Casgliadau Arlein

Banner 'Bristol, West of England and S. W. Operatives Trade & Provident Society' from 'Cwm No. 1 District'. The Society was founded in 1873. By 1920 it had become the 'Bristol, West of England and South Wales Friendly Collecting Society'. It wound up in the late 1940's. Society covered mines, surface trades, coke ovens, by product plants etc. and was introduced to Cwm by immigrants from Somerset coalfields in the 1880's. The banner was found beneath stage during renovation of St Paul's Church Hall, Cwm, Ebbw Vale.

The banner is made from one piece of red damask-woven , silk fabric. It has borders of blue plain-weave, silk fabric approx. 12" deep on three sides; on the upper edge there are remnants of a blue wool tape. The lower border has a fridge of red and yellow silk, now detached. The red damask fabric is painted on both sides; a large central panel depicts allegorical figures with Friendly Society symbols (a cornucopia, clasped hands etc.) on one side and a scene of a Friendly Society official (or doctor) visiting a sick member in their sick bed with family besides, on the other. There are painted scrolls above and below the panel with the name of the Society.