Land of my Fathers

If you're going to do a challenge about Origins, then there's only one place to start and that's my birthplace, so this folks is Aberdare my home town. Aberdare is in the Cynon Valley, South Wales, often sometimes called the Las Vegas of the Valleys because of its reputation on weekends. But I don't care, it's where I was born and I'm fiercely proud from where I came from, and I'll always be Aberdare born and bred. For four generations, possibly five, Aberdare has been our home town.

Like many towns in the South Wales Valleys it was built on black gold, coal, and if this photo had been taken a hundred years or so ago you would see numerous coal mines up and down the valley. The Tower Colliery, which was bought by the miners themselves when the UK government said it was no longer viable, is just up the road from Aberdare.

The demise of the coal industry has left an almost indelible mark on the South Wales Valleys, and even those industries which sort of replaced it have left and moved on, for the Cynon Valley this included Hitachi, Dunlop and Pirelli, without a doubt Aberdare has its problems, but that's like everywhere. Growing up in the 80s during the miners strike, there was a sense of foreboding in school as to what our futures would be if the mines closed, which in some ways was rather strange because for most of us we had no intention of going down the mines.

So how has Aberdare made me? Well for me there are two things, a strong work ethic and a sense of community, helping each other.

Being born in Aberdare means you've not got a silver spoon in your mouth, you've got to work and fight hard for everything that you want. As mentioned in a previous blip my grandfather was a miner, and so was his dad, and so was his dad before him, mining was hard and these men were not afraid of hard work. When I started my career I had to work hard to prove myself, to show that I was capable of so much more and I think it's paid off. I sometimes worry though about youngsters, some of the ones that have come through our door only seem to want to play and joke around and think menial tasks such as filing or whatever is beneath them. But there are good youngsters as well, who have the same work ethic and realise that by working hard and doing a job well, will get them noticed the right way.

As for a sense of community, well growing up I was certainly aware that people were only too happy to help each other, even if they didn't have a lot themselves, by working together everyone benefits and the community would be stronger. I'd like to think that people see me as someone who is happy to help others in need. Sadly I think we've lost a bit of this community spirit and there is a lot of selfishness around, its sad that sometimes it takes a tragedy like the Gleision Mine disaster to remind people of the important things in life.

I think I'm going to enjoy this challenge, it's a great way to reflect on things and self assess things. But I'm also worried it may open up some old wounds, and I don't know if I quite want to go there yet.

So that's it my first October Origins challenge blip, if you want to find out more and what its all about go to PontyCyclops journal.