The last educational settlement in South Wales closed down in July 2018, but its history is now on display at Bargoed Library.
Bargoed Educational Settlement was located on 35 Cardiff Road, Bargoed and provided extra educational activities for the whole community.
The settlement, which was opened in 1933 by the then-MP for Caerphilly, Morgan Jones, also offered a variety of clubs, including choirs, drama, music and camera clubs.
The settlement also had rooms available for public events, such as meetings and sewing clubs, and housed a library and the Citizens Advice Bureau.
The settlement, which was funded solely by donations, is now being turned back into a house, which it was before 1933.
The building next door, 36 Cardiff Road, was home to the wardens who managed the settlement.
Former Mayor of Bargoed Ann Green, who is chairperson of the Bargoed Educational Settlement management committee, told Caerphilly Observer: “People were worried about young people and unemployment, which is one of the reasons the settlement was set up.
“At the time, the Rhymney Valley had the second highest unemployment rate in Wales.”
Ms Green, who used to use the library in the settlement in the 1950s, said: “Its history should be remembered. It’s such an important building. but young people know nothing about its history.
“I’d like to think school children could be shown how such an important establishment used to be here in Bargoed.”
In 1941, the settlement was visited by King George VI and his wife Queen Elizabeth – parents of current monarch Queen Elizabeth II – and the pair became the first people to sign the visitors’ book.
More recently, the building has housed Bargoed Town Council and Home Start.
The settlement closed down in July 2018 due to financial reasons.
Ms Green said: “We were sad because it was the end of an era. Nearly everyone who grew up in Bargoed in the mid-20th century used to use the settlement and many people were able to get into university thanks to the education they received there.
The visitors book, as well as the original mace from the Literary and Debating Society, official documents, letters and photos from the settlement are now on display at Bargoed Library.
Saran Pope, community librarian at Bargoed Library, said: “We’re delighted to have the visitors’ book and historical documents related to Bargoed Educational Settlement here at Bargoed Library.”
The settlement movement began in London in the 1880s and in the following decades spread across Britain and America. Settlements can be described as non-residential centres of education and social work.