VOICES FROM WALES – THIRTY OF FIFTY-TWO, Introducing The 'Tin Shed' Experience

On June 4th, 2011 after 18 months of hard work by a small team of enthusiasts, an old derelict zinc garage in Laugharne was transformed into The Tin Shed Experience and opened to the Public. In a short space of time the museum became number one attraction in Carmarthenshire and at one point, number two museum in Wales.

Run by Seimon Pugh-Jones and his partner Meinir (Min) Evans, its popularity and reputation grew. It became a much-loved venue for music, the arts and history, with its unique and quirky style.

Its charm was based on the concept of being the opposite of most museums. Recycling and low carbon footprint was a major aspect of its development and also its low-tech approach, with interaction and visitor care a priority.

We concentrated on the period between 1914 to 1945.

The Tin Shed was just not a museum, it was also a venue for music events, its exhibits were used in film and TV and regularly loaned to theatre groups and other historical events/displays, some of which provided funding for the upkeep of the museum.

We achieved the Hall of Fame with trip advisor with amazing reviews. We've appeared in national newspapers. Our exhibits along with myself have appeared in a number of TV shows, TV dramas and radio shows.

In addition to normal daily visitors we worked closely with a number of schools and various groups including:

• Womens Institute
• Charitable Organisation
• Dementia Support
• Alzheimers
• local businesses in bringing over 40,000+ visitors to the area. We helped create a feel-good factor within Laugharne.

Future Plans
Due to the success of the previous museum our aim is to relocate the 1914 - 1945 museum to a new site. To integrate the museum into the community, to work with people with similar historical interests, schools and various charitable organisations.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY NINE OF FIFTY-TWO, CILGERRAN CORACLE RACES

The Coracle Races are part of the Cilgerran Festive Week, an annual celebration bringing together the whole village in a number of activities from children’s sports to fancy dress and carnival. The main event is the traditional coracle racing which took place on Saturday August 24th 2019 on the River Teifi not far from the Castle ruins in Cilgerran.

The coracle is a small, rounded, lightweight boat traditionally used for net fishing of Atlantic salmon and sea trout known locally as sewin in the rivers of Wales. The tradition is kept alive by fisherman on the River Towy and Teifi.

The races give opportunities to novices and experts throughout the day

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY EIGHT OF FIFTY-TWO, CARMARTHENSHIRE WATER SAFETY PARTNERSHIP

Within Mother Bear Productions we are finding that we have raced ahead in our challenge of one video a week for Americymru. Prepared videos are being held up from being released for weeks after they are ready to be published. So we now intend to release videos once they are ready. It may be that some weeks we’ll release two videos.

This week we concentrate on the Carmarthenshire Water Safety Partnership and the extremely important work that Adam and other charity workers do towards water safety awareness in the county and all over Wales.

Thanks for watching and please share away.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY SEVEN OF FIFTY-TWO, BOSWORTH DAY AT ST PETER’S CHURCH CARMARTHEN

The Battle of Bosworth, the last battle of The War of The Roses is celebrated/commemorated in Carmarthen in August annually. The battle took place on 22 August 1485. The House of Lancaster was victorious over Richard and the House of York. Henry Tudor was crowned King, it was the beginning of the Tudor dynasty.

What’s Carmarthen got to do with Bosworth?

Sir Rhys ap Thomas was a Welsh soldier and supported Henry at Bosworth. It is believed that Rhys was the man who delivered the fatal blow to Richard III. The warrior poet of the time, Guto’r Glyn described the death of Richard as a vicious blow to the head with a battle axe, "killed the boar, shaved his head."

He was supposedly knighted on the battlefield and in return for his loyalty to Henry VII he was rewarded with titles that made him one of the most influential men in Wales.

Sir Rhys’s tomb is now situated in St Peter’s Church Carmarthen.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY SIX OF FIFTY-TWO, WALK FOOTBALL IN WALES

Sport is loved all over Wales and football is a game that I was brought up on. There was no rugby for my generation in Carmarthen until you were Under 11 and then it was 15 a side District game on a full size pitch! The rugby clubs of town only offered the sport to Youth and Senior teams. All primary schools had the tradition of playing football on a Friday afternoon , eleven a side on specially prepared smaller pitches.

Rugby enthused us as youngsters, world class Gareth Edwards, Barry John , icons of the sport displayed their skills in the Five Nations Championship. But football lived alongside rugby and offered us other Welsh sporting heroes: John Charles , Leighton James, Gary Sprake, Terry Hennesey, Brian Flynn.

As we get older, joints creak, muscle get sore and sometimes the heart beats to an irregular pace but the older generation can still feel the buzz of the team ethic and the thrill of competition in walk football sessions at the same pitch that I would have played those primary school cup finals : Richmond Park, Carmarthen.

Josh Edwards, is coach at Carmarthen Town AFC – ‘ The Old Golds ’.

Check the video out and find a club near you and start enjoying sport again.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY FIVE OF FIFTY-TWO, SPOKEN WORD SATURDAY

Spoken Word Saturday is held on the second Saturday of the month at the Zion Chapel in Llanelli. It is organised by Eleanor Shaw of People Speak Up . It attracts young and old and is open to all. It gives people an opportunity to perform prose and poetry in front of a knowledgeable and caring audience.

The afternoon has invited guests who headline the afternoon: a musical performer and a professional story teller. The afternoon is held as part of Theatr Ffwrnes.

This week Ioan Hefin led the professional performers with excerpts from a new venture, Play and a Pint, that he was taking on tour around pubs and venues in Carmarthenshire. Ioan is a university lecturer in Carmarthen and is an accomplished actor, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm2955942/

Last week a good friend and board member of People Speak Up , Mark Montinaro, died. He had been a supporter of Spoken Word Saturdays since the very beginning and was a regular performer. Although not known by all the performers on this day he was remembered with recitals of his poetry, personal stories and poetry written in his memory.

This video is dedicated to his memory.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY FOUR OF FIFTY-TWO, RON LEWIS PART THREE

It’s the final part of the Ron Lewis interview and once again he reveals stories from his career as a T.V.reporter.

Thanks for sharing, Ron, it was a real insight.

You can read Ron's memoir here for more: Confessions of a TV Newsman: Broadcasters behaving really badly in the Golden Age of ITV

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY THREE OF FIFTY-TWO, RON LEWIS PART TWO

Ron Lewis, retired T.V. journalist and reporter, reveals more about working in Pontcanna, Cardiff as part of the news team on the newly founded Harlech Television, H.T.V.

When I first heard Ron’s voice, I giggled to myself, as in its soothing warmth I heard a voice from the past, from my childhood. It brought memories of sitting with my family in front of the telly and having to sit through the news every night, whilst all I wanted to do was watch cartoons.

Ron is a natural storyteller and has a rich vein of experiences during his lifetime to call on. The morning we spent with him was both relaxing and illuminating.

Please take 10-15 minutes of your day to enjoy his reminiscences.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY TWO OF FIFTY-TWO, RON LEWIS.

Ron Lewis is a retired T.V. journalist and reporter, He started his career with The Cambrian News in Aberystwyth, moved on to writing for The Western Mail and then found himself working in Pontcanna, Cardiff as part of the news team on the newly founded Harlech Television, H.T.V..

Ron now lives with his family in the subtly stunning countryside of west Carmarthenshire in the parish of Merthyr where the River Cywin cuts through a rolling landscape of fertile tree-covered hillsides.

Earlier this year Ron gained a First Class Honours Master’s Degree at Lampeter University in Creative Writing.

VOICES FROM WALES – TWENTY ONE OF FIFTY-TWO, HUGH REES D.F.C.

A Professor at Aberystwyth University, a Fellow of The Royal Society a peson, like so many others, who never talked about the war. He did, however, leave a diary, which hopefully we will look at a later date. Hugh’s family lived in Llansteffan and his father was the local policeman, P.C. Owen Rees.

I hope the film reflects the respect and gratitude that we always will have for those who fought during the Great War and especially those at Mametz Wood 103 years ago.

In the video his son, Hubert Rees, is interviewed following a lecture on his father’s diary of the war.

Hugh’s plane was shot down during a daylight raid on a synthetic oil plant near Homberg in the Ruhr Valley. All were RAF crew, except the bomb aimer F/O Westwood, who was a New Zealander. He became a good friend of Hugh’s, and was a visitor to Llansteffan in 1945, as reported in the local press at the time.

After capture, Hugh was taken to Oberursel, near Frankfurt. This was an interrogation centre for captured aircrew. He was later moved to Stalag Luft 1. The camp housed about 9,000 allied air force officers by the end of the war, mostly US aircrew (about 7,500).

His diary gives an awareness into life at the camp: food shortages, communication with home, his hobbies while held captive and the general living conditions that they endured. He also gives an insight into the relationship with his fellow American captives.

Many thanks to the following websites that have helped Hubert collect images and facts about his father’s wartime experiences.
75nzsquadron
Stalag Luft

Footnote: Colonel Hub Zemke

Zemke was a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot. He established his leadership of the POWs at Stalag Luft 1, developing working relations with the German commandant and staff. He achieved some improvements in living conditions. Toward the end of the war, Zemke suspected the Germans might try to kill the POWs rather than allow them to be liberated by the advancing Russian armies. In preparation, Zemke prepared a force of commandos and stockpiled weapons, (mostly home–made grenades), in order to resist any such attempt.

As it became apparent that war was lost, the Germans became more cooperative, especially as Soviet armies approached from the east. When the prisoners of Stalag Luft I were ordered to leave the camp by the camp commandant, Zemke refused the order. Zemke and his staff negotiated an arrangement for the Germans to depart quietly at night, bearing only small arms, and turn the camp over to the Allied POW wing. To avoid conflict between POWs and guards who had been particularly brutal, Zemke's staff kept the arrangement secret until the morning after the German departure. Zemke then cultivated friendly relations with the arriving Soviets, using his fluent German and some Russian language picked up during his time with the Soviet Air Force. Ultimately, in Operation Revival, Zemke arranged for the POWs to be flown to American-held territory by U.S. B-17 bombers shortly after VE day.