Photo from the Geoff Charles Collection (GCH19984)
We’ve all had our fair share of dodgy Christmas presents over the years, haven’t we? I’m sure you can think of at least one gift that left you struggling for words when you first opened it. But what about the ultimate gift? The one you had always dreamed of. The one you wanted more than anything.
In the 1930s, Eirlys Evans’s dreams came true when she was given a beautiful china doll for Christmas, the type of doll every little girl would want. To Eirlys, she was perfect and she could not have wished for more. This was going to be a Christmas to remember for her … until something awful happened. Eirlys’s touching story has been captured in a 4 minute digital story. Watch “The China Doll” to find out what happened to Eirlys and why her tears of joy became tears of sadness in an instant.
The story was created by Ysgol Gyfun Gymraeg Bryn Tawe, with support from Culturenet Cymru, as part of The From Warfare to Welfare project based in The National Library of Wales. A digital story is a short film that is about 2-4 minutes in length and which combines voice with images in order to share ideas, opinions or experiences. The story is usually narrated by its owner and is enriched with personal photographs and documents.
The project travelled throughout Wales to bring together former soldiers, eyewitnesses and school pupils to create fun, personal and educational digital stories. The Culturenet Cymru team worked directly with 19 schools, 257 pupils and 53 participants from all parts of the country to create a rich collection of digital stories which present aspects of life in Wales between 1939 and 1959.
The entire collection of stories can be seen on the project’s website: http://www.myglyw.org.uk/