The inaugural meeting of the Abertillery & District Museum was held at the Carmel Chapel Schoolroom on 30th September 1964. The first museum was opened in a purpose built room in the new library on 13th January 1972; a new museum was opened at the Metropole Building in 2001 and was refurbished with a Heritage Lottery Grant in July 2007. The Museum is completely run by volunteers and has achieved Accreditation status. From its inception in 1964 the members realised the importance of art, especially that with historical importance for the area, and proceeded to collect paintings by local artists. Surprisingly there are not many mining or industrial paintings for a Welsh Valley Museum; this may say something about the local artists looking for something higher than the coal tips and steelworks. One painting that was donated recently is the oil painting of Six Bells Colliery by George Godsell, which was gifted to Abertillery & District Museum by Mrs Marian Mathias-Jones in memory of her father, William Henry Taylor, who was killed in Six Bells, 28th June 1928, and also for her stepfather, William John Mathias, a carpenter at Six Bells Colliery.