The Welfare’s mission statement has access and participation at its heart and aims to preserve, develop and enrich the culture of our community. The Welfare was built with miners’ pennies to provide access to the arts for all.
On 7th July 1934, our Welfare Hall was officially opened to the mining community of Ystradgynlais by the Hall’s then Chairman, and President of the South Wales Miners’ Federation, Jim Griffiths, who later went on to become the first Secretary of State for Wales following Labour’s 1964 general election victory.
The hall was built from the miners’ pennies and cost £9,000. Our Main Hall, at that time, could seat approx 650 people! The opening ceremony was followed by a week of celebrations, including a grand production of “The Bells of Beaulieu” by the Ystradgynlais Juvenile Operatic Society, produced by Mr Cynlais Davies.
If you have any old photographs, memorabilia or even just lovely old memories of the Hall over the years, please let us know so that we can share them all with our community.