Emma Chaplin
39 Downham Road South, Wirral, CH60 5SE
Telno: 0151 3429651/07884254351
Email: emma@emmachaplin.co.uk

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Andrew Edwards
Co-director of Welsh Institute for Social & Cultural Affairs
School of History, Welsh History & Archaeology, Bangor University, College Road, Bangor, LL57 2DG
Telno: 01248 382839
Email: a.c.edwards@bangor.ac.uk

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Julia Fallon
Head of Centre
Leisure & Events, Cardiff School of Management, UWIC, Colchester Avenue, Cardiff CF23 9XR
Telno: 02920 416322
Email: jfallon@uwic.ac.uk

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Beth Thomas
Keeper
Dept. of Social and Cultural History, St. Fagans National History Museum, Cardiff
Telno: 029 2057 3426
Email: Beth.Thomas@museumwales.ac.uk

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We are now three Regional Network representatives in Wales: Julia Fallon and Beth Thomas based in Cardiff, and Andrew Edwards at Bangor. We will be meeting soon to co-ordinate our efforts and create a Welsh oral history network which will enable us to better monitor and advise oral history projects in Wales.
Among the projects seeking advice on oral history practice this year have been Cardiff University’s Centre for the Study of Islam, who are undertaking research into the history and settlement of Muslims in Cardiff. Julia has been recording a 100 year old man who was a medic in the Polish underground movement and spent time within concentration camps. His is a moving story of human kindness both to and from him amongst a mixed nationality group of people all experiencing war, either as oppressor or oppressed.
The archive at St Fagans: National History Museum has benefitted from a number of external oral history projects over the last year or so. These include a collaboration with TRAC (which promotes Welsh traditional music) to record the testimony of Mick Tems, a prolific recorder of English-language folk music in Wales; a project by David Williams to record the experiences of the Norwegian community in Wales; Gruffydd Roberts’ recordings of Welsh speakers in the Gaiman, Patagonia; and ACLI ENAIP’s Italian Memories in Wales project. This last project is the result of a grant aided project from the Heritage Lottery Fund. It concentrated on the testimony of Italians who moved to Wales after the second World War, and during the 1950s. It unearthed the stories of a great number of families and has resulted in an extensive collection of images and recordings. The resulting exhibition is on tour around Wales and will finish its journey at St Fagans in the New Year.

Andrew Edwards, Julia Fallon & Beth Thomas