Lightnews — Scholar-powered news

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Rhodri Lewis @rhodri-el.bsky.social · 3d

Time is running out to sign up for this! A great gateway to studying local history, heritage policy & full of case studies and real world issues from Wales & beyond.
#Heritage #History #WelshHistory #Memorials @aberuni.bsky.social @rcahmwales.bsky.social @llafur.bsky.social @interpolaber.bsky.social

Rhodri Lewis @rhodri-el.bsky.social · 16d

New opportunity to join this popular lifelong learning course @aberuni.bsky.social open to all.

- Pre-recorded lectures (learn in your own time)
- Lively seminar discussions
- Heaps of reading suggestions & research resources - focus on what interests you
- Real world skills & issues
+ much more!

Poster for Lifelong learning course 'Beyond Statues'.

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University of Wales Press @uniwalespress.bsky.social · 16d

'Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Nation Builder' is available now in bookshops and through the link below!

📚 www.uwp.co.uk/book/dafydd-...

You can also join Aled in conversation at events throughout the autumn.

8 October - Whitchurch Tennis Club, Cardiff
10 October - Mathias Hall, Bangor University
30 October - Storyville, Pontypridd
2 November - Aberaeron Literary Festival
6 November - King’s Yard, Pontcanna, Cardiff
8 November - Wrights, Llanarthne
13 November - Canolfan Cantref, Y Bala
18 November - Palas Print, Caernarfon
19 November - Siop Penrallt, Machynlleth
20 November - National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth
21 November - Plaid Cymru Society Archives, Cardiff

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James Phillips @jjphillips94.bsky.social · 9d

More than mere prelude to '26, join us in Ammanford to discuss what the great Hywel Francis once described as 'a landmark of immeasurable significance in the development of a sophisticated trade union consciousness among the whole of the South Wales Miners' (Llafur 1:2, 1973).

Llafur: The Welsh People’s History Society @llafur.bsky.social · 10d

Join Llafur and our guest speakers to explore the 1925 anthracite strike and its legacy a hundred years on!

📆 25/10/2025
⏱️10:30-16:00
📍Ammanford Welfare Hall

🎟️Free tickets: tinyurl.com/anthracitest...

The Anthracite Strike of 1925
Event Location:
Ammanford Welfare Hall, 11 Wind St, Ammanford SA18 3DN

Event Date: 25/10/2025
Event Starts: 25/10/25 10:30 am
Event Ends: 25/10/25 04:00 pm

Join Llafur and our guest speakers to explore the 1925 anthracite strike and its legacy a hundred years on.

Speakers – Aled Eirug, Robert Smith, Ioan Matthews, Bill Jones and Sian Williams.

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Llafur: The Welsh People’s History Society @llafur.bsky.social · 6d

Are you of African/Caribbean descent with ties to the Valleys? The Black Valleys Project would love to hear your story!

Help support the creation of new Black Welsh History resources for local schools.

🗓️Friday 24th October
🕰️2pm
📍Rhondda Heritage Park Museum

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Llafur: The Welsh People’s History Society @llafur.bsky.social · 10d

Join Llafur and our guest speakers to explore the 1925 anthracite strike and its legacy a hundred years on!

📆 25/10/2025
⏱️10:30-16:00
📍Ammanford Welfare Hall

🎟️Free tickets: tinyurl.com/anthracitest...

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Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literatures @mediumaevum.bsky.social · 10d

SSMLL are delighted to announce the opening of our Call for Papers for the 2026 Day Conference, Medieval Wales, which will be held at Cardiff University 25-26 April, 2026.

Proposals should be submitted to Dr David Callander ([email protected]) by 30 November.

Cardiff University and the Society for the Study of Medieval Languages and Literature are pleased to announce a multi-disciplinary conference on medieval Wales, to be held at Cardiff University on the 25th and 26th of April 2026. The conference will provide a space for discussion and collaboration between scholars of all disciplinary backgrounds interested in medieval Wales. The conference programme will include the Medium Ævum annual lecture, which will be delivered by Professor Helen Fulton (University of Bristol). The Henry Loyn Memorial Lecture will be held on the evening of the 24th of April, and will be delivered by Professor John Hines (Cardiff University).

We invite proposals for 20-minute presentations representing any specialization that sheds light on medieval Wales. We shall particularly welcome papers that discuss encounters between different languages and traditions and their consequences. Proposals are welcome from speakers at all career stages and papers can be delivered in English or Welsh. Proposals should include a title and an abstract (100–200 words) and should be submitted to Dr David Callander (callanderd@cardiff.ac.uk) by 30 November.

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Conor Brockbank @conorbrockbank.bsky.social · 9d

“What‘s the state of research in the field history of the Catholic Church in Britain and Ireland?” This was answered in abundance at the @catholicrs.bsky.social conference this summer. Read my report to hear about all the amazing research which is currently being done:
www.crs.org.uk/conference-r...

Conference Report 2025 | CRS

www.crs.org.uk

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Paul O'Leary @paulaber.bsky.social · 11d

It does look good and I hope to see it too.

Paul O'Leary @paulaber.bsky.social · 13d

#IrelandWales

NationCymru @nation.cymru · 13d

A new exhibition of works from Anglesey-born painter Iwan Gwyn Parry will showcase a personal and emotional take on the Irish Sea

From source to sea: Iwan Gwyn Parry exhibition charts 'pre-occupation' with the Irish Sea

A new exhibition of works from painter Iwan Gwyn Parry will showcase a personal and emotional take on north Wales’ connection to the Irish Sea. Origin / From Source to Sea, an exhibition of a new body...

wp.me

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NationCymru @nation.cymru · 13d

Aled Eirug’s biography of Dafydd Elis-Thomas tackles one of modern Welsh politics’ most complex figures, tracing his journey with and beyond Plaid Cymru, his rare talents, charm, and unique capacity to frustrate ✍️ Desmond Clifford

Book review: Dafydd Elis-Thomas: Nation Builder by Aled Eirug

Desmond Clifford If Plaid Cymru is in government after next year’s election, Dafydd Elis-Thomas will be among those to whom the party owes a debt of gratitude. Plaid was formed a hundred years ago and...

wp.me

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Victorian Turkish Baths @victurk.bsky.social · Apr 12

#onthisday, 12 April 1866, Merthyr #TurkishBaths Committee opened Turkish baths & (upstairs) warm baths in a new building in Lower High St, #MerthyrTydfil, Wales (www.victorianturkishbath.org/_6DIRECTORY/...) Dressing & cooling-rooms, 2 hot rooms (130° & 160°), & plunge pool. Closed c.1910 🗃️ #C19th

Newspaper advertisement in the Merthyr Telegraph and in the Merthyr Express (2 Jun 1866) a few weeks after the baths opened. This suggests that after the "Great success of the Turkish baths at Merthyr" the price of the morning sessions would be reduced from 2/- to 1/6 and a booklet of 12 tickets would be reduced from 20/- to 15/-. Or, of course, it was more likely to mean that the initial prices were too high.

Advertisement in Welsh for the baths in Y Gwladgarwr (29 Jul 1881).

Photograph of the exterior of the baths with the star and crescent, and several advertising slogans, painted on the walls. The front of the building housed the manager and his wife. Behind, on the ground floor were the Turkish baths, while upstairs were the warm baths.

Advertisement from the Express Almanac and Year Book for Merthyr Tydfil, 1897 soon after the baths were taken over by William Pool. Prices are given, and the baths are recommended for sufferers from rheumatism, colds, and sciatica, &c. The ad includes two sketches: a bather "Before the bath" and the same bather "After the bath". The first sketch shows a man with a bandaged head sitting on a chair with his bandaged left leg on a support. After the bath he is shown nattily dressed and dancing a jig, with a big smile on his face. William Pool was not the only baths proprietor to use 'before and after' sketches to show the benefits of the Turkish bath.

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Catherine Duigan @cduigan.bsky.social · Aug 16

Edrych, Féach, Look - "Dramatic and emotional" is @irishtimes.com perspective on #Eisteddfod #Steddfod2025 #Wrexham #Wrecsam #Cymru #Cymraeg #Wales #Ireland #language #gaeilge #Irish #heritage #culture
@eisteddfod.cymru

www.irishtimes.com/world/uk/202...

Occasion of Welsh language cultural festival ‘dramatic and emotional’

To get a sense of the scale of this event, imagine a Gaeltacht concoction of Aosdána, Electric Picnic and the National Ploughing Championships

www.irishtimes.com

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Angela Graham @angelagraham.bsky.social · Jun 4

CULTURE & DEMOCRACY PRESS will publish a volume of poetry to commemorate the life and works of IOLO MORGANWG in 2026, the 200th anniversary of his death.
Send submissions to Phil Cope, c&d editor [email protected] by 1 September 2025. All selected poets will receive 3 copies of the book.

Portrait of Iolo Morgannwg in The Bear Hotel, Crickhowell

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Richard Martin @mimosacymru.bsky.social · Aug 11

Cracking piece on the decline and near-fall of Welsh universities and their centrality to the people, places, and ‘project’ of Wales.
unherd.com/2025/08/wels...

Welsh universities are ailing

unherd.com

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Paul O'Leary @paulaber.bsky.social · Aug 9

#Chartism

Gwent Archives @gwentarchives.bsky.social · Aug 9

UPCOMING EVENTS at Gwent Archives! To book a place on any of our events, email [email protected].

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Dr Naomi Palmer @naomipalmer.bsky.social · Jul 29

There was another Eisteddfod 'y Gadair Ddu' (Black Chair); Wrexham Eisteddfod 1876 as Taliesin o Eifion (Thomas Jones) won the Chair. He died on June 1st 1876 and the chair was covered with a black veil during the chairing ceremony. The same procedure was followed at the Birkenhead Eisteddfod 1917.

Wrexham Eisteddfod 1876 Chair. Image by Denbighshire Museum Collection.

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Rob Phillips @balwen76.bsky.social · Jul 29

lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk/2025/07/28/n...

National Library of Wales Buys 'Lost' Lloyd George Diary - Found by Society Secretary - Cymdeithas Lloyd George

David Lloyd George was the Prime Minister who ‘Won the War,’ started the Welfare State and championed radical policies that are the bedrock of Liberalism and our society. Yet, there is another aspect ...

lloydgeorgesociety.org.uk

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Newyddion S4C @newyddion.s4c.cymru · Jul 26

Cafodd Protest Llinell Goch Gaza i wrthwynebu ymosodiadau Israel ar Balesteiniaid ei chynnal yn Aberystwyth ddydd Sadwrn, gyda gorymdaith drwy'r dref

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Paul O'Leary @paulaber.bsky.social · Jul 22

At a CofE funeral I attended today the hymn was 'All things bright and beautiful', including the stanza:

'The rich man in his castle,
The poor man at his gate,
God made them high and lowly
And ordered their estate.'

Is this normal for the CofE these days?

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Paul O'Leary @paulaber.bsky.social · Jul 18

#Chartism #Newport1839

Gwent Archives @gwentarchives.bsky.social · Jul 18

Before the establishment of hospitals, many people would be admitted to the local workhouse infirmary for medical care. The Newport Workhouse admission and discharge register shows a number of Chartists admitted for gunshot wounds following the uprising at the Westgate in 1839.

Ref: CSWBGN/I/201

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University of Wales Press @uniwalespress.bsky.social · Jul 15

Diolch to everyone who joined us in celebrating the launch of ‘Memory and Nation: Writing the History of Wales’ last Friday, a volume of essays published in honour of Professor Huw Pryce!

The book is now available in your local bookshop! For more information, visit:
📚 uwp.co.uk/book/memory-...

An image of Professor Huw Pryce holding a copy of the festschrift published in honour of him, 'Memory and Nation: Writing the History of Wales'.

Cover of 'Memory and Nation: Writing the History of Wales' edited by Rebecca Thomas, Sadie Jarrett and Katharine K. Olson. The cover includes an image of Cricieth castle.

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Claire Connolly @claireconnolly.bsky.social · Jul 7

Applications are invited for the position of Post-Doctoral Researcher with expertise in digital and spatial humanities (11 months, whole-time) - to work with me and @insightcentre.bsky.social on a project called 'Data Travels: Analysing the Ladies of Llangollen'.

ore.ucc.ie (Job ID: 088233)

University College Cork Vacancies

ore.ucc.ie

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NationCymru @nation.cymru · Jul 4

Wales and Ireland will commit to a new agreement today in a bid to deepen co-operation between the two nations over the next five years

Wales and Ireland commit to new agreement

Wales and Ireland will commit to a new agreement today in a bid to deepen co-operation between the two nations over the next five years. Tánaiste Simon Harris TD and First Minister of Wales Eluned Mor...

nation.cymru

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Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru @gwasgprifcymru.bsky.social · Jul 4

*Mynediad Agored*

Rydym yn falch o gyhoeddi bod cyfrol arloesol Simon Brooks, 'Hanes Cymry: Lleiafrifoedd Ethnig a’r Gwareiddiad Cymraeg', bellach ar gael i'w darllen am ddim ar ein gwefan:

📚 doi.org/10.16922/han...

Mae dal modd prynu copi caled hefyd yn eich siop lyfrau leol!

Clawr 'Hanes Cymry: Lleiafrifoedd Ethnig a'r Gwareiddiad Cymraeg' gan Simon Brooks.

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University of Wales Press @uniwalespress.bsky.social · Jun 27

'Gentility in Early Modern Wales' is an Open Access book and can be read here for free: www.uwp.co.uk/app/uploads/...

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