Old Saron Church, the first Welsh church in Minnesota, 1856
Preparing food for a Gymanfa Ganu (singing festival), Peniel Church, Pickett, Wisconsin,1946.
The majority of industrial workers were men but women of course formed an important part of migrant communities. Often the men would travel ahead to a new country, to secure work and housing. They would then send for their wives and families to join them. The women had to support themselves and their children in the meantime and then make the long journey themselves. Women were very prominent in organizing community activities such as eisteddfodau, schooling and social reforms.
Some women did work in industry. In Wales women were widely employed in tinplate works. In 1895 the Monongahela Tin Plate works in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania employed a Welsh immigrant called Hattie Williams to train women for what was seen in America as men's work. This led to protests on both sides of the Atlantic.
Women also played a part in other aspects of commercial life. In New Zealand, Mary Jane Innes (neé Lewis) of Llanvaches, Monmouthshire successfully ran her late husband's brewery business for many years.
Pontypool, Tasmania
These lyrics were discovered in the documents of the late grandparents of Ms Powell, Isle of Man, in 2008. See below for transcript. Reproduced with kind permission of Ms Powell.
Abertillery Members of the Hunger March, 1927. [Image: South Wales Coalfield Collection, Swansea University.]
Poster advertising 'Red Sunday in Rhondda Valley' demonstration
The first hunger march from Wales to London took place in 1927 as a protest against the Ministry of Health who were refusing or limiting relief notes to unemployed miners and their families. It was also a demonstration against the Government's new Unemployment Bill.
Red Sunday in Rhondda Valley
During a demonstration on 18 September 1927 — 'Red Sunday in Rhondda Valley' — A. J. Cook, the miners' leader at the time, called for a march to London on 8 November (when Parliament re-opened). Every South Wales Miners' Federation (SWMF) lodge (colliery union branch) chose members to march, and each marcher would carry a miner's safety lamp.
By November the march had lost the support of the SWMF. However, it was still supported by A. J. Cook, S. O. Davies (later MP for Merthyr), the SWMF Rhondda section and the Communist Party.
On 8 November 1927, 270 men eventually marched in spite of hostility from the trades unions, press and government. They did, however, gain support from Trades Councils in every town and village they passed through (which included Pontypridd, Newport, Bristol, Bath, Chippenham and Swindon).
Soldiers in a Workers Army
The 270 marchers came from the Rhondda Valleys, Caerau, Aberdare, Merthyr, Pontypridd, Tonyrefail, Ogmore Valley, Gilfach Goch, Nantyglo and Blaina. Two miners died on the march - Arthur Howe from Trealaw in a traffic accident and John Supple of Tonyrefail who died after catching pneumonia during the rally in Trafalgar Square.
In his last letter to his wife Mr Supple had written — 'Don't worry about me. Think of me as a soldier in the Workers' Army. Remember that I have marched for you and others in want.'
'Fascists' harassment and Armed Escorts
From the beginning, the march was frequently referred to as a 'workers' army'. The marchers had been organized on military lines, divided into detachments and companies. During the march there was alleged harassment by 'Fascists', causing the organizers to be met by an armed escort of 100 members of the Labour League of Ex-Servicemen at Chiswick.
The 'Workers' Army' senior 'officer', Wal Hannington, later wote in a pamphlet entitled 'The March of the Miners: How we Smashed the Opposition': '... these men are lighting a lamp stronger and more powerful than that which they are carrying. They are lighting a lamp that reveals the tortuous path the toilers have had to follow, and which lights up the road of struggle for the battle with the forces of reaction and the conquest of power by the workers'.
The pamphlet includes 'A Rhondda Rebel Song' echoing James Connolly's 'A Rebel Song' which, along with 'March Song of the Red Army' and 'The Red Army March', was sung by the marchers.
Transcript:
Llanmaes the spiritual centre
26 August 2008
Albany Primary school visited Llanmaes in July and brought with them an uplifting and colourful response to the findings at the archaeological dig. The children explored the possibility of the spiritual significance of what may have been taking place thousands of years ago at this sacred site. Our archaeologists found evidence of what seems to be ceremonial activity at the site in Llanmaes. There also seems to be evidence of artefacts left by visitors from far away lands. Could Llanmaes have been a spiritual centre thousands of years ago? The children of Albany Primary school certainly thought so.
Thanks to the kindness of the local church the pupils of Albany Primary school were able to design and then take part in a non-denominational spiritual ceremony at the local church in Llanmaes.
They wrote affirmations of thanks and praise in recognition of the wonder of life. The children felt that this may have been the type of things that were being celebrated thousands of years ago in Llanmaes. Prayers and affirmations of thanks and praise were left at the altar as can be seen in the film.
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