IT was all about being in the right place at the right time for John Davies.

The secretary of Swansea Community Boat Trust went to an auction and emerged triumphant with 36 historic photographs of the Hafod Copperworks during the 1930s in his clutches.

The timing was more than right as some will now feature in the Tawe River Navigation Heritage Trail leaflet being launched by the charity next month.

Half of them are original press pictures, and the subjects include the rolling mills in operation, the works's power house and some general views of barges on the river navigation outside the Vivian Phosphate Works.

Mr Davies said his favourite was the photograph of the barges on the Tawe Navigation.

"It's a great reminder of how vital the river was for the development of the copper industry in Swansea," he said. "The photos were bought at auction after a house clearance.

"Luckily I recognised what they were, so they didn't get split up or hidden away in someone's private collection. Photos like these are important to anyone who cares about Swansea's heritage, so the trust will make sure they are available for people to enjoy.

"It was a special bit of luck to find them during the bicentenary year of the Hafod Copperworks. Some will feature in the trail leaflet, but we plan to put them all on public display later in the year."

And, as its name suggests, it also has plans to bring the river back into use by running a community boat. While efforts to raise money for that continue, the trust is looking to build on the success of the heritage trail launched in 2008.

It highlights 36 historic places between the Swansea Waterfront and the copperworks sites. All 10,000 copies of the first leaflet were snapped up and now the organisation is putting the finishing touches to the follow-up leaflet, boosted by the discovery and acquisition of the photographs.

The special Hafod Bicentenary version has been part-funded by The Junction, which runs Morfa Retail Park, and historic monuments body Cadw, but the volunteers hope to attract more sponsorship from local firms and individuals.

"The sponsorship offer starts from as little as £50 and will run until the end of April," said Mr Davies. "The Landore Park and Ride service recently become a sponsor, which is brilliant as people can travel one way by bus when walking the heritage trail. It's also very convenient to leave your car at Landore."

Hafod Copperworks was established by John Vivian in 1810. The Vivians owned copper mines and small copperworks in Cornwall, but came to Swansea because of the readily available supply of cheap coal.

The wages at the copperworks were good and this brought many workers to the then town. By 1848, it employed 500 men and a further 500 women and children.

Vivian's Town, Hafod, was built to house the workers, with each home having a large garden to grow vegetables, a pig sty, a coal house and a "ty bach" — a bucket toilet.

The nearby Morfa Copperworks was started in 1828 by another Cornish firm and by the 1850s was described as the largest nonferrous metal smelter in the World.

The skilled copper workers often passed technical secrets from father to son. They were forbidden to talk to employees of rival firms. Tall boundary walls were built to keep out prying eyes. Spies even came from foreign countries to try to steal the secrets of "Copperopolis".

Swansea was certainly entitled to enjoy that name as at one time more than 90 per cent of the world's copper came from the town.

The end of an era was hastened by the 1924 merger of both works, by which time copper smelting had finished in Swansea. It had become more economic to smelt the ore where it was mined. The last owners Yorkshire Imperial Metals continued rolling copper plates for steam locomotive boilers and did other specialist work, but in 1980 the Hafod Copperworks finally closed.

Meanwhile, with the imminent trail leaflet taking care of the riverside route on foot, the long campaign to land a community boat to run trips goes on.

"The trust is very grateful for all sponsorship received for the trail leaflet, as any surplus will go towards the community boat," said Mr Davies.

"We have over half the funding for a boat thanks to Assembly Government grant offers, but it is proving difficult to raise enough match funding. At some point soon, we may have to settle for a smaller boat, which would be a shame, as it will not offer high- quality provision for our disabled and disadvantaged clients."

Anyone with information on the pictures or who wants to get involved as a sponsor can ring Mr Davies on 01792 898478.

web link

www.scbt.org.uk