: Health, Wellbeing and Amgueddfa Cymru

After a year (2024) of creating incredible St Fagan’s inspired textile and mixed media art Cutting Edge members gathered at the Gweithdy Gallery, St Fagans National Museum of History on 25th & 26th April to exhibit their work and to provide craft and sewing activities for visitors in celebration of Global Intergenerational Week. And what an awesome two days it was!

Visitors were delighted to be able to view the exhibits close up and to read the workbooks describing how the project developed over time. They were also delighted that they could join in the various activities and we received lots of feedback over the two days, both in conversation and the Visitors Book. Here's a taste of what people said:

“As a fellow quilter and textile artist it is lovely to go out and see everyone’s work. Congratulations." Lesley , Higham Quilters, Gloucester
“Very impressive to see such a stunning piece of local inspiration and imaginative work” Byron family
“Fabulous exhibition. Well done all. Thank you for making us feel so welcome“ Sue & Vicki
 
The children tried out most things from colouring to stamping and sewing, which seemed to be a crowd pleaser. After colouring a picture on fabric many were eager to have a go at sewing and soon became hooked!
One little girl drew a large letter E on a textile square and began sewing it. She was disappointed to be dragged away half way though, but took some threads to finish it at home. However, later in the day she reappeared to pick up some more thread as she had run out of one of the colours. She must have found a little corner on her travels around the grounds to continue her sewing!
The adults enjoyed the sewing too!
The group from Pontadawe stitch group thoroughly enjoyed making brooches and owls:
“What a wonderful exhibition, so inspiring. Thank you for my owl/penguin. I love him! You are all a lovely bunch. Diolch yn fawr I chi gyd“!" Glenda , Stitch Pontadawe. 
“What a lovely event. Thanks for the brooch kit. I really enjoyed making it. All lovely friendly people” Dawn

Plenty of owls appeared thanks to Carol. They were so popular that she had to go home on Friday evening to prepare more!
“Thank you Carol for helping me make my owl!.

There was some great colouring and sketching going on. Pat's little leather bound sketch books were as popular as Carol’s owls. Not surprising as they were a fabulous little gift to take home.
“Lovely day out with lots of great crafts, the children really enjoyed themselves. Thank you so much"

The Cutting Edge members weren’t shy of immersing themselves in the activities either. They thoroughly enjoyed chatting to visitors too as it was an opportunity to pass on tips, advise and direct them to resources. One visitor was planning to repair altar cloths and was delighted to be introduced to another visitor who could help her find the braids that she needed.
Some feedback from the Cutting Edge group members: 
“I enjoyed the afternoon. A lovely way to spend it. I loved looking at the exhibits again and had fun stamping!” Sally
“It was a fun day with so much interest and appreciation… met some lovely people, some commenting that they were inspired to try something creative themselves and very polite children who all said thank you for helping them. Loved it” Ella.
“What a lovely time spent today meeting visitors who were so interested in our groups work. So many were amazed at the range of different textile / art skills exhibited.  My favourite moment though is the young boy in the photo above who was determined to stitch around his daffodils before leaving . So good to have had the opportunity to encourage the youngsters."  Liz
“Such a great couple of days and so many people leaving inspired to carry on stitching." Eleri

The Monopoly quilt was popular and a number of suggestions were made for a permanent home for it, though many were of the view that it should stay at St Fagans.
“Fantastic range of work and skills. Really enjoyed the whole exhibition especially the Monopoly quilt." Lesley, Rhoose
Carol’s stitched family tree project was also popular. Carol was overwhelmed by the repose she received. As a result the seeds of a workshop are now forming!

Over the two days we welcomed over 650 visitors who came from near and far, some as far as the Netherlands!
Two Dutch ladies who visited wanted to buy pieces of our art work. When we asked what they were interested in they pointed to Dianne’s postcard and Monica’s Thomas the Taylor post card. The cards were gifted to the ladies and addresses were swapped with a promise from Monica and Dianne that they would post them a fabric postcard too!
A brilliant two days enjoyed by both visitors and Cutting Edge members alike. 

A huge thank you to:
St Fagan’s staff member Loveday who went above and beyond to make sure that we had everything we needed. She even joined in and helped when we were very busy, which was really appreciated!
Jan’s husband Alan for taking photos for us. They are a fabulous addition to our album!
And an enormous thank you to all our amazing Cutting Edge members for their inspired pieces of work and dedication to make the two day event at St Fagans such a memorable occasion. You are all stars!

We held the event during Global Intergenerational Week which fell at the end of the Easter holiday. It certainly ticked all the boxes for intergenerational engagement as both children and adults went away happy and more confident with the new skills they had acquired.

“Fabulous exhibition and lovely to see the skills on show. Lovely initiative and great for children of all ages to experience”!
"Fantastisch!" Lia, the Netherlands
“Superb inspiring exhibition. I enjoyed the diversity too – patterns, stitch, water colours. Also enjoyed the hands-on activities. Relaxing and fun.” Gwynedd
“Such an excellent event, with wonderful pieces of work to admire and inspire! So kind and generous to supply everything for the intergenerational projects we did” Caroline
“Excellent exhibition. Lovely talented ladies”

Following the event, we were delighted to receive the image of the event sent by Mike who is a member of the St Fagans Sketching Group. He visited on the Saturday and sat quietly in the corner sketching the scene before him. He thought our work, like his, was amazing:
“I had the opportunity to visit the exhibition of members work from the Cutting Edge Textile Group at St Fagans. It was a beautiful day, and the event was very popular with families enjoying the last of the Easter holidays. There were lots of fun activities for children and adults. I was encouraged to visit the Cutting Edge Textile group exhibition to see what they do by a member of the CE group who attends the St Fagans Sketching Group. The answer is a lot and to a very high standard too! Everyone was so kind in sharing their work. I have got loads of ideas and tried to capture the event in my sketchbook” Instagram @mikelinewalker

End note:
Monica posted a fabric postcard to one of the Dutch women who visited our exhibition and surprisingly it arrived before she returned home to the Netherlands! This is the email Monica received from Thea:
“Dear Monica,
It was a surprise to find that the card you sent me has arrived already when I came home from my holiday tour through Wales. 
It was very nice to meet you at the exhibition and that I was allowed to make a choice out of the cards you had made. All in all it was a very inspiring exhibition and I enjoyed it very much.
The cards I will show tomorrow to the members of the quilt club I join and I am sure they will love them as well. I still have to find a nice place to put them. It will be in my house or in my school where I will enjoy looking at them, but I am not sure yet.
Best wishes, also to the other members of the Cutting Edge Textile Group
Thea“

To find out more about the Cutting Edge Group please visit: Cutting Edge | Sharing textiles knowledge, ideas and skills

Celebrating positive mental wellbeing through engaging with heritage, creativity and community on Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen:

On 25^th January 2025 Amgueddfa Cymru marked Diwrnod Santes Dwynwen, the day for the Welsh Patron Saint of Love, with a festival to celebrate positive mental wellbeing supported by creativity, heritage and community. Across various of our seven museums, different activities and performances took place, designed to eliminate stress, improve mood and help people deal with everyday challenges. These included collections-inspired creative arts workshops, music recitals, choir performances, blacksmithing taster sessions and poetry workshops. In addition to this, we also hosted information marketplaces at St Fagans and Big Pit where organisations offering services to support peoples’ wellbeing could engage with the public and share information and advice.

St Fagans

At St Fagans we welcomed the Sally’s Angels Community Choir to St Fagans who sang on the Community Stage in the entrance hall of the museum as visitors arrived in the morning. This was followed by further performances on site at Penrhiw Chapel and the Oakdale Workmen’s Institute later in the day. The choir performed a range of songs in Welsh and English, including a stirring rendition of the ever-popular Calon Lan. Visitors responded really positively to the joyful and uplifting atmosphere the choir created throughout the day. Thank you to all the wonderful choir members who helped to make it such a special event.

The information stand marketplace also took place in the main entrance hall, with several organisations hosting drop-in craft activities such as decorating cardboard heart-shaped frames. These activities were very popular with children and adults alike and enabled the partner organisations to talk with visitors about their services in more detail as people spent time at the stands engaging in the crafts on offer. There was a total of eight stands, which included Velindre Cancer Centre, Oasis Cardiff, the Hapus Project (Public Health Wales), Memory Jar dementia support group, Mydiad Mythrin/Cymraeg i Blant, the Wales Ambulance Service and Platform  - the mental health charity, as well as a Museum stand promoting the Amgueddfa Cymru Health and Wellbeing programme, in particular the Museums Inspiring Memories Project. 

We estimate that in total the marketplace engaged with approximately 165 people throughout the course of the day. 

Across the day various activities took place at St Fagans which aimed to provide a stress-free environment to enjoy and engage with the museum's collections in a creative way. These included wool craft and weaving workshops using our replica Iron Aged handlooms, mindful nature walks exploring the outside spaces, flora and fauna at the museum, and a make your own paper Love Spoon workshop inspired by the Love Spoon collection in the Gwiethdy gallery, run by artist Nia Skyrme. 

The weaving workshops where participants were able to make their own woolen bookmark to take home proved very popular.  The feedback was very positive with many people sharing how relaxing and mindful they found the activity and how lovely it was to do something for themselves whilst spending time with family and friends. Many parents who took part in the session told us how lovely it was to do something they could have a go at themselves, alongside their children, learning a new skill and enjoying the creative process together. The children who took part appeared to be very engaged, enjoying the workshops and leaving very pleased with their woolly bookmarks! 

Participants on the mindful nature walks reported how relaxing and peaceful they found the experiences, whilst also being interesting and informative. Ian Daniel, who led the walks, was able to share mindfulness techniques which participants could take away with them and build into their daily lives, as well as sharing interesting facts about the flora and fauna they encountered on their walk. 

Artist Nia Skyrme, who led the drop-in Love Spoon activity in Gweithdy, had a very busy afternoon with at least 95 people dropping in throughout the session to take part. Participants made beautiful paper love spoons representing what they held important, inspired by the lovely display in the Gweithdy gallery next door to the workshop space. 

Families with older children were able to engage in this accessible art activity together, whilst giving those parents of very young children an opportunity to peacefully enjoy a creative activity whilst their little ones slept. It was a lovely way to encourage visitors to connect with the collections in a different way; the feedback was very positive.

The weather on 25^th January was absolutely beautiful. The sun shone all day, attracting lots of visitors to St. Fagans - far more than we might usually expected on a late January day. This gave the festival such a boost and allowed us to promote ‘museums for wellbeing’ to a wide audience.

Big Pit

At Big Pit a range of drop-in and bookable activities were on offer. 

Throughout the day, Len Howell, who has over 50 years experience of working as a colliery blacksmith, led smithing sessions in the forge at Big Pit. These were pitched at helping men deal with stress by participating in physical activity and ‘hitting the anvil hard’. With guidance, participants were able to work with hot steel and make a mini heart to take home. 

Poet Patrick Jones led ‘Writing for Wellbeing’ workshops designed to beat the January blues. Through a fun and light workshop of reading, listening and discussing poems, participants also took part in writing exercises designed to lift the spirits. Participants all reported that their level of contentedness and happiness had risen by the end of the workshop, and everyone was happy to share their thoughts and feelings in a short film that was made on the day.

Families took part in a ‘Make a Love Spoon’ activity, and found out about the various symbols and meanings, before designing and making their own. This engaging activity gave people the chance to relax and chat to workshop leaders, and many people also took the opportunity to dress up in mining costumes against a historic backdrop, whilst exploring the theme of ‘Cynefin’ (Belonging.) 

A number of organisations who can help with positive mental wellbeing and signpost to further information attended the marketplace on the day. 

Andy’s Man Club, Torfaen Take a Stroll walking group, Sport in Mind, Torfaen Talks CIC, Alzheimer’s Society Cymru & Public Health Wales all had opportunities to engage with the public and promote the support, advice and guidance they provide. Visitors enjoyed having a play (or the odd more serious tournament) on the table tennis table supplied by Sport in Mind. Public Health Wales were able to encourage organisations to sign up as Hapus supporters.

National Wool Museum 

At the National Wool Museum, visitors were invited to grab a cuppa, pick up a heart shaped Welsh cake and listen to the soothing melodies of harpist Delyth Jenkins. Delyth performed throughout the day, and gave the Museum a sense of peace and calm, which was very much appreciated by visitors. 

National Museum Cardiff

At National Museum Cardiff we took the opportunity to trial our newly developed Mindful Art Trail. Louise Rogers, one of our facilitators in the Learning team has spent time over the past year developing the resources for what will become a self-led trail and invitation to experience the art galleries in a mindful way. On the day, Louise led 2 guided mindful trails, encouraging participants to look at art purely from a mindful perspective, without any pressure, and to enjoy the simple art of ‘looking’.

According to research, most people view a work of art for approximately seven seconds, but the session encouraged people to take longer to look and absorb what they were seeing, instead of rushing though the galleries. This opened up discovery of more detail in each work, and using the senses and imagination allowed people to visualise potential stories about the artworks. This was a new experience for all participants, and everyone relaxed into their own way of interacting with the art. We hope that resources like these will encourage people to view the galleries as a safe and non-judgmental space to take a break from busy daily routines, and to enjoy moments of calm.

Diolch to all our fantastic partner organisations, the members of the wonderful Sally’s Angels Choir, the brilliant workshop leaders and all those who came and took part. We couldn’t have done it without you. 

People who attended the events at the different museums shared that they appreciated being able to drop into sessions free of charge, taking away the stress of entertaining children during difficult financial times.

A special thanks to the Public Health Wales Hapus Project for supporting the festival with funding, enabling us to offer more opportunities and work with the freelance creatives who helped make the event such a success. Follow the link to find out more about the Hapus Project and sign up as a supporter. 

Thanks also to all the museum staff who supported the event, led sessions and helped with the logistics on the day. 

As a legacy of the festival, we have produced a series of short films which are launching during Mental Health Awareness Week. Thank you to Glyn Roberts and Tom Maloney for working to capture all the wonderful activities and beautiful moments shared during the day. We’re excited to share the results! 

We will also be working on developing mindfulness resources in collaboration with Mindfulness Wales for our museums as well as welcoming freelance creatives to deliver dementia friendly wellbeing workshops inspired by our collections. Watch this space for further details. 

As part of Museums Inspiring Memories, our 3-year partnership project with Alzheimer’s Society Cymru, we have been working in collaboration with the dementia community across Wales to develop a training package that will help staff - in Amgueddfa Cymru and across the heritage sector - to support people affected by dementia who visit our museums.  

This blog provides a snapshot of the collaborative approach that we have taken over the last 18 months, to develop and pilot our staff training resource, culminating in our launch of the training package at St Fagans on 2 May 2024.  

Our consultations with the dementia community 

From the very start of our project, we have aimed to ensure that the personal experiences of those affected by dementia are at the forefront of our work. 

During the first year (between December 2022 and March 2023), we hosted 30 consultations across Wales, inviting people living with dementia, their carers and supporters, heritage sector colleagues and professionals from representative organisations, to take part.

These events took place at our museums, in community venues and in care and health settings. 270 people joined us, and their contributions to the conversation formed the basis from which we began to shape the contents of our training package. During these consultations, we structured conversations with a set of questions which aimed to elicit people’s experience of engaging with museums. We asked:  

What stops people affected by dementia from engaging with museums, their collections and online resources? 

What care and support needs might there be at our sites? 

How could we improve access for people affected by dementia? 

What training needs are there for both carers/care staff and heritage sector staff/volunteers? 

Developing the staff training package

Using the information gathered from these consultations, we developed a potential structure for our training package, capturing people’s thoughts and experiences into 5 broad themes: ‘Introduction’, ‘What is dementia’, ‘The barriers and worries of the community’, ‘Being supportive’ and ‘Opportunities and further information’. Under each theme, we developed sub-headings to describe the information that would be included in each section.

Refining the staff training package

Having created a potential ‘draft’ structure, we developed the training package through further community engagements and conversations, and it became a focus during our meetings with the Dementia Voice in Heritage Group.

The Dementia Voice in Heritage Group (also known as ‘DViHG’) is our project’s steering group.  The DViHG is made up of people living with dementia, carer partners, paid carers, support workers, colleagues from allied organisations (such as the Alzheimer’s Society) and colleagues from Amgueddfa Cymru and other heritage sector organisations. We meet in person or online every two months, and we structure our meetings so that everyone can contribute to and shape the development of central aspects of our work. In October and December 2023 we dedicated our DViHG meetings to the development of the staff training package.

The contributions of DViHG members to the training package have been valuable and considerable. Group members have talked about their own positive experiences of visiting museums, the importance and value of museums for people living with dementia, and the things that museum staff might need to know in order to support people living with dementia. They told us about the importance for people living with dementia of being helped to feel safe, valued and welcomed:

“Whilst someone might come away from the museum not remembering all the details, they may remember the feeling that they experienced during the visit”  Person living with dementia 

Finally, they emphasized the importance of involving people affected by dementia in delivering the staff training.

Our Pilot staff training sessions: Testing our training package out with colleagues

Having incorporated the valuable contributions of the DViHG group into the staff training package, we then elicited further the thoughts of our colleagues at Amgueddfa Cymru, across a range of departments. For instance, we consulted with the Learning Department during a divisional training day, and met with Front-of-House teams at both National Waterfront and National Museum Cardiff.  

These conversations were important to gauge people’s understanding about the needs of visitors affected by dementia (some staff told us that they felt they were lacking in knowledge about dementia) and to assess how confident people felt about supporting people affected by dementia (some staff said they were worried that they might ‘say something wrong’).  From these discussions, we refined the content further and developed a 2-hour training session. 

We have now piloted the training session at three of our museums: St Fagans National Museum of History, the National Slate Museum and National Wool Museum, with members from across the Learning, Maintenance, Crafts, Front-of-House and Catering teams taking part, and we have received positive feedback from these.

Launching the training package

On the 2nd May at St Fagans National Museum of History, we formally launched the training package. We invited people that we have been working with over the last eighteen months, including Alzheimer’s Society Cymru, a member of DViHG and a member from our project board, to talk about their experiences of contributing to the development of the training session.

29 people attended the launch, to hear these inspiring presentations and to learn about how the work has developed in partnership with the community. The training package aims to explore what we, in our different roles across the heritage sector, can do to make any visit a positive experience for those affected by dementia. It will now be made available to anyone within the heritage sector, whether as a starting point to beginning their journey to becoming more dementia-supportive or as a complement to what is already happening.

Whilst people affected by dementia have not yet been involved in delivering the pilot training sessions, we are currently working with our partners who have been involved in creating it, and we are planning how to support them in hosting, leading and / or contributing to our future training sessions.

As our project progresses over the next year, we will continue to work collaboratively and to ensure that the dementia voice is at the heart of what we do.

If you’re from a heritage sector organization and are interested in how we have developed our training offer, would like to find out more about using the package in your setting, or are a person affected by dementia with an interest in supporting these sessions at our museums, please don’t hesitate to contact us by email mims@museumwales.ac.uk  or phone 02920 573 418.

 

The Secret Garden is a horticulture and history project funded by the WCVA’s Volunteering Wales Grant. We work with adults with Learning Disabilities and community volunteers to develop and care for a cottage garden based at St Fagans National Museum of History. We also support project participants in researching the history of the garden, Ysgubor Fawr cottage on-site, and its past inhabitants using St Fagans’ archives and Glamorgan Archives.

The Secret Garden project has two themes. It is both a gardening and historical research project. We offer the opportunity to take part in hands-on gardening sessions at our garden at Saint Fagans to learn about and trial gardening techniques from the past, such as planting for medicinal or cleaning purposes. Participants will also research the garden, the cottage and its inhabitants in partnership with St Fagans National Museum of History and Glamorgan Archives.

Participants who attend the Secret Garden Project are able to learn a variety of skills including teamwork, communication, co-ordination and much more to help assist and support them in their personal development. A safe and secure working environment ensures that participants are able to learn at their own pace whether they are learning about horticulture or history. The Secret Garden Project is able to cater for their needs and have a positive impact on their health and well-being.  

Our activities are free of charge, and we encourage anyone to join. Participants can take part in either the gardening or history element or both if they wish! 

Head to the Innovate Trust website to learn more about the Secret Garden, and how you can get involved - The Secret Garden | Innovate Trust (innovate-trust.org.uk).

We recently welcomed Memory Jar, a support group for people affected by dementia in Cowbridge, to St Fagans National Museum of History. This visit was part of Museums Inspiring Memories, a three-year partnership project between Amgueddfa Cymru and Alzheimer’s Society Cymru that aims to use our museums, collections and resources to develop practical ways to improve the quality of life of people affected by dementia.

Now into its second year, one of the project’s aims is to develop a more comprehensive and sustainable programme of dementia-friendly activities, both at our museums and in the community. At this stage in the project, we are starting to develop and trial activities, inviting community groups to come and take part and tell us what they think. This, in turn, will help us shape and develop our offer and programme before its launch next Spring.

The visit 

On the 9th August, 29 members of Memory Jar joined us for a tour of two of the galleries at St Fagans – ‘Wales Is…’ and ‘Life Is…’. This was followed by tea, coffee, cake and conversation about the visit. We asked the group what they had enjoyed and if they had any suggestions about how we could improve future activities. 

In the ‘Wales is…’ gallery, the group took part in a tour with Gareth Rees (Dementia Voice Lead for Museums Inspiring Memories) and Loveday Williams (Senior Learning, Participation and Interpretation Officer). Gareth and Loveday introduced some of the objects in the gallery, the displays of which have been curated to reflect the different meanings and perspectives of ‘Wales’, including themes of ‘Multiculturalism’, ‘Pride’, ‘Politics’ and ‘Conflict'.

In the ‘Life is…’ gallery, the group were given a tour and description of some of the exhibits on display, led by Gareth Beech, Senior Curator of Rural Economy. In this gallery, displays of objects are organised into themes which describe different aspects of life in Wales over time, from cafes to cookery, rural life, industry, holidays and childhood. One of the popular objects here was the old, cast iron Preston & Thomas fish frying range, which generated a lot of conversation and memories in the group.

Following the gallery visits, we all came together as one group. As well as general conversation, each table was asked to give their thoughts on one question in particular using stickers: ‘How did the gallery visit make you feel today?’ For this question the team provided six options: three positive (Happy, Interested and Inspired) and three negative (Unhappy, Bored and Uncomfortable), as well as a space to contribute any other feelings they may have had. People were also able to give feedback about the day by sharing with us their favourite items in the gallery, using post-its, pens and images of some of the objects. We also asked the group what they had enjoyed about their visit and how they find visiting museums generally. 

All in all, feedback was very positive, with many reporting that they had enjoyed the visit. Many people indicated that they had felt happy, inspired by and interested in the gallery tours. Others said that it made them feel ‘nostalgic’ and ‘patriotic’. Some of the objects had sparked conversations and triggered some memories of family life, including the old hand mangle, which reminded one lady of her mother and grandmother using one of these.

“A lovely reminder of the past” 

“It made me think how close my memories are, wherever I came from (Yorkshire), or later Wales for 40+ years. Wales should be proud of its tradition and continue to keep welcoming others” 

“Displays and written information were at wheelchair level. Good.” 

“My fav object was the harp and music items. It would have been nice to have some Welsh music playing.”

“I found the experience very nostalgic”

“More chairs!” 

(Some of the participants’ feedback)

“The buzz of animated conversation continued in the bus all the way home to Cowbridge. A lovely atmosphere of people who were enjoying a great day out. Back at Memory Jar the week after the visit, we had the opportunity to look at photos of the day and to talk about things people remembered at the museum. Many very positive comments were made about how people had been inspired to reflect on aspects of their own story, with lovely memories of their own earlier days. One comment in particular made the whole thing worth doing: John, who is one of our quieter and less vocal members, was the first to respond to the whole group discussion about the visit. ‘Want to go again!’, he said, with a big smile, to be echoed with acclaim by the whole group.”

(Email from Colin, the Memory Jar group organiser, after the visit) 

Thank you 

The team wish to thank Memory Jar for their help in developing this work; we were delighted to show them around and to invite them to share their views about how we can make our museums more dementia-friendly in the future. We’d also like to thank Rotary Cowbridge for providing transport for the group, and the National Lottery Community Fund, who kindly support the Museums Inspiring Memories project. 

The visit by Memory Jar provided the team with a valued opportunity to begin exploring what our offer will be for the community. The enthusiastic response by the group, and the positive feedback, showed that heritage does have an important role in the everyday lives of people affected by dementia. As the work to pilot and develop our offer across all seven of our museums continues over the coming months, we look forward to further developing our work with Memory Jar and other groups and individuals across Wales.

Get in touch

For more information, the team can be contacted either by email on mims@museumwales.ac.uk or by phone on 029 2057 3418. If you’d like to receive our quarterly newsletter, please let us know, using the contact details shown above.