Llwyncelyn Stories
The background
BBC Wales had uncovered silent footage of a school in 1958.
A little detective work identified the school as Ysgol Cymraeg Llwyncelyn, the Welsh medium primary school in Llwyncelyn, Porth.
In 1958, it was a secondary modern school, and the silent clip showed internal shots of the teachers and pupils preparing for the unveiling of a plaque in commemoration of the local hero, Guto Nythbran, with art work, wall displays and a choir.
The celebration itself was also shown, with a stage full of unknown celebrities and a full school hall.
The detective work
The school allowed the year 5s to investigate this clip. A former pupil gave us many leads, an announcement was placed in the local paper and the Year 5s hosted the screening of the clip to former pupils in Apri 2008.
The year 5s re-told the Guto story, assembled stories from the older people and made their own stories in response to these memories. The new stories were screened to a large audience in the school in July.
The older people
The clip generated many memories. People found that as they pondered over it, more memories came to the fore.
They talked amongst themselves and the collective remembering drew them together, becoming a focus for the re-assembling of a previous community, a community that still existed but had dispersed. They organised a 50 year re-union in October 2008.
The younger people
The stories also led the older people to realise that the youngsters had a lot in common with them and vice versa.
The youngsters gained a lot of IT skills and discovered they had much in common with people a lot older than themselves. They learned what their very own patch was like 50 years earlier.
Select a story theme
| Setting the Scene | Stories relating how the project in Llwyncelyn took place in 2008. |  |
| On That Day | Stories describing the events shown in the clip and the events behind them and the children's responses to them. |  |
| Those were the days | Stories of life in school back in 1958. |  |
| Special Occasions | Stories of other special events remembered after seeing the clip, and the children's present-day versions of such occasions. |  |
| Sport | Stories by both a sport lover and a sport failure |  |
| The New Masterpiece | The tale of Guto Nythbran told as never before |  |