During the spring of 2023, during my final year of undergraduate studies at Cardiff university studying ancient history and history, I undertook a placement with the heritage team at the WCIA, centred around film clip production. I was tasked with creating a short informative video on the story of the Welsh Churches Peace Appeal in 1925. This project has followed similar lines to the Welsh Women’s Peace Appeal in 1923, and has hoped to draw similar attention to the church campaign.
As a history student, archives are like heaven! It has been the most amazing experience to be given a free reign to explore the archives within the Temple of Peace. It has been challenging working on a subject that I wasn’t familiar with, and often dealing with some dry archival material. However, it has been a fascinating project and I feel very privileged and grateful to help uncover the ‘hidden histories’ of Wales. Welsh history can often be overlooked, and I hope the work within the Temple of Peace Archives can help to demonstrate the large part that Wales played in the international arena in the early twentieth century.
The aim of the video has been to demonstrate how the Welsh Women’s peace campaign inspired a further campaign by the Welsh churches. However, it has also been a project designed to explore the history of Welsh churches and the relations between the religious bodies, post disestablishment (March 1920).
Interviewing Gethin Rhys from Cytun (Churches together in Wales) was extremely valuable for this and it was amazing to witness how this history was of interest and importance to the churches of today.
I am extremely grateful for all the team within the WCIA for giving me the opportunity to participate in this placement. I have thoroughly enjoyed the experience and loved learning about the ‘hidden histories’ of Wales’ peace heritage.
Abby’s completed short film:
