The presentation aims to give a taste of some of the memories that are part of the collection of William John Roberts (1906-1982). This collection can be seen in the People’s Collection Wales (https://www.peoplescollection.wales/users/54226), and is the fruit of the labor of a man who worked in the Penrhyn Quarry, Bethesda, between 1920 and about 1953.
His contemporaries in Bethesda would have known him as “William John, Pant,” as he was raised in that area of the town. The purpose of the presentation is to give an idea of the wide range of social information that can be seen in the collection. In addition to discussing work in one of the largest slate quarries in the world at that time, the memories refer to - for example - the arrival of the first films to the cinema in Bethesda, claiming that their social influence was more astonishing than the influence of the Religious Revival some twenty years earlier! There are also references to the friendship of the poet, R. Williams Parry, with the quarrymen, and the leisure habits of the poet and his crew, who would enjoy the occasional pint of beer at the Douglas Hotel.