A striking mural paying tribute to Wales' rich mining history has completely transformed the look of a village hall in Carmarthenshire. Popular street artist Steve 'Jenks' Jenkins has turned the exterior of Cefneithin Welfare Hall into something truly unique.
It depicts a miner at the end of his shift covered in coal dust looking back at a colliery and holding a Welsh mining lamp, whilst others wait to start work. It also has Welsh script written on the wall, which translates to: "I am a miner hoping for a better time. Under the big mountain (Mynydd Mawr, a local colliery), no-one saw the dawn. I'll never go underground again." It also contains words from the working man song.
Mr Jenkins explained how he had received a lot of positive feedback about his work, which he explained had evoked some emotions within people living in the area. Get stories like this straight to your inbox with our newsletters.
Discussing his work, Mr Jenkins said: "A lady name Cheryll Sedgwick messaged me and told me they would like a mural. It was originally going to be on a rugby theme as Barry John is from the village, but after chatting with the rest of the committee I think the mining theme came out on top. So the itinerary was for an image of a miner and a colliery with some text from the working man song or along those lines.
"I dug out some images and put them together and they supplied the text. I made double sure that everything was spelt correctly as I don’t speak Welsh myself and I didn’t want to unknowingly put anything offensive there - I could have been chased out of the village or started a riot! So, over the course of three days I painted it without anyone really seeing a design or really knowing what I was going to put on there. It’s great to have trust like that on a painting.
"The reception of the locals passing while I was painting it was great. I did hear some sad stories about lost relatives to the mining industry from passers-by and it seemed as time went on as if it triggered both positive and heartfelt emotions with people. It really felt as if it fitted the village and indeed the wall it was being painted on. An extra addition at the end was the gorse plant from which part of the village name 'neithin' comes from."
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