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There is no summary of this meeting yet. One is written once the council publishes the minutes. The agenda and papers are below.
The County Archivist reported with great sadness on the recent passing of Wayne John, the former head librarian in Neath Port Talbot. Wayne had been an advisor to and attended the committee for many years prior to his retirement in 2023. The Chair and Members of the Committee then paid tribute to Wayne for his commitment and input to the committee over many years.
In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by both Authorities, no interests were declared.
Resolved that the Minutes of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee meeting held on 13 June 2025 be approved as a correct record.
The County Archivist presented a report which outlined the work of the Joint Archive Service during the period June – August 2025. Use of the Service He reported on the figures relating the use of the service via its various platforms both in person and online. He outlined that problems were unfortunately again currently being experienced with the internet at the Mechanics Institute. He outlined he was working towards a solution with the current providers. Clare Davies offered to assist the County Archivist with resolving the issue. Talks and Seminars He reported that two schools have received sessions during the period since the last meeting including an event at Neath Abbey with Dwr Y Felin School which was attended by over 200 pupils and will hopefully lead to future link ups with the school. He reported that Emma Laycock delivered a talk to seminar group at Cardiff University entitled Women and the Industrial Landscape. He outlined that on 14 July the service hosted the launch of the Royal Institution of South Wales’s annual publication Minerva, the Swansea History Journal, by its editor, Gerald Gabb and we continue to host monthly meetings of the Glamorgan Family History Society and provide a short talk for members. Other engagement and joint working He reported that staff have been helping two local groups with oral history recording projects. One is a group based in Waunarlwydd who are recording recollections of their community; another is the Burton Bont Group based in Pontrhydyfen, who are in the process of collecting memories of the village and of Richard Burton. Both groups have been loaned our digital recording devices and given practical tips on how to use them. He indicated that archive assistant Ffion Kidwell has organised and run an in-house oral history recording project based in Neath to collect local people’s memories. Councillor Jones outlined that the community in his ward had also started recording oral history, which had proved successful and valuable for capturing people’s memories and local history. Preparations For Moving to Y Storfa He outlined that preparations continue at pace with staff now around 75% of the way through the actions identified in readiness for the move. Staff are currently working on packaging our very largest items, including rolled maps which measure up to 5m in length, and a complete shelf-walk to check that every box is barcoded and accurately recorded. The building work in Y Storfa continues and the building is on track to open towards the end of the year. It is anticipated that the Archive Service’s public searchroom will be moved to Y Storfa shortly before the building opens. He outlined that the performance of the new strongrooms will be tested for several weeks after the hand-over of the building to ensure that the environment is stable before they can be filled with records. It is expected that the move of the archive collections will begin in January and last for several weeks. He stated that every effort will be made to ensure that the public have access to the records they need throughout this period. This will include making facsimiles to order, taking advance bookings and bringing over daily consignments of pre-booked records. It should be noted that Neath Antiquarian Society Archives will not be affected by the move in Swansea and normal opening hours will be maintained there. Archive Service Accreditation He reported that having achieved accredited status in 2016, the Archive Service was moved to provisionally accredited status in 2019 over concerns there were at the time about its future. The service is required to reapply for the status annually. An application was submitted to the Accreditation Panel in July, outlining amongst other things the progress made to date with the provision of new premises. The application was successful and the service was provisionally given accredited status for another year. Once the move to Y Storfa has been completed and the performance of the new strongrooms measured over a longer period of time, the service will then begin the process of submitting a full application with a view to moving back to fully accredited status. Archives Online Catalogue Project Update He outlined that progress continues with the provision of a new searchable archive catalogue. The catalogue databases were uploaded in mid-June and work is currently underway to finalise the branding and content for the public interface. It is anticipated that this will be completed by the end of September. He explained that the lack of a dedicated portal is mitigated by the fact that all our catalogue entries continue to be made available on the Archives Hub. When this project is completed and our online catalogue is available to the public, we will continue to publish our catalogues on the Archives Hub in the interests of improved and increased visibility. Staffing Matters He reported that the post of Archivist, vacant since Emma Laycock’s appointment as Assistant County Archivist, has been recently filled. The new archivist, who will be starting on 1 October, is Emily Hewitt from Swansea University’s Richard Burton Archives, who began her career many years ago as a volunteer at West Glamorgan Archive Service. She comes with considerable all-round experience and a specialism in oral history. He outlined that the archive trainee Lily Britton finished her year with us at the end of August and is about to start the Archives Course at Aberystwyth University. Her replacement is Ffion Titcombe, a graduate of Bristol University, who is also from the local area. He outlined the proposals to fund an additional trainee post which is projected to run from January to August 2026. The purpose of this post will be to facilitate the organisation of the strongroom following the move to Y Storfa. It will enable us to help maintain the public service whilst we undertake this essential work and return to full capability as soon as possible after the move. The post will also provide excellent foundational experience to a prospective archivist looking to gain experience before undertaking the postgraduate qualification. West Glamorgan is one of the few remaining archive services in the country to provide a trainee role. Resolved that the use of reserves to fund an additional trainee post for 2026 as detailed above be approved. Professional Meetings and Training He listed the various professional groups, meetings and training undertaken by staff had attended during the quarter. Accessions of Archive Collections He detailed the various archives received by the Service during the quarter.
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