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THE WESTERN MAIL & SOUTH WALES NEWS,  April 26th, 1933  

War on Unemployment (ii)

 Relieving the Sadness of Welsh Homes

 Workshops, Classes and Social Clubs

By GARETH JONES      

There is no need for any unemployed man to be with out learning if he wants it.  Classes are springing up where he can learn with out expense Welsh literature or philosophy, where he can discuss economics or international affairs, or where he can sing or listen to music.

A typical centre for learning is the Merthyr Settlement.  The Settlement has co-operated with the local branch of the Workers Educational Association, which is, however, quite autonomous.  Classes are held in the Settlement which are attended by a number varying from fifteen to fifty.  The Settlement itself is directly responsible only for the classes, which are not grant-earning.  These have been most successful.

Classes in the English language, in Welsh, French, and Esperanto are taken by voluntary teachers of high standing.  Thus some of the schoolmasters of Merthyr are doing their fair share in the work.  An International Affairs Club has been formed which has discussed such problems as the War Debts and Manchuria.

There is more however than education of the mind.  There is also education of the body.  In the Settlement itself there are gardens covering one and three-quarter acre which have been cultivated by the unemployed.  Vegetables, flowers, and fruits have, been planted and in the six months since the men began the progress of the gardens have been remarkable.  They have erected a poultry house which is strongly and skilfully built and where 100 Rhode Island Red incubated chicks are being reared.

START OF THE SCHEME

This Garden Scheme arose out of a month’s lectures given at the Settlement by the lecturers of the Glamorgan County Agricultural Committee on horticulture, poultry, and pig rearing.  Sixteen unemployed men who attended the lectures undertook to cultivate the grounds.  The Craft Centre which had recently been established at the Settlement has helped the Garden Scheme in every way.

The unemployed Men’s Clubs at Cefn and at Troedyrhiw are examples of what energetic and clever unemployed men can do.  In these clubs the members make and repair articles for their families.  In Cefn, for example, 500 pairs of boots have been repaired since the club begin in Februay of last year.  In Troedyrhiw the unemployed men made a fine lecture room and a craft centre for themselves out of an old building.  Much is due to the kindness of the church at Cefn and of private people in lending premises and tools.

The Boys’ Club and the Girls’ Club have also contributed much to the lives of the young people.

ALLOTMENTS

Another weapon in the war against unemployment is the Society of Friends’ Allotment Scheme.  The object of the scheme is to enable unemployed, partially employed, or seriously impoverished men and women to obtain and cultivate their allotments and gardens, thus helping them to provide the best and most wholesome foodstuffs for their homes, occupation for the body, interest for mind, and to prove that they are willing to do good service for the community.”

The Society of Friends helps men to obtain land, or to get rents reduced where these are excessive, and to provide men with the material for fencing on the condition that the unemployed do the work.  It helps to provide cheaply seed potatoes, fertilisers, lime, tools, and vegetable seeds for those who otherwise would have found it impossible to plant their garden.  Unemployed men who feel they could benefit from this scheme are advised to apply the local allotment society, or to the National Allotment. Society, 40, Broadway, Westminster.

It is difficult to mention in a brief account all the plans which are being adopted to tackle the unemployment problem.

A BOON TO DOWLAlS

The Blue Pilgrims are doing excellent work.  John Dennithorn’s Club, overtook the tragically silent Dowlais Works in doing a great deal to relieve the sadness of the unemployed man’s existence.

The activities of the Barry Churches’ Unemployment Committee deserves mention for two reasons: firstly, they show what can be done in a remarkably short time, for a beginning was only made in the work towards the end of January this year and, secondly, because they show Churches of all denominations co-operating in a noble aim.  On the committee Roman Catholic and Baptist, Anglicans and Methodists, all sects and all churches, are fighting together in the war against unemployment.  The Barry Churches have shown that Christianity has a practical way of carrying out its purposes.  Although the committee has only existed three months it has already opened a workshop where the men are busy making chicken coops, chairs, cupboards and dressers, and repairing boots.  The members of the workshop club pay twopence a week.  There are 38 of them.  Between 50 and 60 pairs of boots have been repaired and the costs are low.

THE G.W.R.’S CO.OPERATION

When the boots needing repair were examined it was found that not one had been repaired by a tradesman.  All had been repaired from time to time by the men themselves out of inferior material, for the men could not afford to take the shoes to a shoemaker.

The spacious building where the men now work, and which is supplied with tools and benches, has been granted to the committee at a nominal rent by the Great Western Railway. 

The women’s committee at Barry has distributed 700 garments to 100 families in the short time the movement has existed.  A sport, club and a social club are being developed.  The brotherhood on Tuesdays has been most successful.  The co-operation of the British Legion, of the Y.M.C.A., and the Toc H has been of great value.

Only the fringe of the problem, however, has been touched.  This makes the opportunity still greater for all to help.  In increasing the work we can learn much from Germany, where last year labour schemes were set on foot for 250,000 unemployed young men.

What is being done in Germany will be dealt with tomorrow.