Committee Officers 2023-24.
Carolyn Jones
Carolyn worked as a Literacy teacher/advisor for pupils with Specific Learning Difficulties in Monmouthshire. Since retiring, she has focused on her interests of walking and local history. She has developed the website to make the work of Forum members easily accessible to the public.
Martyn Morgan Jones
Martyn became involved with the Forum thanks to his late father, Peter Morgan Jones. His infectious enthusiasm for all aspects of history, especially regarding the area in which he lived rubbed off on him. Plus, as a Tredegar boy, with a great affection for the Valleys he wanted to maintain links with his hometown. He has a passion for the wonderful and significant industrial history and archaeology of the Blaenau Gwent area.
Rodger Burchell
Rodger was brought up in Ebbw Vale and spent much of his life working at the Ebbw Vale steel works. He has worked as a lecturer in Archaeological fieldwork and Practice, spent 5 years as a geophysical specialist for SiteScan Archaeological, as a field archaeologist for Glamorgan Gwent Archaeological Trust, (GGAT), Church & Site Archaeology and CADW among others.
He is an active member of several history and archaeology societies and is a practitioner of the ‘Chartered Institute for Archaeology’. His studies included Welsh History and its sources, manuscripts, maps, etc, Archaeology, Industrial Archaeology, Local History, Landscape History and Archaeology. His MA (Wales) focussed on the history of Milling in Gwent and he has written several ‘historic’ walks for the surrounding area.
Janet Karn
Janet worked as a librarian for Tredegar library and Local Studies Librarian for Blaenau Gwent. Since leaving Blaenau Gwent she has been employed by Monmouthshire County Council. Janet is particularly interested in genealogical research and has her own business where she may be hired to research family history.
janetsancestryresearch.com
Our Current Project
Places of Worship in Tredegar and the Upper Sirhowy Area
Ken Davies, (b.1952) passed away suddenly in 2022 leaving behind Meryl, Huw and family. Ken was a keen photographer and avid local historian, who had amassed a large collection of historic photographs of the Tredegar and upper Sirhowy area.
We, with his help, were working on a publication recording places of worship in the upper Sirhowy area based on his photographic archive. The publication of his photographic, historic record of such places will be published in the near future by the ‘Forum’ as a tribute to Ken, where, in the introduction, more of his contribution to the locality will be found.
Extracts taken from BGHF Journal, issue 26 – Editor Rodger Burchell
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Friday 28th March
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Saturday 12th October