Welsh Journals

The Veteran History Student By Mary John Like many keen amateur local historians I used to feel generally comfort- able about my understanding of Pembrokeshire's past. However, having recently successfully completed a University of Wales postgraduate course in local history I have come to realise just how little I knew about the ordinary people who lived here in previous centuries. Periods of my life have been taken up with degree and professional study in the past but I cannot recall any of these proving to be as enjoyable and rewarding as the MA in Local History, South West Wales since 1800, upon which I embarked. as a part-time student three years ago. Naturally there were essays, deadlines and pressures at certain times but, all in all, it is a course which I would thoroughly recommend to graduates of any age. The MA is taught in small seminar groups and the course work consists of four assignments attached to modules which can be chosen from social, educational, religious, industrial, agricultural and political experience in south west Wales since 1800. Lecturers, who are professional historians, guide students through these topics, relating them to specific aspects of life in the counties of Pembrokeshire, Carmarthenshire and Cardigan- shire, while setting out the bigger picture of nineteenth century Britain. From my point of view one of the most appealing features of the course is having the freedom to base each of the 4,000 word essays on my own county, using examples from a locality with which I am familiar. The 20,000 word dissertation which completes the course, offered me, and Pat, my fellow student from Pembrokeshire, the opportuniry to research and write on topics of our own choosing, which we agreed with our tutors and, as expected, we both opted for aspects of Pembrokeshire's history. Pat's choice was St Mary's parish, Haverfordwest, in the nine- teenth century while I made a study of the working women in the Narberth Poor Law Union. Although covering the same period, these were widely differing areas of research and in fact subjects chosen by other students on the course included mental health, midwifery, the Salvation Army and the milk industry in south west Wales. This is indicative of the breadth