Map
Here is a map which I have decided to include in my project in order to show, or even monitor, where the cockle pickers go to pick/work. This might be more useful if I had time to go out several more times with the cockle pickers, so I could note where exactly they went out to work, and how they have specific 'sand banks' which they visit on a regular occasions.
Looking at Old Photographs
After finding the Geoff Charles photograph of the Cockle Picker, I went on to search for any other photographs which might have some historical values to look at.
These images are specific photographs showing the women of the cockle picking industry, from Penclawdd. They're interesting photographs to look at as it gives me the opportunity to compare the equipment which might have been used over the years. The equipment itself appears to be the exact same. What has changed dramatically changed over the years is the use of travel. Years ago, in the times when these photographs were taken, the use of horse and cart was essential to getting out on the sands. Even though there are vans in the photographs, but these wouldn't have been suitable as they're too heavy. Since these photographs were taken, the Landrovers have replaced the horse and cart, as they have been built for the off road.
Selwyn's Penclawdd Seafood
There are several Seafood Processing Factories in the Penclawdd area, which is a very recognised area for Cockle Picking. All of these factories were started by the locals, sometimes families, which are still running these business' to this day. Selwyn's Penclawdd Seafood is the most recognised of the number of factories in the area.
The information we find on the website is both fairly useful, up-to-date, which is very useful to look at. There is a lot of historical information on this page as it is still run by the original family which first opened in the 1950's.
The Selwyn's Seafood Factory is the business which runs the cockle stall within Llanelli Market, which is the most local market in my area. It is a small stall, ran by by two elderly women, who I am hoping to talk to in the future for the project, and photograph the stall itself at some point. I would also like to discuss some ideas about entering the factory itself in order to document the larger scale processing.
After some research, it is clear that there are several articles which cover issues surrounding the cockle picking industry. Of course, there were a high number of issues surrounding the tragedy of the Morecambe Bay Cockle Pickers.
The Morecambe Bay tragedy is the most popular article about cockle pickers to be found when you google the phrase 'Cockle Pickers'. Even though this was a huge blow to the cockle pickers, it was something which is irrelevant to the area which I am looking it. Surprisingly, there were a number of other articles on the cockle picking industry in the Penclawdd area.
Here are a number of articles on some of the issues:
It is important to research the subject before going out to photograph the subject. There were, mostly, quite bad articles surrounding the cockle picking industry of Pencalwdd, as they say, all news is bad news.
No comments:
Post a Comment