Remember the Sabbath Day A religious powerhouse, a social centre, a springboard for artistic and political activity: in its heyday, the Nonconformist chapel dominated Welsh life. In mining communities like
Nantymoel, at the head of the Ogmore Valley, it was chapel three times on a Sunday and a week filled with temperance meetings, choir practices and 'penny readings'. But now the glory has departed. Saron and Gilead chapels lie derelict. Hope is a furniture showroom. Bethany keeps only its vestry and, on Sunday mornings, just two or three of Dinam's 850 pews are occupied. And yet as those few ageing voices are raised in harmony in the old language, there's a poignant echo of Sundays when this place was full. So what sustains the failing remnant in their determination to remember the Sabbath Day? Everyman visits Nantymoel to find out.
Photography GERALD COBBE Film editor JOHN GILLANDERS Producer JOHN GERAINT
Everyman editor JANE DRABBLE