Writing the Century – diaries & letters needed

We have been contacted by Willa King from BBC Wales Radio Drama, asking us to draw your attention to ‘Writing the Century’ – see below.

Calling all letter writers and diarists in Wales!

BBC Wales Radio Drama wants contributors to its ‘Writing the Century’ strand for Radio 4. They’re looking for diaries and letters of women and men from 1965-1975.

 

For the past 18 months, Writing the Century, a Woman’s Hour drama series, has been broadcasting a personal history of the first half of the 20th century. The source material for the drama is personal letters and diaries contributed by members of the public, or found in unpublished archives.

Now the producers want to do a series specifically from Wales and are looking for listeners in Wales to contribute to the series. We want to know if you have any family letters and diaries which illustrate how we used to live our lives in the period 1965-1975.

It is important that these are personal accounts that were written at the time, rather than memoirs that were written after the main events. During this period, main events include the flooding of the Tryweryn Valley, Aberfan, and the Investiture of Prince of Wales.

So if you have any letters or diaries which you think may be relevant, write to the production team explaining what your material contains. Don’t forget to tell us the dates, who the people were who were writing, why they were writing, and what kind of places or people or events they describe. The producers may then ask you to send in photocopies or scans of the original material. Please do not send in original documents. No content will be used without the permission of the owners. If you think you have something to contribute, please contact the production team via:

‘Writing The Century’
BBC Wales Radio Drama
Room E2106
Broadcasting House,
Llandaff
Cardiff
CF5 2YQ

Or alternatively email: writingthecentury@bbc.co.uk

More information on the concept for the project from http://www.open2.net/writingthecentury/developingtheidea.html

Remembering Ursula Masson / Cofio Ursula Masson – LLAFUR / AMC/WAW

                                                                                                                    Saturday 12 September 2009

 

at The Castle Room, Fulton House,

Swansea University Campus

 

Coffee from 10.00am for a 10.30am start

 

Reflections by

Siân James MP

Jen Wilson, Women in Jazz

Neil Evans, Llafur

Deirdre Beddoe, Women’s Archive of Wales

 Jane Aaron, University of Glamorgan   

 

Films made by Ursula Masson and Swansea Women’s History Group

Smiling and Splendid Women

Back to the Front Line

Swansea Conchie Controversy 

Closing remarks followed by tea around 3.00 pm

  There will be no lunch provided at this event as there is no catering on campus during vacation.  Please bring lunch with you.

The event is FREE to attend and a warm welcome is extended to all.

To book your free place, please contact:

Siân Williams, Llafur Secretary,

c/o South Wales Miners’ Library, Swansea University, Hendrefoelan Campus, Gower Road, Swansea  SA2 7NB

Tel:         01792 518693

Email:   miners@swansea.ac.uk

               

 

Dydd Sadwrn 12 Medi 2009

 

 

Yn Ystafell y Castell, Tŷ Fulton,

Campws Prifysgol Abertawe

 

Coffi o 10.00yb ar gyfer cychwyniad am 10.30yb

 

Adlewyrchiadau gan

Siân James AS

Jen Wilson, Women in Jazz

Neil Evans, Llafur

Deirdre Beddoe, Archif Menywod Cymru

 Jane Aaron, Prifysgol Morgannwg   

 

Ffilmiau a grewyd gan Ursula Masson a Grŵp Hanes Menywod Abertawe

Smiling and Splendid Women

Back to the Front Line

Swansea Conchie Controversy

Sylwadau i cloi, i’w ddilyn gan tê tua 3.00 yh

  Ni fydd cinio yn cael i’w ddarparu yn y digwyddiad yma gan nad oes arlwyo ar campws yn ystod y gwyliau.  Dewch a cinio gyda chi os gwelwch yn dda.

Mae’r digwyddiad am ddim i’w fynychu ac estynwyd croeso cynnes i bawb.

I neulltio eich lle am ddim, cysylltwch a:

Siân Williams, Ysgrifennydd Llafur,

d/o Llyfrgell Glowyr De Cymru, Campws Hendrefoelan, Ffordd Gŵyr, Abertawe  SA2 7NB

Ffon:     01792 518693

Ebost:   miners@swansea.ac.uk               

Download a free book on the Playgroup Movement in Wales

The Playgroup Movement, which began in Britain in the early 1960s, made a great difference to the lives of many children and their parents. Voluntary Playgroups depended on the active involvement of parents and, whilst many Playgroups employed a Supervisor, it was usually the parents who took on full responsibility for the administration of the groups, and mothers regularly helped at the play sessions on a rota system. The Playgroup philosophy was that children learned through play and that parents and children learned together.

These ‘Memories’ record the experiences of those involved in the Playgroup Movement in Wales and the effect it had on their lives and their families.

Accessn the website http://www.playgroupmemorieswales.org.uk/ to download the book.

Seminar “Investing in Women Works”

October 6th 2009

10.30am – 4.30pm

Swansea Grand Theatre, Singleton Street

“Investing in Women Works” – a seminar looking at Women and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa

Topics include:

• The Aid Chain, Coercion and Committment in Development NGOs – Speaker: Tina Wallace
• The Diaspora Community – Two Way Investment

 

Participants will have the opportunity to discuss experiences, pooling resources, expertise, and ideas.

To book: women4resources@hotmail.co.uk or 07974 542176

www.women4resources.org   Registered Charity: 1126029

WLM Workshop, Cardiff, 15th May 2009

A short article about the workshop, which I think most people felt was very successful, appeared  in the July AMC / WAW Newsletter.

The programme for the day is shown below…

 

 Saturday 16 May 2009, The Old Library, Cardiff 

9.45 Registration

10.00 Introduction: Avril Rolph and Rachel Cohen

10.15-11.15 Session 1: “Madam Chairman” v “sisters”: ways of organising

Chair: Oonagh Hartnett

Witnesses: Gill Boden, Gwen Awbery

11.15-11.30 Tea/coffee

11.30-12.15 Session 2: “Fighting for what we want”: campaigns

Chair: Bronwen Davies

Witnesses: Alison Scouller, Jenny Lynn

12.15-1.00 Lunch

1.00-2.00 Session 3: Violence against women

Chair: Jane Hutt

Witnesses: Sue Sky, Jane Walker

2.00-3.00 Session 4: “Spreading the word”: meetings, courses and conferences

Chair: Audrey Jones

Witnesses: Brec’head Piette, Rose Pearson, Michele Ryan

3.00-3.15 Tea/coffee

3.15-4.15 Session 5: Sisterhood is Powerful: personal recollections of the WLM

Witnesses: Deirdre Beddoe

The audience – tell us what it meant to you

Join the ‘Hope Not Hate’ anti-facism campaign!

 The BNP will take a seat in Brussels, but they will not represent us – they are not going there in our name.
The BNP fundamentally believe that women are 2nd-class citizens. Here are just a few examples of the BNP’s views on women:

On Rape: ·

• The feminazi myth that rape is such a serious crime … Rape is simply sex. Women enjoy sex, so rape cannot be such a terrible physical ordeal. To suggest that rape, when conducted without violence, is a serious crime is like suggesting force-feeding women chocolate cake is a heinous offence. A woman would be more inconvenienced by having her handbag snatched.’ (Nick Eriksen, BNP, 2005) 
• ‘Innocent men who are falsely accused of rape have their lives ruined while their lying accusers cannot even be named’ (BNP ‘Mini Manifesto’, 2007)

On the answer to the recession: 

• ‘… for women to work at home’ (Nick Eriksen, BNP, February 2009)

On women working: 

• Mothers ‘should never go out to work’ 
• ‘For a woman to consider a job or career more important than having children is, quite literally, unnatural’ (both quotations are part of the BNP’s ‘fundamental principles’)

On family law: 

• ‘Divorce and family laws and maintenance arrangements discriminate against men’ (BNP ‘Mini Manifesto’, 2007)

The BNP cannot claim to represent women any more than they can claim to represent anyone who is not an ‘indigenous Briton’. Furthermore, it is an insult to be asked to accept as a representative, on any level, a party which doesn’t recognise rape as a crime; which believes that women should stay at home; and which tacitly endorses domestic violence.

Please join the WWNC in signing the petition, ‘Not in My Name’. It wil be delivered to the European Parliament on the first day that their MEP takes their seat.

Sign to show the rest of the EU what we think of this new MEP! http://action.hopenothate.org.uk/notinmyname

(Information sent by Wales Women’s National Coalition  (www.wwnc.org.uk)

AMC / WAW 2009 Conference & AGM – 17th-18th October

The Old Library, The Hayes, Cardiff – PUT IT IN YOUR DIARIES NOW!

The theme of this year’s conference will be Women and Health.
More details, including venue, coming soon.

Cynhadledd Flynyddol a Chyfarfod Cyffredinol Blynddol 

17-18 Hydref, 2009, Caerdydd - RHOWCH Y DYDDIAD YN EICH DYDDIADURON NAWR!  

Thema’r gynhadledd eleni fydd Menywod a Iechyd.
Rhagor o fanylion, gan gynnwys lleoliad , yn fuan

West of England & South Wales Women’s History Network – 2009 Conference

University of Wales,
Newport (Caerleon Campus)

 

Saturday 4^th July 2009, 9.45am-4.30pm

 

 

Women’s Activism: History and Historical Perspectives

 

Keynote Speakers Professor Angela John and Professor Deirdre Beddoe

 

The theme of this year’s conference is women as agents of change across a range of historical periods.  Taking a broad view of the term ‘activism’, speakers will present the findings of their research into the variety of ways in which women have been active, whether as individuals or as part of an organisation (formal or informal), in achieving political, social, cultural or religious change.  Keynote speeches will be given by two renowned feminist historians, Professor Angela John and Professor Deirdre Beddoe, who will also treat us to some of the material contained in their very latest publications.    

The conference is dedicated to the memory of our former Chair, Dr Ursula Masson,  whose death in 2008 has left a much-regretted gap in our organisation and whose excellent work in the field of women and activism must be continued.      

 

 

 

Registration (includes morning and afternoon refreshments)

£12 Women’s History Network members    £8 WHN members concessions / students                               

£15 non-members      £10 non-members concessions / students            

Lunch £10

For further information and a registration form, please contact Rachel Lock-Lewis on

rachel.lock-lewis@newport.ac.uk or telephone (0044) (0)1633 432133

Picturing the Past at Turner House (Penarth)

Penarth Porthladd Trust is again holding a Picturing the Past Penarth Festival event on the afternoon of Saturday 18th July at Turner House, with the kind permission of ffotogallery and the help of Helen Warburton.

It will include a power point display of photographs featuring the Pamir and Passat, the part played by local people (including women) in breaking Franco’s blockade during the Spanish War, and the lost great houses of Penarth and the peole who lived in them.

Alan Thorne, local historian, will give a talk on ‘Have we learnt any lessons from the 1930’s ?’, followed by tea and welsh cakes with Ivor Novello.

More information about Penarth Porthladd Trust, which works with other local organisations to preserve the heritage of the Victorian/Edwardian seaside town, can be found on their website – http://www.penarthporthladd.org/index.html

Women’s Studies Summer School

Gender, Equality and Diversity

College of Education and Lifelond Learning, Bangor University

Saturday & Sunday 11th & 12th July, 2009
Friday, Saturday & Sunday, 25, 26 & 27 September 2009,
9.30-4.30 on each day

Gender, Equality & Diversity is a 30 credits module on the well-established MA Women’s Studies course at Bangor University.  It may be taken as part of the MA Women’s Studies programme, or as a free-standing module in its own right.

Fee for module – £552

Deadline for applications – 15th June 2009

Further information from: Laura Pritchard-Jones, Dysu Gydol/Oes / Lifelong Learning, Prifysgol Bangor University, Stryd y Deon / Dean Street, Bangor LL57 1Ut, Tel: 01248 382708, email: ll@bangor.ac.uk