Today the High Court awarded victory to Sarika Singh, a Sikh schoolgirl, who was excluded from school for wearing a religious bangle.
The human rights group Liberty, representing 14-year-old Sarika Singh, successfully argued that Aberdare Girls’ School breached race relations and equality laws by excluding her since November 2007 for wearing the kara (a plain single bangle widely accepted as a central tenet of the Sikh race and religion).
Sarika Singh, of mixed Welsh/Punjabi origin, has been raised in the Sikh faith and was the only Sikh at the Aberdare Girls’ School. The school’s uniform policy prohibits the wearing of any jewellery other than a wrist watch and plain ear studs. When the school noticed that Singh was wearing the kara, she was isolated for two months, including during meals and physical education classes despite her offer to remove or cover the Kara during exercise, before being excluded entirely in November 2007.
Sculpted in Indian Cedar and measuring 9′ tall, the sculpture forms part of the Cwmaman Sculpture Trail and is located near St Joseph’s Church, Cwmaman.
It is a pleasure to be able to publish photos of local sculptures. The Cwmaman Sculpture Trail offers a very pleasant walk in a beautiful nook of the Valley reclaimed from former industrial land.
Remember those Summer Outings when the whole village went by train or bus to Barry Island, Porthcawl, or Aberavon for the day ?
Perhaps you are too young to remember those bygone days when whole villages from the Valleys disappeared for the day.
Nowadays we are addicted to the package-holiday where we individually pick and choose our little stretch in the sun oblivious to what our neighbours will be doing.
Turn the clocks back thirty or so years to 1977 and it was a whole different universe… Here are two excerpts from the Aberdare Leader newspaper
Colliery Outing – front page of Aberdare Leader – 10th March 1977 – Sunday, July 3, is this year’s date for Penrikyber Colliery’s annual outing. It will be to Porthcawl this year.
About 1.800 people are expected to go on the trip, and, already, 35 buses have been provisionally booked.
Mr Des Lewis, secretary of the outing fund committee, said that 38 buses went last year.
He said he hoped the by naming the date well in advance they would avoid clashes with trips being run by other organisations locally.
And there was more …
Probably the Largest Day Trip in Wales – Aberdare Leader, page 2, 4th August 1977 – The Annual exodus of Penywaun Club Members and their families needed a convey of 42 buses playing follow-my-leader to Aberavon!
Other groups in the community organised summer outings too : Aberdare Chamber of Trade organised a special mystery summer outing during the same year 1977, and local Churches and Chapels organised their own outings.
The most popular photos on Aberdare Blog for the past week have been those of Tabernacle Chapel, Aberystwyth.
Sadly the Chapel was destroyed in a great fire and subsequently demolished last Saturday.
This is such a waste. But perhaps we can draw a useful lesson from Aberystwyth by looking at our own communities and considering the empty buildings on our own doorstep!
We draw your attention today to a magnificent building several times larger than Tabernacle Chapel, Aberystwyth… the old school on the outskirts of Aberdare.
The Mumbo Jumbo Cult has swept through the Welsh political landscape claiming many other Assembly Member casualties.
Symptoms of Cult Membership include excessive use of brand names and imagery in a not-very-subtle attempt to recruit more people to the Mumbo Jumbo ’cause’.
Huw Lewis History
On July 18th 2007, Huw Lewis was sacked as Deputy Minister for Transport and the Economy. Two months later he published his Winning for Wales pamphlet on the future of the Labour Party in Wales.
Huw Lewis forewarned that in 2011, the Welsh Labour Party will face its biggest challenge.
He claimed in Winning for Wales (pg. 11) “the only way to successfully combat these challenges is to create a self-sufficient genuinely Welsh Labour Party which can properly shape this next exciting phase of devolution.“
Today, eleven months later, Huw Lewis joins the Mumbo Jumbo Cult performing a public volte-face and completely ignoring his own advice. It’s goodbye to those ideas of a “self-sufficient” and a “genuinely Welsh Labour Party”…
Last Friday, July 4th 2008 a fire at the Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth caused extensive damage to all four floors. The future of the Chapel is now uncertain.
The Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth, was built in 1879, and closed in 2002.
According to the Daily Post newspaper : ”
Four crews were called to the Tabernacle Chapel on Mill Street, Aberystwyth on Friday at 11.39pm.
Mid and West Wales fire and rescue service say the cause is unknown and is being investigated.
A spokesman said eight people were evacuated as a precaution.
Mill Street, Powell Street and Bridge Street were temporarily closed.
All four storeys were damaged in the Victorian chapel which had been disused for more than five years.”
Click here for full set of photos of Tabernacle Chapel.
Today the High Court awarded victory to Sarika Singh, a Sikh schoolgirl, who was excluded from school for wearing a religious bangle.
We have uploaded many more photos of Elim Chapel, Cwmdare to the Gallery.
We’ve added a whole bunch of photos of St Luke’s Church, Cwmdare.
An Icarean sculpture seems like a good idea!
Remember those Summer Outings when the whole village went by train or bus to Barry Island, Porthcawl, or Aberavon for the day ?
Our plea for help researching the large mural in Merthyr town centre was answered…
It is with considerable sadness we announce that Huw Lewis AM has joined the Mumbo Jumbo Cult.
Another historic Welsh Chapel bites the dust…
