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.
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Rhandirmwyn: wood carving and sheep shearing
A school camping trip to Rhandirmwyn, Carmarthenshire, affords opportunities for out-of-the-classroom learning.
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Overview
Children staying for a week at a camp run for Carmarthenshire and Cardiganshire schools – at Cae Ty’n Gronw, Pwllpriddog - not only sample the outdoor life but also meet a master craftsman who carves intricate walking sticks and lovespoons and experience wood steaming and carving for themselves. They also watch sheep being hand sheared nearby, the farmer cutting through the wool with gentle ease, the shorn sheep branded ‘SJ’.
Lovespoons have been carved in Wales for centuries. Originally a gift from a suitor to his love, they are often given today as e.g. wedding or birth gifts. The expert carver featured – Mr Jones – was a hedge-layer, a champion all-round athlete and used stilts to cross the river home when he had been away competing. He lived alone in a small cottage in Rhandirmwyn and, as he was too shy to talk to the children himself, the film-maker Steven Pugh-Jones, a policeman-turned-teacher who ran the campsite, explained the craft in his stead. The camp took 80 children a week, the kitchen sheds, tents and marquee being delivered at the start of the season. Cutbacks brought it to an end in the 1970s.
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