On 12thMarch, we were entertained with an absorbing talk by Rhiannon Phillips, from the Gwent Archives.

She talked about some of the records they hold for the period around WW1. They hold a huge amount of information from the local schools of that time.

Headmasters were charged with keeping a log book which they had to write in every week. She used excerpts from log books for local schools to show what we could find out: Belgian Refugees in Blackwood; schools starting to grow vegetables because of the food shortage; teachers joining up; children bringing flags in at the armistice so the school marched through the local streets singing patriotic songs.

The information held there gives an intriguing insight into that period.