Relive your childhood!
It may be strange to think that the toys from your childhood are now in a museum but the West Wales Museum of Childhood in Llangeler has a wonderful collection of teddies, dolls, toy-cars, action figures and more that will surely spark memories of your childhood.
Situated in an old farmhouse just outside the town of Llangeler in Carmarthenshire, a trip to The West Wales Museum of Childhood is like a stroll down memory lane with over a hundred years of children’s playtimes exhibited. And now, you can get a taste of the Museum’s collection on the Gathering the Jewels website.
Gathering the Jewels has a selection of items from the museum which reflect how toys and playtime have changed over the generations. From the simplest of wooden dolls from the early nineteenth century, to the figures inspired by cult television series such as Dr Who, Batman and The Avengers, the collection shows how popular culture and consumerism have influenced children’s toy-boxes.
While there are many uniquely Welsh items in the collection such as the Eisteddfod purses and ribbons which generations of children would have competed for in their local schools and chapels, toys made in Wales were also exported worldwide. The famous die-cast models of Corgi Toys were produced by Mettoy in Swansea and found homes around the globe. Some of the most famous were cars and figures made famous by film and television such as Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Batmobile, The Avengers car and James Bond’s Aston Martin DB5, the largest selling toy car ever produced. Another toy manufacturer with a Welsh connection was Louis Marx & Co. The large American company manufactured toys in Swansea during the 1960s and 1970s and produced items such as the Daleks seen in this collection.
For more information about the West Wales Toy Museum visit their website
Culturenet Cymru