Jim Morton 1934

[adathecadre]

I wonder if anyone has memories or details of Jim Morton of Ferndale.
I know he was a Councillor and unemployed miner. My mother Margot Heinemann lodged with him, his wife and family when a group of young Communist students came to visit the Rhondda in December 1934. It seems to have been a life-changing experience for them that none of them forgot. John Cornford and Bernard Knox went on to fight in the International brigades and Cornford specifically mentions the 'gutted pits of Wales' in one of the three poems he wrote in Spain. Margot went on to work at the Labour Research Department, specialising in the Coal industry. She worked with the Fed to produce their submission to the Greene Committee (1942). She later wrote Britain's Coal (1944) and Coal Must Come First (1948) and was proud to count people like Arthur Horner & Will Paynter among her friends. The fictional "Mid-Wales coal-field" in her one novel, "The Adventurers" (1959) also has a lot in common with the Rhondda.
I would be interested in anything, especially images, personal memories or press cuttings about Jim Morton or indeed more generally about life in the Rhondda Fach from 1936-1959 or so.

[mochyn]

You might also join a couple of active Facebook groups for Ferndale and Blaenllechau, and ask your question there too. Both have lots of members with lots of memories, and some could be old enough to have memories that far back. The groups are "Ferndale History and Archive" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/704691532890683/) and "Sunny Blaenllechau" (https://www.facebook.com/groups/14322614044/).

Let us know how you get on.