STAFF at Pontypool museum have months of hard work ahead of them to sort and catalogue a huge number of items donated from the closed DuPont SA factory in Mamhilad.

Dozens of items including records, photographs, furniture and paintings from the factory were given to the museum along with money to put towards showcases to display the collection.

British Nylon Spinners originally established the factory on the outskirts of Pontypool in 1948. For over fifty years BNS, (later ICI and then DuPont SA) were part of life in the town. The factory was always one of the largest employers in the valley as well as providers of sports and social facilities at Mamhilad.

The factory finally closed this year with staff redundancies as operations were moved to Turkey.

Pontypool Museum curator Debbie Wildgust said: "We are delighted to have so many artefacts. We now have the mammoth task of cataloguing the items so they can be conserved for future generations."

Torfaen Museum Trust hope to give the DuPont SA collection its own gallery in Pontypool museum by the end of next year. The Trust plans to research the history of the people working at the Mamhilad site with a programme of oral history recordings.