Sioe Aberllefenni

The slate community gathers at the village hall for fun, fancy dress and horse-shoe throwing. Mrs A Hamilton Pryce, owner of Aberllefenni Quarry, is present, sporting a fox fur and polka dots. The inclusion of a shot showing her greeting a dog may have caused amusement when the film was screened locally. Haydn Henry Jones, Liberal MP for Merioneth, is also present, with white moustache and bowler hat. Slate pillar fencing, typical of the area, is seen in many shots.

Aberllefenni Quarry - i.e. Foel Grochan, Ceuant Ddu and Hen Gloddfa quarries - is one of the oldest in Wales. It produced high quality slate slab suitable for flooring and fencing. Extraction ceased in 2002 but surface work - e.g. slate finishing – is still carried out. Henry Haydn Jones, knighted in 1937, was a writer of hymn tunes and a significant local employer. He had an ironmongery shop in Tywyn and had bought Bryn Eglwys slate quarry in 1911 together with the Abergynolwyn estate/village and the Talyllyn Railway. From 1935, he leased the nearby Aberllefenni Quarry from Mrs Hamilton Pryce but the industry was in terminal decline. This film was shot for screening at the Powys Cinema, Machynlleth.