Do you know how your ancestors lived? What affected their lifestyle, the decisions they made, where they lived, how they were able to feed and clothe themselves and their families?
Guest speaker, author Jeff Alexander will join us from the UK to talk about how becoming guardian of an album of family photographs spurred him to discover more about the lives of his Welsh ancestors. It led him to explore the story of how they lived, worked, worshipped, sang and played.
Jeff is the author of two local history books: Cribarth - the Giant Awakes; and Y Tymbl - The Tumble – the Growth of a Gwendraeth Valley Mining Village.
Jeff’s paternal ancestors, originally from Carmarthenshire, were attracted by opportunities in the rapidly industrialising lower Swansea Valley. His mother’s family, like many others from England’s West Country, moved to work in the South Wales coalfield in the late 19th century, escaping the rural poverty of the time.
Jeff describes how the coming together of people from either side of the Bristol Channel, some of them established Welsh-speaking, chapel-going natives and others who were English-speaking, church-going new arrivals helped shape the present-day culture.
We all want to place our ancestors in context of time and place as Jeff has done through his extensive research.
All GSV members are welcome to join this free session of the Welsh Research Discussion Circle on Thursday 4 June at 7.30pm on Zoom. Please note the evening time slot. To book, log in to the GSV website and go to What’s On > Events tab.