Dr Kate Moles, WISERD, Cardiff University; Dr Angharad Saunders, University of Glamorgan; Dorian Morgan and Aled Rowlands, BBC Wales have been working in the Ebbw Vale community to produce three audio walks around Ebbw Vale, through the voices, memories and stories of the residents. There are three walks; an industrial walk overlooking the site of the Eisteddfod and steelworks/ Works, a walk around the lake at Bryn Bach park (in Welsh), and a walk which goes down the high street in Ebbw Vale.
These walks have been put together using exerts from interviews with different people around Ebbw Vale, from ex-steelworkers who now are active in the Steelworks Archive Trust, to local historians who have grown up in the area. These people tell their story of Ebbw Vale, and are able to guide the team through the town through the eyes of the locals.
The team have conducted 15 interviews which have produced three audio walks of around 20 minutes each. The walks are made by using the stories of these people that correspond to the surroundings that the walkers are moving through. In this way, the town comes to life with the voices of the people who make it how it is.
The walks will be hosted on the BBC website, available for download (currently through the People’s Museum), and there will be listening posts available on the Maes at the Eisteddfod.
This work is part of a research project funded by Beacon for Wales, entitled Sounding the Way: audio walking in Cardiff’s urban neighbourhoods.