Welfare Hall
Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen,
SA18
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Located in Gwaun-Cae-Gurwen, near Ammanford, Carmarthenshire.. This was a massive white-painted Miner’s Welfare Hall which was built in 1931, opening in 1932. Apart from containing a cinema / variety hall the building also boasted a reading room and a lecture theatre. The proscenium was 32ft wide, the stage 30ft deep and there were seven dressing rooms. It was equipped with a British Thomson-Houston(BTH) sound system. There was a dance hall attached. It was still open in 1969, but had closed by 1980.
Contributed by
Editha Pearce
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Recent comments (view all 4 comments)
The cinema opened as the “New Cinema” under the propreitorship of Gwaun Cae Gurwen with a British Thomson Howell sound system and 750 seats. By 1951 its name had changed to “Workmans Hall” under the same ownership and now held 642 seats at 7d to 1/9d. The proscenium was 20feet wide and the stage was 14 feet deep. There were two dressing rooms to cater for when variety was held. Shows were once nightly with 2 on saturdays. I can find no record of it ever going under the name given to it by Editha Pearce.
Once again Capelmawr is being abusive. I grew up in the area during the late 1940s – early 1950s. My family often attended concerts, film shows and miner’s welfare association events at the hall.My father was a lodge official. In those times it was always know to locals as the “Waun Welfare Hall”
When the hall— and its gardens — opened for business on October 1st 1932 it had cost £14,888, and was known as GWAUN-CAE-GURWEN, WELFARE HALL. (See photograph)
It’s listed as the Welfare Hall in the 1948 Kine Year Book.