SWML @ 50The South Wales Miners' Library at 50
1. ‘Three Miners on a Bench’ by Cyril Ifold
Visitors to the South Wales Miners’ Library are greeted by this painting when they enter the reception area. The artist, Cyril Ifold, was a miner whose paintings drew especially from his experience of the mining industry and the landscapes of South Wales. We have several of his works in our art collection.
This painting was unveiled by Tower Colliery Chairman, Tyrone O’Sullivan, on 20th October 2006, at a ceremony marking the library’s relocation to the Hendrefoelan Coach House.
2. Nine Mile Point Silver Band Collecting Box
Between May and November 1926, in the depths of the General Strike, Nine Mile Point Silver Band went on tour, collecting money for their community. Elvert Evans of Cwmfelinfach described how they walked to London via the south coast of England, catching lifts when they could, playing on the streets, in Church Halls or Labour Halls en route.
The men collected over £2,000 to send back for the maintenance of soup kitchens. The Band ended their tour by playing in the ‘Great United Demonstration’ concert at the Albert Hall in November 1926, organised by Lansbury’s Labour Weekly.
3. A Woman’s Work is Never Done (1957) by Elizabeth Andrews
Elizabeth Andrews was an influential Welsh political activist in the early twentieth century. As the first Labour Party Women’s Organiser for Wales, she brought the needs of working-class women to the fore and helped to introduce key reforms that eased the burden of housework in mining communities and improved maternity and childcare services.
Elizabeth was at the forefront of a campaign to introduce pithead baths at collieries to relieve the pressure on women in the home. Before the introduction of pithead baths, a huge amount of housework was required to remove the ceaseless dirt brought back from the colliery and to prepare and carry tin baths for washing each miner after their shift. Women paid a heavy price for their unpaid role in servicing the demands of the coal industry. The toils of childbirth and domestic labour were such that, in some mining districts of South Wales, the mortality rates of women who worked in the home were higher than those of men who worked in the mines. The campaign for pithead baths was eventually successful and they were made compulsory in 1924. In A Woman’s Work is Never Done (1957), Elizabeth reflects on this campaign, her broader career as a political activist, and enduring challenges in health and social care beyond the creation of the NHS.
4. Photograph of George Brinley Evans
George Brinley Evans (1925-2022) was a former miner, artist and author from Banwen in the Dulais Valley. He was passionate about adult education and a longstanding friend of the Miners’ Library, kindly donating many books and artworks to us over the years.
This item was chosen by Mandy Orford, Library Assistant at the South Wales Miners’ Library.
“George was a dear friend to me and a massive supporter of the library and adult education, particularly at the DOVE Workshop. It's hard to think of Banwen and the DOVE without thinking of George and his huge contribution to local history, and his generosity to the whole community”. Mandy Orford
At age fourteen he worked in Banwen Colliery before joining the army four years later to serve in Burma with the 856 Motor Boats, first with the 15th Indian Corps then the 12th Army.
George returned to Banwen Colliery after the war, married Peggy Jones and raised a family together. After losing an eye in an accident in the Cornish Drift, George began practicing as a sculptor and painter, as well as writing scripts for independent television and the BBC.
He wrote three books about his life and experiences, all of which are available at the South Wales Miners’ Library.
5. National Union of Mineworkers South Wales Area Banner
‘Banners are the memory of a movement.’ Gwyn Alf Williams, Historian.
At least 50 miners’ banners are known to have existed in South Wales and many of them are preserved at the South Wales Miners’ Library at Swansea University. Over the years, the banners have been used in protests, marches and demonstrations, including during the 1972, 1974 and 1984-85 miners’ strikes. The miners’ banners provide a rich source of social history and provide a unique and powerful insight into our collective history and tradition.
The South Wales NUM Area Banner was made in 1955. The union encouraged lodges to purchase similar banners, resulting in many lodges having either an individual or joint banner to march behind at the annual galas or use in demonstrations. The themes running through all the miners’ banners are the struggle for work, socialism, internationalism and world peace.
Worn out from use, the Area Banner was replaced with a new banner in 1975. The new banner was designed by a Dulais Lodge and a Maerdy Lodge member and has the slogan ‘The past we inherit, the future we build through socialism’. The banner is still in regular use.
To learn more about the banners held at the SWML, please see our online exhibition The Dawn of a New Era - Banner Exhibition · Welcome · Swansea University Digital Collections
6. Aberaman Welfare Hall & Institute Library Notices
Miners' institutes and welfare halls were a focus for the educational, cultural, and social life of coalfield communities. Institutes were funded by contributions from miners' wages often with support from coal owners and the Miners' Welfare Fund. They catered for recreational activities, with billiard rooms, public halls, libraries, and cinemas.
The Institute libraries and reading rooms helped workers to educate themselves.
Here are a few Library notices from Aberaman Welfare Hall and Institute.
These notices are on display at the South Wales Miners’ Library.
7. Shoulder to Shoulder vinyl LP
Music played an important role in fund-raising activities during the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike, with musicians performing at benefit concerts throughout the country.
This album, produced to raise funds for the striking miners, is especially unique in that it stages a collaboration between the South Wales Striking Miners Choir (formed from the choirs of Crynant, Glynneath and Onllwyn) and the London-based industrial band Test Dept, known for their experimental musical palette derived from salvaged materials.
Each group contributes tracks individually until the piece ‘Comrades’, which sees a novel mix of choral singing and industrial percussion and effects. The album is also distinctive for its bold constructivist-inspired artwork designed by Brett Turnbull/Test Dept, based on the poster that accompanied the Shoulder to Shoulder national tour.
8. Ian Isaac Pin Badges
In 1974, Ian Isaac began work as a face worker following in the footsteps of his father, grandfather, and great grandfather before him. Not long after starting work in the mines Ian had applied for a place at Ruskin college and was then accepted with a Trade Union Congress bursary. Ian was offered the chance to study Law at Aberystwyth after collecting his Social Studies Diploma, but after being away from his family, he opted to work as a trade union organizer. By the time he was 26, he was elected as a full-time lodge secretary of St. John’s Colliery NUM.
Ian Isaac had kindly donated several boxes of books and mining memorabilia to the South Wales Miners’ Library in December 2022. This donation included a wonderful variety of pin badges. These badges show Ian's continuous support for the miners, the NUM and other unions.
9. William Hazell’s Gleaming Vision (2014) by Alun Burge
Alun Burge’s book details the history of William Hazell, a miner who played an important role in developing Ynysybwl Co-operative Society and who became a prolific writer on co-operation during the early-to-mid twentieth century. The South Wales Miners’ Library holds an array of materials relating to the co-operative movement in Wales, including a designated Co-operative Collection, providing a valuable resource for studying this distinctive political tradition.
Alun can trace his links with the Miners’ Library back to the 1970s, when he was part of a team conducting oral history interviews with men and women of the coalfields. He has been a friend and supporter of the library ever since.
10. Miners’ Support Group Christmas Card
During the 1984-85 Miners’ Strike, thousands of women from the Welsh, English and Scottish coalfields joined the strike effort by establishing support groups. Local groups formed into a unified national support group called ‘Women Against Pit Closures’ (WAPC). These women quickly helped to establish a network of soup kitchens and food parcel distribution centres that fed over 140,000 miners and their families at the height of the strike, forming what has been called ‘an alternative welfare system’. Women also joined picket lines, organised rallies, and raised thousands of pounds through fundraising events.
This Christmas card was produced by the Neath, Swansea and Dulais Valleys’ Miners Support Group in 1985. The design also featured on the December issue of their self-published periodical The Valleys’ Star, which they produced during the strike years. Since the nineteenth century, trade unions and other working-class political organisations have used customised Christmas cards as a means of conveying their own messages of justice and hope.