nnah Beal, Communications Executive, 01495 333543.
3. Picture caption: Coleg Gwent history lecturer Professor Russell Deacon with AS Level History students Megan Jones (left) and Louis Norman (right)
Two Coleg Gwent students have won a Welsh competition by stepping into the past and bringing it to life.
AS Level History students Megan Jones, 17 from Ebbw Vale and Louis Norman, 16 from Tredegar won the secondary category of the all-Wales Welsh Heritage Schools Initiative competition with an imaginative re-telling of local history.
The Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone students came up with a creative way to communicate their research into the General Strike of 1926 and its impact on local people in the towns of Ebbw Vale and Tredegar.
Louis and Megan created fictional letters to each other in the style of the time as cousins in the towns they actually live in today. Their information was based on research they carried out in the Gwent Archives, and included the Trades Union Congress (TUC), an alliance of British Trade Unions known as The Triple Alliance, government, local issues and comparisons between the two communities.
History Lecturer at the Blaenau Gwent Learning Zone, Professor Deacon said: “This was a brilliant achievement for both Megan and Louis in the first major competition our history students have entered.
“It was even more amazing when you consider that they did this in their own time and on their own initiative whilst already undertaking a heavy academic workload with the other AS subjects they were studying. We have all been impressed about how well they have done.”
Megan and Louis won the Admiral Group PLC Prize of £100.
