Learning

5th November saw the Our Museum Project Partners arrive at St Fagans to experience a day in the life of a volunteer at the museum. Luck was on our side, the weather was with us and we were all ready for a fantastic day.

The St Fagans Our Museum project has been going from strength to strength. The Initiative is funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation and aims at bringing museums and communities together. The St Fagans project hopes to do this by building a community of volunteers at the museum.

Over the past year the museum has been working with a dedicated group of Community Partners who are supporting us on the project. They have been involved in decision making every step of the way and are now fully embedded into the Our Museum initiative and the project at St Fagans.

To give the Community Partners a better sense of what it is like to volunteer at the museum, we felt that a day spent on site, carrying out different activities alongside staff would work well. So, we set about preparing an action packed day!

Everyone was extremely keen and it was felt that this would be a great way of getting to know each other in an informal setting.

So, the morning of 5th November saw us all trekking up to the Castel Garden’s where we spent a busy morning digging up the old rose bed in preparation for re planting with Peter and Gareth from the Gardening Team. The sun was shining and we all had a fantastic time. Everyone entered into the competitive spirit as we were split into two groups to dig the patch, the aim being to meet in the middle.

After a fascinating talk from Owain Rhys on the recent Refugee House project we enjoyed a delicious lunch before venturing out on site again with Ian Daniel, Steve Burrow and Janet Wilding. Up to the Celtic Village for an afternoon of clay making, daubing and copper beating.

We all really enjoyed the activities and got thoroughly muddy in the process. Through discussions with staff the Community Partners were able to see how the Our Museum Project will fit into the exciting re development of St Fagans.

Thank you to everyone involved for making the day such a great success! Hats off to the volunteers!

Wow! What a fantastic start to this year's weather recording. Forty six schools sent in weather records last week and this weeks are flying in as I type! The project was also mentioned in the South Wales Echo and the Oxford Times.

If you've ever wondered what your bulbs do once they are planted then why not make this mini-origami booklet! The secret undercover life of the bulb. By Prof. Plant. (Colour version) (Fill in the gaps version) (How to do)

Many of you have sent in comments and questions - please see my answers below:

Ysgol Nant Y Coed - "We have had rain this week but not enough to measure. We've enjoyed keeping the records this week" Prof.P: "Thanks for the info and delighted to hear you are enjoying being a scientist!"

St Mary's Catholic Primary School - "Hello, we have had no rain this week". Prof. P: "Hi St Mary's - Welcome to the project - keep up the good work!"

Greyfriars RC Primary School - "Hi we are really enjoying this" Prof.P: "So glad you are enjoying!"

Nether Kellet Primary School - "It has been hard to remember to keep track of the bulb project since it's only our first week. We forgot to cheek on Wednesday so we went on the weather forecast. Do you own the museum we are gathering information for? We really enjoyed collecting the weather information and are 'into' the project now!" Prof.P: "Yes I agree it can be tricky to remember in the beginning, good idea to check with your local forecast when you forget, delighted that you are enjoying it now! I don't own the Museum but I work here so I guess it own me ;-) The Museum is owned by the people of Wales, part of my job is to help people understand and enjoy the weird and wonderful collections we have. I'm very lucky!"

Thorneyholme RC Primary School - "We are enjoying growing and looking after our bulbs.
We love your hair-do and your glasses!!" Prof.P: "Thanks no one has ever complimented me on my hair or glasses before - you've made my day! Glad you're enjoying!"

Ysgol Clocaenog - "Diolch am y bylbiau. Mae hi wedi bod yn wythnos dda i'r bylbiau oherwydd dydi hi ddim wedi bod yn rhy oer ac mae hi wedi bwrw glaw. Athro'r Ardd: Dim problem, dwi'n falch i glywed bod y tywydd yn dda i'r bylbiau".

Medlar with Wesham CE Primary School - "Hi Professor plant. We have not yet watered our plants because it has rained a lot. Prof.P: "Yes that is good, it's important that your bulbs don't get too wet or too dry."

Glyncollen Primary School - "Thank you for the bulbs. We are looking forward to when they grow." Prof.P: "You're welcome! You should start to see some growth after Christmas!”

Ysgol Deganwy - "We have moved our pots to the south side of our mobile classroom against a wall. There has been some building work on the previous north side which meant we couldn't put our pots there." Prof.P: Thanks for letting me know. They should get a lot more sun on the South side too.

Henllys CIW Primary - "Rainfall on Thursday 8 November was 0.5 mm; Rainfall on Friday 9 November was 0.1mm." Prof.P: "Thanks for these details - very accurate recording!"

St Joseph's Primary School (Penarth) - "We were interested to see that the temperature remained the same for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, even though we thought that it felt colder." Prof.P: "That is interesting; sometimes the wind can make it feel colder. It you have two thermometers you could check if they say the same thing."

Westwood CP School - "Cloudy but dry week apart for some rain on Friday. Temperature are not too bad yet but I'm sure worse is to come!" Prof.P: "Thanks for the update and Welcome to the project again this year!"

Stanford in the Vale Primary School - "Dear Professor Plant. First week of observations...Monday really cold with sharp frosts to the ground...then Thursday warm and sunny blue sky's amazing. No rain has been recorded as we have had no rainfall. Best Wishes. Stanford in the Vale Gardening Club." Prof.P: "Thanks for the observations, a real mixture of weather - keep up the good work!"

Many thanks

Professor Plant

www.museumwales.ac.uk/scan/bulbs

www.twitter.com/professor_plant

Today, pupils across the UK have begun keeping weather records for the Spring Bulbs for Schools investigation. Until the end of March they will record temperatures and the amount of rainfall as part of this climate investigation.

It was only just five degrees in my garden in Cardiff this morning. Last year our average temperature for November was 9 degrees Celsius – so it’s a lot colder. Parts of the UK even had snow today and are now at risk from flooding when the snow melts! See: http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2012/nov/05/flood-warnings-weekend-rain-snow

Please let me know if you got any snow!

I look forward to seeing the weather records come in on Friday. If you have any questions about recording – please get in touch.

Many thanks

Professor Plant.

The Cardiff Cycle Challenge sees workplaces compete to see who can get the most staff cycling. This summer staff at National Museum Cardiff took and won their category! Our team prize was a delicious cup cake delivery – well deserved after the calories we burnt!

The stats:

Fifty of the 297 staff cycled 4,565 miles and burnt 144,350 calories as part of their daily commute!

By cycling they prevented another 1,170kg of carbon dioxide being pumped into our atmosphere.

Whilst we put in an extra bit of effort for the competition – we do cycle all year around. Recent, investment in bicycles shelters and staff training has helped to get more and more people involved.

Two thousand bulbs being planted in Scotland today! Good luck Scotland and please wrap up warm as the temperature is a chilly 3 or 4 degrees! Temperatures across the UK have fallen dramatically today making it feel very much like winter.

Welsh and English schools are finishing up for half term and all the schools are preparing for recording their 1st weather records on the 5th of November! 

Click here for info on keeping weather records

Click here to ensure fair test when planting your bulbs

Please take a look at these lovely pics sent in by Stanford in the Vale Primary School.

Many thanks

Professor Plant