Using modern production techniques, the 14-18 NOW arts project have collaborated with the Imperial War Museums (IWM), BBC and Peter Jackson, to restore and colourise previously unseen footage from IWM’s extensive archive.

The Welsh Government has supported the project through its Cymru’n Cofio Wales Remembers 1914-1918 programme of commemoration for the centenary of the First World War with a £25,000 grant. This helped ensure that supporting materials for the film would also be available in Welsh.

Aberdare Community School tested the learning resources in their History lessons, enabling 14-18 NOW to adjust and finalise them before they were circulated to all schools across Wales.

Kirsty Williams today joined pupils in Aberdare Community School to find out more about their involvement in the project and to see the new film.

Speaking at the launch today, she said:

“I have  been  encouraged  by  the  way  in  which  people  have  engaged  with  the  First World War commemorations  and particularly the  number  of  projects  that  have  been  undertaken by young people across Wales.

“I’m pleased we were able to support the 14-18 NOW project to develop resources which accompany this documentary and engage schools. It’s so important we continue to recognise the sacrifice made by those young men a hundred years ago.”

They Shall Not Grow Old will be screened in cinemas and schools across the UK, before being broadcast this Sunday 11th November at 9.30pm on BBC2.

The Nurture, Equip, Thrive scheme is a new project which will help more than 2,000 under-employed people return to full employment and help people with work-limiting health conditions or disabilities to stay in work, return from sick leave or take on career development opportunities.

Led by Torfaen Council, the scheme, which is backed by £5.8 million of EU funding, will offer mentoring, coaching, careers advice, skills development and childcare and transport to help people into sustainable employment.

The South Wales Valleys will also benefit from an extra £8.8 million of EU funding to extend 2 existing projects – Working Skills for Adults and Bridges into Work II, led by Torfaen Council in partnership with Blaenau Gwent, Bridgend, Caerphilly and Merthyr Tydfil councils.

Working Skills for Adults will receive an extra £3.2 million to help employees gain new skills to improve their job security and career prospects. The scheme has already supported more than 2,000 people in the area to enhance their careers.

The Bridges into Work II project will be supported by an additional £5.6 million of EU funding to deliver training and mentoring to improve the skills and employability of long-term unemployed people. The funding will help around 4,880 people over the next 4 years.

Professor Drakeford said:

“It is vital we continue to invest in the areas which need it most, removing barriers to work, reducing in-work poverty and helping people move towards a brighter and more prosperous future.

“EU funds have already helped thousands of people throughout the South Wales Valleys improve their chances of getting a job. This extra investment will help build on this success.”

Councillor Anthony Hunt, leader of Torfaen Council added:

“Torfaen Council is delighted to be leading the Nurture, Equip, Thrive project, helping residents of the South Wales Valleys find work that meets their needs, particularly people with work-limiting health conditions and disabilities.

“We will work with local employers to improve diversity and equality in the workplace and make changes to improve the health and wellbeing of all staff.”

This builds on the work of the Ministerial Taskforce for the South Wales Valleys and the priorities highlighted in the Our Valleys, Our Future delivery plan, including a commitment to close the employment gap between the South Wales Valleys and the rest of Wales.

Termination of Pregnancy is governed by the Abortion Act 1967. At present, Termination of Pregnancy is available to anyone ordinarily resident in Wales, or those that require emergency treatment while in Wales. It can only be carried out in an NHS hospital or a licensed clinic. 

In Northern Ireland (NI), the 1967 Act does not apply and Termination of Pregnancy is only permissible in very limited circumstances, for example if a woman’s life is at risk or there is a permanent or serious risk to her physical or mental health.  Rape, familial sexual abuse (incest) and fetal abnormality are not circumstances in which termination can be performed legally in Northern Ireland.

Vaughan Gething said: 

“Our view has always been a woman from Northern Ireland, in Wales, should be able to access Termination of Pregnancy on the same basis as women in Wales.

“We anticipate the number of women from Northern Ireland accessing these services to be low and health boards have assured us they are able to absorb this provision within existing resources. 

“I have asked my officials to conduct a review of the position after six months.”

To ensure the efficient delivery of this provision to Northern Ireland women and to ensure equitable service is provided to women in Wales, guidance on accessing termination of pregnancy provision in Wales will be published on the NHS Direct website.

The Minister began his visit to the county with a visit to Milford Haven Leisure Centre to see how the social enterprise café is helping people with learning disabilities into work, by providing employment opportunities. The project received £100,000 funding from the Welsh Government’s integrated care fund (ICF). 

The Minister also heard about several other projects the Welsh Government is supporting via the ICF in Pembrokeshire, including:

• Community Connectors – A 3rd sector community & citizen centred approach to help people achieve and sustain a good quality of life within a supportive community setting. This project received £30,000 ICF funding
• Pembrokeshire Time Bank  – a pilot project to examine the potential for community time banking as a preventative service that encourages participants to build (or rebuild) their community ties. This project receives £11,000 ICF funding for 2018/19
• Bus Buddies Project – which provides volunteers to help people who need extra support to use public and community transport services. This project has received £40,000 ICF funding.

The Minister then visited the Care At Home Team, based at South Pembrokeshire Hospital. Operational since January 2017, the team has cared for over 300 patients in the local community, helping them to maintain their independence and remain at home. The project has received £200,000 funding from the ICF.

The Welsh Government has allocated nearly £6.6 million in ICF revenue to the West Wales Regional Partnership Board in 2018-19 to support a range of innovative integrated care services.  Overall £50 million has been provided across Wales. 

Speaking following the visit, Huw Irranca-Davies said:

“It was great to visit Pembrokeshire to see for myself the real, positive difference Welsh Government funding is making to so many people’s lives across the county. These are the types of seamless services – which bring together health, social services and the social value sector – that A Healthier Wales – our long term plan for Health and Social Care aspires to.

“From the inspirational individuals I met at café in Milford Haven, who are doing outstanding work to help people with learning disabilities gain experience to allow them to make the conversion to paid work, to the Care At Home Team, which is providing support to people to maintain their independence and remain at home, it’s great to see so many dedicated staff making a real difference to the lives of so many people in our communities.”

The artillery piece — a 105mm light field howitzer — stands on Twyn y Garth with sweeping views over the Wye valley and the village of Erwood in Powys.

It is said that a local woman, Nessa Williams-Vaughan (later Mrs Lionel Trafford) obtained the gun from the War Office to serve as a memorial for her brother, Christopher, and other local men who had died in the First World War. She was killed in a car accident — reputedly Herefordshire’s first fatal one — before the gun could be delivered in 1920. Yet, her wishes were carried out by the communities of Erwood and Llandeilo Graban, who dragged the howitzer up the slopes of Twyn y Garth and fixed it in place.

After decades of exposure to the elements, the gun had deteriorated badly by 1999. However, Painscastle Community Council restored it as a millennium project with the assistance of 6th Battalion Royal Electrical and Mechanical Engineers and local craftsmen. It has now been listed as a rare survival of the thousands of enemy field guns that were once scattered across the United Kingdom in the aftermath of what many hoped would be the ‘war to end all wars’.

Before the First World War centenary observances began in 2014, CADW had listed almost 240 war memorials across Wales ranging from horse watering troughs to hospital buildings. Many more are in or around listed civic buildings or places of worship. Yet some noteworthy memorials, like the Garth Gun, had escaped designation.

Another recently listed monument is in the village of Nantlle, on the western flanks of Snowdonia. It is a carved slab of deep purple slate, which was quarried, worked and erected in 1922. The Welsh inscription remembers 14 slate workers from the nearby Penyrorsedd quarry. Originally placed in the quarry, the memorial was later moved to its present location in front of the village chapel.

The names of the fallen are surrounded by intricately carved scenes of the working life that the men would have known at the quarry. Two workers watch slate being hauled up the quarry face to a workshop for processing. Finished slates descend on an inclined railway to be carted away. Across the bottom of the memorial, however, is a panorama portraying infantry moving forward into a blasted battlefield of trenches and artillery emplacements, reminding the viewer of the men’s sacrifice.
Now this memorial is not only a poignant reminder of the cataclysmic impact of the First World War, but also of a once thriving industry in the mountains of north Wales.

As part of Cymru’n Cofio Wales Remembers 1914-1918, the centenary programme of commemoration of the First World War led by the Welsh Government, CADW launched the Grants for War Memorials in Wales scheme. Developed in partnership with the War Memorials Trust, the scheme has provided funding for the repair and conservation of memorials in almost 50 communities across Wales. Applications will continue to be accepted until March 2019.