Ar 21 o Dachwedd, rydym yn cynnal cynhadledd undydd yma yn Sain Ffagan er cof am y diweddar Trefor M. Owen. Cynhelir y gynhadledd ar y cyd â Chymdeithas Cyn-Fyfyrwyr Prifysgol Cymru: Adran Ethnoleg ac Astudiaethau Gwerin.

Bu Trefor Owen yn Guradur yr Amgueddfa Werin o 1971 tan ei ymddeoliad yn 1987. Roedd yn awdurdod cydnabyddedig ar arferion gwerin Cymru, ac fe ystyrir ei gyfrol Welsh Folk Customs yn un o astudiaethau pwysicaf y maes. Fel ei ragflaenydd, Iorwerth C. Peate, astudiodd gyfuniad o ddaeryddiaeth ac anthropoleg ym Mhrifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth. Un arall o raddedigion yr ysgol ddeallusol hon oedd Alwyn D. Rees. Mae eleni yn nodi 65 mlynedd ers cyhoeddi ei gyfrol arloesol Life in a Welsh Countryside – arolwg gymdeithasegol o bentref Llanfihangel yng Ngwynfa.

Dyma ragflas o raglen y gynhadledd:

10:30 – 11:30            

Yr Athro Rhys Jones: Astudio cymunedau Cymreig mewn oes ôl-dirogaethol

11:30 – 12:30             

Yr Athro M. Wynn Thomas: Cofio Alwyn D. Rees

2:15 – 3:00                

Tecwyn Vaughan Jones: 'Prin ddau lle’r oedd gynnau gant’: Hanes Trefor M. Owen

3:15 – 4:15                

Dr Eurwyn Wiliam: Trefor M. Owen: Curadur ac Ysgolhaig

Mae croeso cynnes i bawb fynychu’r gynhadledd yn rhad ac am ddim. Bydd cyfleusterau cyfieithu ar y pryd ar gael hefyd. I gofrestru neu am ragor o fanylion, cysylltwch â fi drwy ebost os gwelwch yn dda: elen.phillips@amgueddfacymru.ac.uk

Chalkie Davies: The NME Years

The exhibition has just come to an end and so it's finally time to award our prize winners. It was great to see so many people taking inspiration from Chalkie's work, and interacting with the show.

The man himself had a chance to judge all the entries and we're happy to announce our prizewinners with you! 

First Prize

@3gsdevtrust - Well done! A signed Chalkie print and swag bag is on its way to 3Gs Development Trust, who work with young people across Gurnos, Penydarren and Dowlais. 

One of my fav #mychalkieimage photos to date - @3gsdevtrust do The Specials! http://t.co/JnJ4G68OJS pic.twitter.com/hiuUhoh2gg

— museumlearning (@MuseumCdf_Learn) August 18, 2015

Second Prize

@fezzer64 posted this picture of a happy rebel and wins a Spillers Records voucher and swag bag:

Inspired by the head and shoulder frame filling shots #mychalkieimage of my boy @ChalkieDavies pic.twitter.com/Fe7uA61sOS

— alisong (@fezzer64) June 6, 2015

Third Prize

@CaronAooper

A Seetickets voucher will be on its way to Aaron for this twisted and moody shot taken in Cathays Park

@ChalkieDavies @MuseumCdf_Learn @Museum_Cardiff Image 1 #mychalkieimage pic.twitter.com/tLp7ADi7mW

— Aaron J. Cooper (@CaronAooper) July 31, 2015

Chalkie also picked five runners up, who get a swag bag each: David Jones, @tflathers, @daniellestalbot, Paul Hurlow and @softfun. You can check out their entries, and more, on the #mychalkieimage storify.

Thank You!

Thanks to everyone who took part - and of course, to Chalkie for judging the photos for us. Have a look at everyone's entries on our #mychalkieimage storify. If you missed the show, learn a bit more about Chalkie and his iconic work below:

I’m back at my desk in St Fagans having just had one of those ‘I love my job’ kind of weeks. On Wednesday, I spent the day with an amazing group of Year 10 students from Ysgol Clywedog in Wrexham, gauging their opinions on devolution and its impact on Wales since 1997. Heavy-going stuff for 14 year olds? Think again!

With my colleagues Owain and Richard, I met the students at Wrexham County Borough Museum bright and early on Wednesday morning for an action-packed day of researching, questioning and debating. The aim of the day was to produce a film of the students discussing devolution and what it means to them as teenagers living in Wrexham today – a town which voted ‘no’ in 1997. We took a banner from the collection with us as a springboard for debate. This banner – made for the ‘yes’ campaign by the artist Mary Lloyd Jones – will be displayed in one of the redeveloped galleries here at St Fagans in the near future, along with contemporary voices from Ysgol Clywedog.

To kick-start the discussion, we asked the students to do a little background research. Some trawled the web using i-pads, while others accessed local newspapers stored on microfilm in the museum’s archive. Headlines and articles from the Wrexham Leader gave a snapshot of the debate at a local level – 44.3% of voters in Wrexham were in favour of devolution, while 55.7% were against. The Year 10 researchers were not surprised by the ‘no’ vote in Wrexham. This prompted a lengthy discussion about their identities as young people in north-east Wales, living so close to the border with England. Interestingly, eight out of the nine participants would have voted ‘yes’ in 1997 had they been eligible to vote.

We then moved on to analysing the banner. Without any prompts or contextual information, we asked the students to jot down their initial reactions and emotions on viewing it for the first time. Comments varied from questions about its design to its usage and meaning. In the afternoon, we filmed two group discussions, with the students directing questions to each other. This took on the feel of an informal Question Time, without the cheering and heckling! We were so impressed with the energy and enthusiasm of the students, it’s going to be a real challenge to edit the finished product.

A huge thank you to Thomas, Jess, Edan, Pedro, Morgan, Elise, Matthew, Lucy and Harry from Ysgol Clywedog for taking part in the project. We can’t wait to see the film on display. Our thanks also to Wrexham Museum for hosting and supporting the workshop. Diolch yn fawr iawn i bawb.

#YesForWalesBanner #MakingHistory

#BanerIeDrosGymru #CreuHanes

Yn ddiweddar, des i ar draws ffeithiau anhygoel ar wefan y BBC am y gwasanaeth post yn ystod y Rhyfel Byd Cyntaf. Ar anterth y brwydro, roedd hyd at 12 miliwn o lythyrau’r wythnos yn cael eu dosbarthu o Brydain i dir mawr Ewrop. Ar ben hyn, ar ddiwrnod arferol, roedd 19,000 o sachau post yn croesi’r Sianel a 375,000 o lythyrau yn cael eu sensori gan yr awdurdodau.

Yn naturiol, roedd derbyn cyfarchion o gartref yn hwb fawr i ysbryd y milwyr ar faes y gad. Yn yr un modd, roedd derbyn pwt o lythyr o’r ffrynt yn lleddfu gofid eu teuluoedd nôl yng Nghymru, am ryw hyd beth bynnag. Roedd Walter Vicarage o Abertawe yn ymwybodol iawn o hyn pan ysgrifennodd nodyn at ei fam o Ffrainc ym Medi 1915:

No doubt you will get my next letter from the trenches as we are expected to go in soon… I had a letter from Uncle Tom; he also told me Uncle David was there. I must write to him when I have time. I have only written to May once. I know she is in a stew about it, but I must try now and let you both have some news regular[ly] or at least as often as I can.

Bu Kate Rowlands yn llythyru â sawl cymydog oddi cartref yn 1915. Yn ei dyddiadur, mae’n nodi ei bod wedi ysgrifennu llythyron at Robert Daniel Jones (os gofiwch chi, fe ymunodd â’r Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig ym Mawrth 1915), a’i ffrind Anwen Roberts a oedd yn nyrsio gyda’r Groes Goch lawr yng Nghasnewydd. Fwy nag unwaith, mae’n sôn am bostio llythyrau yn y Sarnau – 'mynd i’r post min nos' yw’r ymadrodd sy’n ymddangos droeon yn y dyddiadur.

I'w chyfeillion yng Nghwm Main, roedd diffyg cyfleusterau postio yn bwnc llosg. Roedd y gymuned hon yn gartref i John Jones yr Hendre, ei wraig a'u plant - yn eu plith, Thomas (Tomi'r Hendre) a Winnie (Win). Does prin wythnos pan nad yw Kate yn crybwyll y teulu hwn yn ei dyddiadur.

Yma yn Sain Ffagan, mae gennym bentwr o archifau a roddwyd i'r Amgueddfa gan Winnie Jones yn y 1960au. Ymysg y papurau mae drafft o lythyr a ysgrifennwyd gan ei thad at y postfeistr yn cwyno am ddiffyg blwch post yn ardal Cwm Main a'r Maerdy. Mae'r casgliad hefyd yn cynnwys traethawd yn dwyn y teitl 'Cwm Main yn yr hanner can mlynedd diwethaf' a ysgrifennwyd gan Winnie yn 1940. Ynddo, mae'n cofio ymgyrch leol i gael blwch post newydd i'r gymdogaeth:

Yn 1908 casglwyd enwai [sic] yn yr ardal a gwnaed apel daer ond gwrthodwyd eto, ond nid bobl i ildio oedd yn byw yma yr adeg hono ac anfonent i Gorwen o hyd ac yn 1921 cafwyd y letter box hir disgwyliedig i gael ei gasglu yn y bore.

I ddathlu'r achlysur, ysgrifennodd Morris Jones, Llwynonn, gerdd o fawl i'r blwch post newydd:

Bu llawer o sibrwd a siarad

A dadlau yng Nghorwen yn dost

Cael cyfle mwy hwylus i'r ardal

i roddi llythyrau y Post

Ond heddyw mae popeth yn hwylus

Rwy'n canmol John Jones am ei waith

Yn lle rhedeg a chwysu trwy'r Sarnau

I'r Cefn i bostio cyn saith.

Mae archifau Winnie Jones hefyd yn cynnwys cerdyn post a dderbyniodd ei rhieni gan ei brawd, Tomi'r Hendre, yn 1916. Ar y pryd, roedd yn hyfforddi gyda'r Ffiwsilwyr Brenhinol Cymreig ym Mharc Cinmel. Cewch glywed mwy am hanes Tomi ar y blog cyn hir. Yn y cyfamser, cofiwch bod modd i chi weld dros wythdeg o gardiau post o gyfnod y Rhyfel Mawr ar ein gwefan, ynghyd â sawl llythyr a thelegram.

(with apologies to Lord Tennyson)

Our bachelor boys have had a visit to the beauty parlour for a wash and brush up, and now it’s time for them to leave us. As they have been bred from our pedigree flock they must go elsewhere in search of love, so they’re off to market to be sold as stud animals.

Our breeding rams will be going into the field with the ewes at the beginning of October and we’ll be expecting the first lambs to be born at the beginning of March. So look out ladies – here come the boys!