A Day to Remember

The  National Waterfront Museum will be fifteen years old this autumn, so recently staff have been looking through our archive of the opening ceremony on 17th October 2005. 

Steph Mastoris Head of the Waterfront Museum, reading Gwyneth Lewis' poem at the opening of the Museum 

That day was a great moment of celebration, as the museum had taken around five years to plan, build and fill with fascinating displays on the story of Welsh industrialisation over the past four centuries. Also, because interactive displays were then still a very

Steph Mastoris Head of the Waterfront Museum, reading Gwyneth Lewis' poem at the opening of the Museum 

new thing for museums there was considerable public interest in what was soon to be described as Wales' first digital museum.​

Over 200 invited guests attended the opening ceremony that was conducted by the (then) First Minister, Rhodri Morgan, and rugby legend Sir Gareth Edwards. The first National Poet of Wales, Gwyneth Lewis, composed a bilingual poem in honour of the museum and this was read at the opening ceremony by the National Museum's Keeper of Industry, Dr David Jenkins, and myself. 

It was certainly a day to remember!