The South Wales Valleys is an area approximately twenty miles square, comprised of 117 towns and villages with 527,000 inhabitants. The population of the valleys is slightly higher than the capitol city of Cardiff bordering its southern edge; however, there is a vast difference in the culture of the communities nestled in eight valleys that once throbbed with a rich coal mining industry. That industry disappeared in the mid-80's due to the policy decisions of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the people of South Wales have never forgiven the Conservative Party (aka the "Tories") for disrupting their lives and their economy.