We colourised this iconic St David’s Day image and the result is beautiful

It’s a wonderful image from the early ’80s.

It depicts five young pupils from St Mary the Virgin CIW Primary in Butetown, Cardiff.

The picture was taken by Western Mail & Echo on St David’s Day in 1984.

Almost 40 years later the photograph of Julayara Begum, eight, Minara Mia, 11, Emma Wassell, six, Pauline Seto, eight, and Hameda Rehman, eight, is held up as a beautiful example of the multiculturalism and inclusivity of the Welsh capital.

Every St David’s Day it is also posted on social media to celebrate the special date in the Welsh calendar.

However, we got to wondering – what would the original black and white image look like in colour.

So we sought out several online apps that offer to colourise images.

We finally settled on https://palette.fm/ and we have to say, we think this free colourisation app has done a wonderful job in giving us a true sense of what the youngsters would have looked like resplendent in their traditional costumes 39 years ago.

We’d also love to speak to the girls who featured in the photograph. So if you know any of the women in question please drop us a line at Nation Cymru by emailing [email protected]