On Friday 1st August, members of the North Wales Jamaica Society recognised Emancipation Day 1st August 1838 with a special session held in ‘Y Stablau’, the community room at Penrhyn Castle, as part of a project called ‘Fi Wi Laif / Our Stories / Elin Straeon’.
The project involves searching through the massive Pennant family archive of plantation management documents held in the Bangor University Archive to find the names and stories of the enslaved African workers who worked on family’s plantations in Jamaica.  These names and ages of these men, women and children are recorded on ‘Slave Registers’ from the mid 18th century, along with the work they did and their state of health.  
 
A short introduction was given to explain the background and link with the Pennant family, who built Penrhyn Castle using the wealth generated by the enslaved workers on their Jamaican plantations. Then NWJS members read the names of a small number of those who may have lived to gain their freedom. Current research is being undertaken to explore the records of the compensation claims submitted by the owners of enslaved Africans in British colonies. 
 
The research that provided the names is being undertaken by one of the North Wales Jamaica Society members, Lesley Evans, supported by the Bangor University Archives team who have enabled access to original documents. The Archives team have also been successful to gain funds to put copies of many documents online, and links have been shared and documents discussed during the weekly Jamaica Wales Alliance sessions with NWJS colleagues in Jamaica.. 
 
An ambitious six day programme of ‘Emancipendence’ activities has been put together by the North Wales Jamaica Society team, following discussions with the Jamaica Wales Alliance team, with activities in Penrhyn Castle, Penrhyn Hall and on Zoom. A special event will be held to recognise the start of building bridges of friendship between Bangor and May Pen in Clarendon, Jamaica. This is being supported by Vice Lord Lieutenant of Gwynedd, Mrs Kathryn Ellis and Edith Chin, Custos Rotulorum of Clarendon will join on Zoom.      
 
Wednesday 6th August is Jamaican Independence Day and Penrhyn Hall will again be the venue from 11 – 4, with a range of activities going on including quiz challenges, dominoes and short presentations, as well as Zoom links with Jamaica. More information can be found on www.nwjsonline.com