This autumn the BBC have been running a somewhat erratic series (?4 ?5) of
short (15 minute) broadcasts relating to the slate industry of North Wales.
I think the series just re-broadcast last week is a repeat of the
September/October ones despite the titles being slightly different...
as far as I know they're still accessible
e.g. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/slatestories/pip/8tauk/
1/4 Quarrymen
Sunday 18 September 2005 14:45-15:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Sian visits the old quarrying communities of Blaenau Ffestiniog and
Bethesda. Just as the South Wales Valleys were built on coal, these
communities were built on slate. Sian meets the quarrymen, now retired, who
were working up to the 1960s in conditions little different from those their
Victorian forebears had to endure. Light was provided by a candle stuck in a
piece of clay and silicosis from slate dust was a constant hazard of the
job. However, there were positive aspects to life in the quarries: we
discover the culture of the caban, the quarrymen's canteen, where discussion
and debate were raised to an art form.
Artists
Sunday 25 September 2005 14:45-15:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Above the quarrying communities of North Wales, slate waste spills across
the mountainsides in a torrent of grey. But artists have found inspiration
both in this landscape and in the communities which have shaped it,
revealing subtle varieties of colour and sculpting the rock into new forms.
Sian also discovers the musical possibilities of slate.
3/4 A Head for Heights
Sunday 2 October 2005 14:45-15:00 (Radio 4 FM)
Colin Lee has been a slate roofer in North Wales for nearly 40 years. He
still takes great pride in his work and maintains that attention to detail
and a good head for heights are essential requirements for the job. Those
skills are also essential for the climbers who have pioneered challenging
new routes in the disused slate quarries nearby, christening them with
extraordinary names like Mentil Lentils, Comes the Dervish and Ring of
Bright Scum.
A Living Industry
Sunday 9 October 2005 14:45-15:00 (Radio 4 FM)
In the face of increasing competition from other countries and the
uncertainties of architectural fashion, is the Welsh slate industry in
danger of becoming little more than a museum piece?
Sian meets businessmen, quarrymen and an artist who see slate as a design
icon with a bright future.
regards
John A W Lock
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