page_title: Brynmawr Experiment
section_title: International volunteers
hierarchical_section_title: Brynmawr Experiment / Relief and social work / International volunteers
caption_attribution_description: Service Civil International English: Pierre Ceresole on a workcamp in Brynmawr, Wales, 1931. Français&#160;: Pierre Ceresole sur le chantier de Brynmawr au Pays de Galles, en 1931.
context_page_description: The Brynmawr Experiment was an effort led by the visionary idealist Peter Scott to address issues of poverty and unemployment in Brynmawr, South Wales between 1929 and 1939. Initially a relief project response of the Quakers in South-East England, it grew first into an effort to set up small industries and finally an ambitious utopian subsistence agriculture project for unemployed workers.
  Having received large amounts of money from government and private donations, the projects barely made a profit throughout their existence and finally closed in 1939. The official reason for their closure was that unemployment was wiped out due to the opening of local armament factories in the wake of the Second World War, but credit and government loans were also not extended which meant that the projects could not continue.
context_section_description: The Brynmawr experiment came to the attention of Pierre Cérésole, founder of Service Civil International. Pierre had been made aware of the project by fellow Swiss Quaker, Jean Inebnit, a lecturer at the University of Leeds. Pierre and Jean successfully proposed to Peter Scott that the Brynmawr experiment be opened up to volunteers from mainland Europe and an International Work Camp was organised in 1931. 116 volunteers from British universities and from continental Europe worked together for three months in Brynmawr.
  The inclusion of international volunteers at Brynmawr is recognised by the International Voluntary Service as the organisations founding moment.
  By the end of 1931, volunteers had built a swimming pool, a children's paddling pool and a park in land donated by the Duke of Beaufort and contributed a total of 47,000 man-days of labour.
  The international camp also led to a lot of publicity about the work in Brynmawr in local, national and international media.
  One of those who came to Brynmawr with the work camp was Jim Forrester, the son of the Earl of Verulam, who was later to be involved in the Brynmawr Experiment.
caption: Ceresole Pierre at the International Work Camp, Brynmawr in 1931
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