Pumping Station, Llanhilleth

“This world is but a canvas to our imagination.”
Henry David Thoreau
Heritage Day at Beaufort, Ebbw Vale today (Blaenau Gwent Heritage Forum) so I headed off about 9am to arrive in good time for the 10am start. SatNav performed well and got me there in one piece. Met someone in the nearby car park also looking for the hall, so we intrepid explorers set off together and soon arrived in time for the first presentation, about the coal mines in Beaufort. “Women in Welsh Coal Mining” by Norena Shopland followed, an absorbing and passionate presentation from the heart, so I was hooked from the start. Over lunch I had to decide whether to stay for the afternoon session or get back in time for the start of Wales playing Argentina; the die was cast when I spoke to one of the other attendees who told me about murals at Llanhilleth and Abertillery, both on the return route I had planned and I’d be able to fit them in and be back in time! Only a short drive to Abertillery and about ten minutes walk from the car park on the edge of town to the WWI memorial with its newly completed mural. Next stop Llanhilleth; I was commissioned many years ago to photograph the newly refurbished Miners Institute so knew where to go – the mural covered the nearby pumping station. I was tempted to stick to my preferred black and whites but the vibrant colour screamed out to be included, a collaboration between the Institute, Clwb Llan Youth Club and artist Andy O’Rourke, Head4Arts and Blaenau Gwent Council.
Pic for the day in the bag I was home in time for the kick-off, shame about the result but that’s the way it goes.