One hundred and forty schools across the UK are to be awarded Super Scientist Certificates on behalf of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales in recognition for their contribution to the Spring Bulbs - Climate Change Investigation.

Huge Congratulations to all these schools!

A big ‘thank you’ to every one of the 4,907 pupils who helped this year! Thank you for working so hard planting, observing, measuring and recording - you really are Super Scientists! Each one of you will receive a certificate and Super Scientist pencil, these will be sent to your school by mid-May.

Many thanks to the Edina Trust for funding this project.

Super Scientist Winners 2016

Each will receive a class trip of fun-packed nature activities.

Ysgol Pentrefoelas - Wales

Biggar Primary - Scotland

Carnforth Primary - England

Runner's up:

Ysgol Nant y Coed - Wales

Severn Primary - Wales

Abbey Primary School - Scotland

St. John the Baptist Primary School – Scotland

St. Nicholas' Primary School - England

The Blessed Sacrament Catholic Primary School - England

Highly commended schools:

Schools with special recognition:

Schools to be awarded certificates:

Thank you for all your hard work Bulb Buddies,

Professor Plant

The Treasures: Adventures in Archaeology exhibition not only highlights the objects recovered from excavations but the process and adventure that many archaeologists went on while making these discoveries.  These archaeological adventures also coincide with the Visit Wales Year of Adventure.  In looking at the wider world of adventure, there are few things more adventurous than climbing Mount Everest.  And while it might seem that Mount Everest is a world away from Wales, the connections between the two reach lofty heights.

The first of those connections begins with the name.  Mount Everest was named after George Everest.  Born in Crickhowell, Powys in 1790 he trained as an engineer and spent most of his career working in India on a detailed survey of the entire subcontinent.  He served as Surveyor General of India and it was his successor, in 1857, who suggested the mountain be named after him.  Everest disagreed with this honour, he believed when naming geographical sites it was best to use local names.  However, since there were several local names for the mountain, the name Everest remained.  

George Everest (19th century photo)

    

There is another name connection between Mount Everest and Wales.  After the Great Trigonometrical Survey gave an official height to the mountain for the first time in 1856, it became something to conquer.  In 1921, Britain organised their first reconnaissance team whose job it was to map the various features and possible routes for future climbers.  George Mallory was a member of this team and while surveying, he came across a glacial valley and named it the Western Cwm.  For anyone who knows their Welsh, cwm means valley.  It is said that Mallory visited Snowdonia many times to climb and the name may reflect that.    

Mount Everest

     

Training is key to any expedition, especially something as extreme as climbing Mount Everest.  The 1953 British Mount Everest Expedition began their training in 1952 and chose Snowdonia as their base.  While it might pale in comparison in height, Snowdon offered the climbers many opportunities to train on treacherous rock face and unstable scree.  Their headquarters was based at the Pen-y-Gwryd Inn, between Llanberis and Capel Curig.  You can still stay there and the walls are lined with mementos from the team’s time in residence.   

There were also two Welsh members of the 1953 Expedition.  In fact, it was almost a Welshman who reached the summit first.  Charles Evans was a teacher from North Wales and was the deputy expedition leader.  Evans and Tom Bourdillon were the first team to make an attempt on the summit on 26 of May.  They were a mere 100 meters from making history when they decided to turn back to camp because they were running low on oxygen.  While it is possible to climb Mount Everest without oxygen it undoubtably makes it more difficult and dangerous.  The 1953 Expedition knew the value of using oxygen properly and part of that was thanks to Griffith Pugh.  As a qualified doctor, Pugh was able to combine his medical knowledge and interest in Alpine sports by studying the effects of altitude on the body.  He was the physiologist of the expedition and his main duty was ensuring there was enough oxygen and that the other members acclimated to the altitude safely.  

2004 photo mosaic the Himalayas with Makalu and Mount Everest from the International Space Station, Expedition 8.

On the 23^rd of May 1995, Caradog Jones, from Tregaron, Ceredigion, became the first Welshman to reach the summit of Mount Everest.  Twelve years and one day later, Tori James, from Pembrokeshire, became the first Welsh woman to accomplish the feat. 

Don't worry no violence was involved. It was the turn of Llainfadyn this week, our quarrymen’s cottage from Gwynedd, to receive a clean and make over from our Historic Interior and Conservation Volunteer team. It was a big task so thanks to everyone involved. This included stripping the beds and giving everything including the feather mattresses a good airing and beating to remove a winter's worth of dust and dirt. As long as the textiles are strong enough this is still a very effective method of removing grime without the aid of modern appliances.

We also held a competition between a modern broom and a traditional one made from hazel twigs (that all important witches’ accessory at Halloween). To help protect the collections on display it's important we try and reduce the amount of dust and dirt being brought into the houses by our thousands of visitors each year. Our first line of defence to achieve this is the cobbles outside, these help dislodge the grit and dirt from peoples' shoes before they even enter the building, but for these to work the cobbles need to be clean and not clogged up with dirt. So one of our first important tasks was to clean the stones outside.

So which broom won? The traditional of course, with its long twiggy brush it was the best at dislodging the dirt from between the cobbles. This job would certainly have been an everyday task for most households in the past.

Our second line of defence to keep the dust down is the rag rug, often found in cottages of this period. These were made from scraps of material or worn out clothes and blankets, so as well as providing much needed comfort and colour they were great at trapping dirt. They could then be picked up, taken outside and beaten with a carpet beater to remove the grime. We are currently making one for Llainfadyn, unfortunately the odd hail storm meant that Jane and Emma had to find seats by the open fire to carry on their work.

As usual in this monthly blog post I’d like to share with you some of the objects that have been recently added to the industry and transport collections.

The first object this month is this rugby shirt with a ‘Tower Colliery’ badge. It was worn in the 1992 British Coal Cup Final. The donor was working in Taff Merthyr Colliery at the time, and took part in the 1992 Final in which Tower Colliery won. At the end of the match he swapped his Taff Merthyr Colliery RFC shirt for this Tower Colliery one.

"Hot Mill's"

Also, this month the museum was donated two paintings of Pontardawe Steel, Tinplate & Sheet Works. These were painted in 1955 by local amateur artist David Humphreys (born 1882), who had been employed in the works.

“Bar Mill” depicts the roughing stand of the steelworks bar mill, whilst “Hot Mill’s” depicts part of the sheet mills. In both paintings the artist has carefully recorded the working positions of the rollermen and the tools and features of the mill environments, such as the racked bar-turning tongs and cabin on the left of “Bar Mill”, and the tea cans (‘sten’) and jackets in the right foreground of “Hot Mill's”. Such attention to detail to the plant and environment is a distinctive hallmark of an industry ‘insider’ recording scenes he was intimately familiar with.

This electric cap lamp was manufactured by Oldham & Son Ltd. in about 1995. It is a standard coal-mining specification cap lamp, but is distinguished by being specifically inscribed “H.M.I” (Her Majesty’s Inspector (of Mines)) on the metal battery lid. It was owned and used by one of the South Wales Inspectors of Mines between 1996 and c.2004 during the course of his work.

Amgueddfa Cymru holds by far the largest and wide-ranging Welsh-interest share certificate collection held by any public museum. The collection ranges across railway and maritime transport, coal mining, the mining and smelting of metals, general industry, and service industries (finance, leisure, consumer products, etc.).

The museum is actively collecting in this field, and this month we have added two further examples to the collections.

The first is for the The Gwendraeith [sic] Valleys Lime Coal & Railway Co Ltd. This company was formed in February 1868 to develop the limestone and coal deposits in the lower Gwendraeth Valley. The company wanted to develop limestone quarrying and lime burning, and to acquire the existing railway which it intended to extend into the coalfield on the south side of the valley. However only 185 shares were subscribed to and with insufficient capital the company was wound up in December 1869, having achieved nothing on the ground. This certificate is a good example of a number of companies that tried unsuccessfully to develop the anthracite area of the south Wales coalfield.

The second certificate is for the Llynvi & Ogmore Railway Company. This company was formed in 1866 to amalgamate the broad gauge Llynvi Railway Company of 1846 and the standard gauge Ogmore Valley Railway of 1863. Both companies’ railways were focussed on Porthcawl Harbour and both were dominated by the Brogden family, Lancashire industrialists who developed the Maesteg iron and coal industry and who expanded dock facilities at Porthcawl. The company was managed by the Great Western Railway from 1873, and eventually absorbed by the G.W.R. in 1883.

This object is a cast iron artillery round made in Blaenavon steelworks in the mid 19^th century. Surplus ones were re-forged for bridle chains on colliery headgears. The chains can be seen in the last photograph of the three below showing blacksmiths at Big Pit in about 1950.

Artillery round made in Blaenavon steelworks.

Mark Etheridge
Curator: Industry & Transport
Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW

Amgueddfa Cymru holds a large collection of material relating to the First World War. Many of these objects from the industry & transport, and social & cultural history collections can be viewed on this online catalogue. This catalogue was created to provide access to this collection of material, especially important during this period of commemorating 100 years since the First World War.

Some of the more poignant objects relate to those who lost their lives in the War, and among these are a number of Rolls of Honour. These either commemorate those who lost their lives, or commemorate both those who served, and those who lost their lives.

In the industry & transport collection is this very large (it measures 190cm x 130cm) framed and glazed illuminated Roll of Honour. It lists all those staff working for the Taff Vale Railway Company, who served and lost their lives in the First World War. The sheer numbers of staff mentioned shows how the war affected companies such as the T.V.R. and shows the tragic loss of life.

The Roll of Honour was drawn in the engineer’s office of the Taff Vale Railway at Cardiff by Ivor P. Davies. The alphabetical list details all men who served and also includes their regiment. Names are also marked to indicate those who died in action and those who died of other causes.

The Roll of Honour originally hung in the T.V.R. offices, in a building located next to Queen Street Station. Presumably it hung there until the offices were demolished in the 1970s during the rebuilding of Queen Street Station. In 1989 the Roll of Honour was acquired by Amgueddfa Cymru, and it displayed in the Railway Gallery, in a building next to Bute Road Station (now Cardiff Bay). This was an appropriate home as it was displayed in a very historic building originally built as the head office for the Taff Vale Railway Company in the 1840s. This building is still standing, though in a poor state of repair.

It is important that this Roll of Honour be displayed during the commemorations. We were therefore pleased to work with staff at Arriva Trains Wales in fulfilling this. We were able to provide a high resolution digital copy, which allowed them to replicate it. The replica has now been placed on display in the newly revamped Queen Street Station, where it can be viewed by thousands of travellers passing through.

Replica Roll of Honour on display at Queen Street Station, Cardiff.

Mark Etheridge
Curator (Industry & Transport)
Follow us on Twitter - @IndustryACNMW