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Welsh region with a proud history of industrial strength

The Thales Technology Day has been held in a region in South Wales with a long and distinguished history of industrial heritage and innovation.

The Guardian was erected in 2010
The Guardian was erected in 2010

The county of Blaenau Gwent has played a crucial role in the success of the coal industry across the South Wales Valleys during the 20th century with a variety of collieries scattered across its land, establishing the communities that exist today.
 
The most notable were the Six Bells and Marine Collieries. The latter, located in Cwm, was opened in 1889 by the Ebbw Vale Steel, Iron and Coal company and was the last deep mine in the area, closing its doors a century later. At its peak, Marine Colliery employed 1,400 miners and conjoined with Six Bells Colliery in the 1970s to maximise coal output.
 
As a testament to Blaenau Gwent’s prolific contribution to the mining industry, a sculpture of a miner was erected in 2010 on the former land of the Six Bells Colliery, near Abertillery. Entitled ‘The Guardian’, it serves the purpose of reminding the communities of Blaenau Gwent of their rich industrial past.
 
Despite the strength in coal mining, Blaenau Gwent’s most significant contribution to industry came in the shape of boasting, what was, the largest steel works in Europe by the 1930s.
 
Founded in the 1790s and located in Ebbw Vale, the site was a major source of employment and played a crucial role in the transformation of the identity of the town into an industrial stronghold.
 
Production stopped on the site in 2002 and the land has since been redeveloped by the Welsh Government and Blaenau Gwent County Council into a multi purpose business and leisure park with the incentive of driving new industry into the county.