At Awen we love to celebrate the heritage of our local areas and communities.
‘Heritage’ means things we value that we have inherited from the past, which we want to preserve for the future. From physical items like buildings, photos and artworks, to intangible things like local customs and stories.
Our heritage team works to preserve local heritage and to share history in new ways, inside our Awen venues or out in our communities. And we’re very excited to be developing new ways of recording and sharing heritage this year, as part of our ‘Ogwr Unlocked’ project.
Ogwr Unlocked
The ‘Ogwr Unlocked’ project has been developed to preserve and celebrate the heritage of Bridgend County Borough. The reference to the old borough of ‘Ogwr’ is to distinguish the county from the town of Bridgend, and to emphasise the links with Welsh language.
We’re hoping to ‘unlock Ogwr’ by discovering and sharing more of the county’s heritage, developing our resources and by organising more history activities.
The biggest support throughout the project will be our local communities. We work with our Awen heritage volunteers, local history societies and groups as part of our Ogwr Heritage Network, and we’re inviting local people to contribute to the project too.
The Ogwr Unlocked project is made possible thanks to funding from Welsh Government.
Image: P002702 Ogmore castle print 1870 – Copyright: Awen Cultural Trust
Ogwr Unlocked Exhibition
We are creating a special exhibition to celebrate local heritage, which will travel across Bridgend County Borough later this summer.
The theme of the exhibition is ‘Growing up in Ogwr’, with images and stories of children growing up in our local areas throughout the ages.
We would love to feature your stories and images in our exhibition! You don’t have to donate items: our staff are trained to record your stories, and can scan photos and documents (if you’re happy for us to do so).
If you have historic items that you’d like to share with us, please contact us on history@awen-wales.com.
Image: Children on a ride in Coney Island, Porthcawl (1940s) – Copyright: Chris Lloyd, Peoples Collection Wales
Ogwr History Month
Throughout September we will be celebrating Ogwr History Month across Bridgend County Borough, organised in partnership with the Ogwr Heritage Network. This will be the third edition of the History Month, which this year is part of our Ogwr Unlocked project, funded by Welsh Government.
The History Month will include over 35 history talks, walks, displays, films, performances and activities. Many of these events will focus on Welsh history, including some Welsh language events and some children’s activities.
Many of the Ogwr History Month events are free to attend – our full programme will be announced in June!
Image: Ogwr History Month events – Copyright: Awen Cultural Trust
LGBTQ+ Timeline – Bridgend Edition
We are proud to host the Bridgend County edition of the LGBTQ timeline, as part of the development of a LGBTQ timeline for the 22 counties across Wales.
This timeline provides a means by which local people, allies and events can be celebrated. A baseline of highlighted moments from history was constructed by historian Norena Shopland.
Have you got a submission for the timeline? Contact us on history@awen-wales.com