One day in August 2008, I was taken to Llanhilleth
Miners Welfare Hall, a beautifully restored building once again in
active use for and by the community albeit in a manner possibly not
envisaged by the people who built it.
I
was there to see the PAGB inter federation print exhibition, but the
environs of the Hall were also fascinating to me as they reminded me of
my childhood in a terraced house in a Lancashire valley rather than a
Welsh one. I took a few snaps through the windows of the hall of the wet
slate rooves and the chimney pots that once vented open coal fires.
The hall is splendidly kitted out with lighting and
A/V stuff that will no doubt get considerable use in the coming years.
As a teenager, I would have loved to have had access to all this stuff!
The exhibition was really interesting and showed the
many and varied talents of photographers around the UK.
I liked the perspective of this shot.
and this one
This shot as taken...
...and after a few minutes in Photoshop. You just
can't believe what you see...
This shot appears to show (as well as
the nature of entertainment nowadays) subsidence from the very mining
that created the community in the first place.
