AN EBBW Vale project has today received almost £50,000 to help it record the memories of the last eisteddfod held in the town 41 years ago.

With the National Eistedfodd returning to Ebbw Vale next year, the Ebbw Vale and District Development Trust was awarded £45,900 by the Heritage Lottery Fund to research and record people’s memories of the Eistedfodd held in the town in 1958.

Local volunteers will use these memories to create a bilingual DVD, educational pack and photographic exhibition, called The Eistedfodd Years, which will show what life was like then compared to now.

These will help to train young people with oral history skills to record the memories of 30 people from the community.

The volunteers will look at families, housing, living conditions, music, sport, work and industry.

One of the key things the trust is looking for is to trace the remaining 1958 ‘Flower Girls’ for them to share their experiences.

The project will also conserve, archive and digitalise video, film and photographic material of the Ebbw Fawr Valley from the last 30 years.

Thousands of hours of footage, which would otherwise remain undiscovered, will be accessible to the public for the first time.

The idea for the project came from a youth forum where young people saw a film about the 1958 Eistedfodd and wanted to find out more.

Ebbw Vale and district youth co-ordinator, Carl Bainton, said this will hopefully encourage youngsters to have greater respect for members of their community.

The project is open to people of all ages and the trust is looking for local people wanting to get involved.

Anyone with memories of the 1958 Ebbw Vale Eistedfodd or who are one of the original Flower Girls, can contact Mr Bainton on 01495 353100.

To see a video of the 1958 Eisteddfod log onto www.museumwales.ac.uk/en/969/