Craig-cefn-parc: Men at Work and Birthday Girl

There ARE fairies at the bottom of the garden – and men doing the laundry! Joe Ivor Davies captures Craig-cefn-parc on film.

This wonderful compilation shot by Joe Ivor Davies (1906-92), a miner and opera-lover, opens with 3 men sitting on a wall in the village of Craig-cefn-parc, near Swansea - a 'Last of the Summer Wine' type scene – and closes with young people doing likewise. In between, men are seen at work - laying telephone lines, brick-laying, painting a house, working on the roads and bringing home laundry on the bus. And there really ARE fairies to be seen at the bottom of one garden!

Joe Ivor Davies' house – which he lived in all his life - overlooked the village's attractive rural surroundings and a road along which neighbours and friends would regularly pass. Many were caught on Joe's cine camera – the only one in the village – as he would often film through an open window.