“WE USED to have such fun.”

Assembly line worker Margaret Young speaks fondly of her time spent working in Ammanford’s Corgi factory for more than half a century.

Margaret, like many other women, played a vital, yet often overlooked, role supporting the Welsh economy in the nation’s manufacturing industries.

She, and many others like her, features in a project celebrating the work of women in Wales.

The Voices from the Factory Floor highlights the lives of working women over a 30-year period.

The project, which includes a documentary film offering an exclusive glimpse into the hidden roles women played in Welsh manufacturing through oral interviews, transcripts of recordings and photographs.

In one of these interviews, Margaret describes her “frightening” first day in 1959 to the festive joy of singing Christmastime on the factory floor.

Margaret was just one of the many women from the valley who thrived in the cold, strict factory environment.

Patricia Murray describes the friendly atmosphere of the factory and how “getting on grand with everyone” meant workers rarely left the company to go elsewhere.

The Voices from the Factory Floor, created by the Women’s Archive Wales, illustrates the vital role played by women like Margaret and Patricia in the manufacturing industry, which might otherwise be forgotten.

Without the project many of these women’s stories would remain lost forever.

Catrin Stevens, the project co-ordinator, is all too aware of how easily the role of women at work is forgotten or overlooked.

“Women’s history has, on a whole, been ignored and neglected through the centuries and the Women’s Archive of Wales’s aim is to raise awareness of women’s history and to safeguard these sources,” said Catrin.

The film Voices from the Factory Floor was launched at the Senedd earlier this week and on Monday the team behind the project will begin the task of transferring all materials to the National Screen and Sound Archive at the National Library of Wales.

The move to Aberystwyth will allow members of the public to experience and appreciate the personal and thought-provoking stories of the women who helped shaped and build the nation during the post-war years.

For more information about the project and for archive interviews and pictures, visit factorywomensvoices.wales.