‘Songwriting instead of doomscrolling’: project inspires Port Talbot to tune into its heritage

The Guardian World Thursday 17 September 2026, 13:46 UTC By Bethan McKernan, Wales correspondent 1 min read

Key Points

Community groups and schools work with Wales’s folk arts organisation to set stories of the area’s people to musicGrowing up in Wales, Liz Puleston-Jones was familiar with the country’s rich heritage of storytelling and traditional music, but none of it ever seemed to have much of a connection to her life in Swansea. Researching the history of the area as part of Cân y Cymoedd (When Valleys Sing), a project in nearby Port Talbot, she came across the story of Isabel Thomas, a 14-year-old girl...

Community groups and schools work with Wales’s folk arts organisation to set stories of the area’s people to music

Growing up in Wales, Liz Puleston-Jones was familiar with the country’s rich heritage of storytelling and traditional music, but none of it ever seemed to have much of a connection to her life in Swansea.

Researching the history of the area as part of Cân y Cymoedd (When Valleys Sing), a project in nearby Port Talbot, she came across the story of Isabel Thomas, a 14-year-old girl in the 1940s who left school and lied about her age to work in a tin plate works to support her family.

Port Talbot (PERSON) Wales (LOCATION) Liz Puleston-Jones (PERSON) Swansea (LOCATION) Cân y Cymoedd (PERSON) Isabel Thomas (PERSON)

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