National Screen and Sound Archive of Wales preserves and celebrates the sound and moving image heritage of Wales, making it accessible to a wide range of users for enjoyment and learning. Its film collection reflects every aspect of the nation’s social, cultural and working life across the 20th century, giving a fascinating insight into Welsh filmmaking, both amateur and professional.
This film is part of Free

Ocean Collieries Recreational Union
The Ocean Coal Company plays its part in the “war against dirt” by providing pithead baths. Its new sports facilities and playgrounds offer healthy fun for all the community.
From the collection of:

Overview
Incomplete film, with inter-titles, detailing government-driven improvements to miners' working conditions and leisure amenities as provided both for them and their families by the Ocean Coal Company. There are the pithead baths (which include a First Aid room and clean clothes lockers), drinking water fountains, tennis courts, bowling greens and playgrounds. Boot cleaning and boot greasing machines are referred to but there are no shots of either, unfortunately.
The Miners' Welfare Fund was established by a 1927 parliamentary act and forced coal companies to provide baths and other welfare amenities by imposing a compulsory levy on the sale price of coal. The previous voluntary system of provision had failed to provide any real betterment in miners' conditions. The Ocean Coal Company - operating in south Wales - opened its seventh pithead bath installation in November 1933. Several others were also under construction at that time. This film shows Ocean collieries in the Treorchy area, the pithead baths shown (exterior shots) being those at Nine Mile Point Colliery, Cwmfelinfach.
Related

Miner Miner
Documentary 1950 36 mins Silent Location: Featherstone
Absorbing overview of coalmining in the early years of nationalisation.

Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time Thud and Blunder in Knock off Time
Animation & Artists Moving Image 1964 2 mins
Miners' safety training - marked by stylish animation and gallows humour.

Energy Energy
Advert 1935 42 mins Silent Location: Cardiff/Caerdydd
Coal, between the world wars, makes the industrialised world go round and Cory Bros & Co Ltd, with collieries in south Wales and oil refineries across the globe, is a major player.

Big Pit Big Pit
Industry sponsored film 1978 7 mins Location: Blaenavon
Memories of Blaenavon Colliery, Monmouthshire, as it nears its end.

Guilty Chimneys Guilty Chimneys
Documentary 1954 18 mins
Elegiac sponsored film imploring viewers to "allow the sun to penetrate the haze of ignorance" and relieve British cities of pollution.

People Will Always Need Coal People Will Always Need Coal
Advert 1975 1 mins
Deliriously kitsch recruitment ad for the implausibly glamorous world of coalmining.

Sheep Dog Sheep Dog
Drama-documentary 1939 15 mins Location: Treorchy/Treorci
The Ocean Coal Co. employed not just miners but also shepherds, as evidenced here. Tom Jones of Treorchy protects the company's assets above ground with care and great skill.

Afrika Bambaataa on Afrofuturism (Q&A) Afrika Bambaataa on Afrofuturism (Q&A)
Inside Film 2014 45 mins
Afrika Bambaataa and DJ, musician and filmmaker Don Letts discuss the development of Afrofuturism and its key artists.

Alexandre Desplat (Masterclass) Alexandre Desplat (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2011 33 mins
Over 30 years and 150 projects, the composer shares, with humour and passion, the intricacies of making film music.

Ian Neil (Masterclass) Ian Neil (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2012 74 mins
Neil selected soundtracks for 127 Hours, Shame, Kick Ass, Control and many more. He discusses the job and its complexities, referencing his own work.

Screenwriters' Lecture: Peter Straughan Screenwriters' Lecture: Peter Straughan
Inside Film 2012 mins
Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy's adapter reveals his quest for "the poem of the book" and the importance of simplicity: 'Drain the pond to find the fish'.

Screenwriters' Lecture with Brian Helgeland Screenwriters' Lecture with Brian Helgeland
Inside Film 2012 27 mins
L.A. Confidential's screenwriter explains why he thinks writer's block is a myth, and reveals Clint Eastwood's unique powers of persuasion.

Olivier Assayas (Masterclass) Olivier Assayas (Masterclass)
Inside Film 2010 41 mins
Irma Vep writer/director Assayas moved from film journalism to filmmaking – a fascinating journey told with disarming honesty to Jonathan Romney.