Just as the weather continued in similar vein to that of day 1 – cold and very wet at times! – so day 2 continued along the same line at the old library with again around 60 people visiting and enjoying the studio and its activities. Today, Natural Resources Wales held a drop-in session to complement the growing stories and opinions around the landscape and again in-depth chats and discussions on energy and its impacts were captured for posterity and insight. Ceri regaled us with his reminscences of travelling up the Rhondda Fawr in the 60s to what seemed to him as a young boy from a more rural setting like “entering a hell” with heavy sounds of clanking and clattering trains full of coal augmented by the smells and sights of the working collieries. Generously and, in keeping with the warmth of the locals, he offered up his fascinating images of the area (as shown above) and again it was a reminder of the key role that coal held in the working and everyday lives of the local people. But his thoughts and those of others too looked to the future with a huge-scale wind farm now a fast developing sight on the mountain tops to the north west of Treherbert and the challenge they seem to pose to many between a bright new green future and in some eyes a returning visual blight over which they have no control. No doubt the coming days will bring forth yet more strongly held viewpoints, insights, and opinions.
Everyday Lives 