App brings coalfield story to life

A MOBILE app is being used for the first time in Wales to bring the story of the former coalfield to life.

Featuring the voice of ex Maesteg miner and historian Roy Meredith, VoiceMap uses GPS technology to play audio files on mobile phones or devices as walkers reach specific points along a special route.

Roy also gives directions to help walkers navigate the trail throughout his story which is called A Voice From Underground.

The trail starts on a site, now the home of Maesteg Comprehensive School, which was once the location of an ironworks, the Maesteg coal washery and the mines training centre, where young men got their first taste of life underground.

On Saturday a group of walkers were taken along the Interactive Industrial Heritage Walk by Sarah Harris, wellbeing manager at Bridgend council, as part of the Love2Walk Festival.

The trail ends at the 9ft tall oak Keeper of the Collieries statue in the new Spirit of Llynfi Woodland, which stands on the site of the former Coegnant Colliery, where Roy, 71, spent 25 years.

Awen Cultural Trust’s arts development officer Andre Van Wyk supported men’s group Shed Quarters and Strictly Cinema to develop this walk, and another treasure-hunt style walk in Maesteg town centre, using mobile technology.

He said he hopes the app will encourage youngsters to go on the walk too as it’ll help them to “strip back the layers of this place”.

Maesteg Town Council has funded 500 free downloads of the VoiceMap app.

It uses what is known as augmented reality technology to find social and historically related content hidden in and around the town digitally ‘tagged’ to buildings.