you could step into the past to experience Welsh history for yourself? As part of a ground-breaking bilingual website project launched at this year’s National Eisteddfod, Coleg Gwent students have helped to make the past a living reality at the Old Steelworks in Ebbw Vale, celebrating Wales’ rich cultural and social heritage.
The group of BTEC National Diploma IT and Advanced Welsh Baccalaureate students were supported by the Royal Commission for Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales (Royal Commission), based in Aberystwyth, to create an e-trail of the old steel works site in Ebbw Vale, as part of the Royal Commission’s commitment to the People’s Collection Wales.
The People’s Collection Wales website is a free online collection for Welsh history, bringing together photographs, documents, audio files and videos from national and local collections and from individuals with stories to tell. It serves both as a resource for anyone interested in Welsh history and culture and as a showcase for visitors to Wales. The Peoples Collection Wales will be launched at the Welsh Assembly Government’s stand at the National Eisteddfod on Monday August 2 at 2pm by Alun Ffred Jones AM, Minister for Heritage
The students’ e-trail of the Old Steelworks in Ebbw Vale will guide users around the site. Pinpointed areas of production in the steelworks will display an image and give details of the history of the area, worker or topic of interest. The project will be published on the People’s Collection Wales website for use by the general public and visitors to the Eisteddfod and can be viewed at the Royal Commission’s stand at the Eisteddfod.
To create the e-trail, students visited the developing site at Ebbw Vale where they spent the day liaising with the Steelworks Project Team and The Works archive, learning about the various processing plants and current developments. The group have also been to Aberystwyth to source images and maps from the Royal Commission for the e-trail.
The students will be taking a leading role in sharing their story with Wales, Europe and the World, via the Internet.
Course tutor Alison Sussex, said: “The project has increased their sense of belonging to the local community and the steelworks’ importance to industrial heritage. Students have said how proud they are to be able to share their unique inheritance and to be involved in recording their history. They are very excited about the developments in their town.
“We are delighted to be part of such an exciting project with the Royal Commission which has given students a chance to develop so many different skills and will ultimately give people a real insight into the Old Steelworks history.”
The Royal Commission is proud to have been able to support the students to create these trails and encourage a better understanding of the industrial heritage of their locality.
