As the nights draw in and the temperature drops, wrap up and stay toastie with our 5 favourite Welsh Winter warmers
1. We commissioned these lovely tapestry blankets from Welsh woollen mill Melin Teifi in Carmarthenshire, one of the few remaining working mills in Wales. Using a traditional Caernarvon pattern we gave them a contemporary twist by using fresh tones and a bright pop of colour.
2. Treat yourself to a bit of luxury with a pair of cashmere socks. Carmarthen based Corgi Hoisery was established in 1892 to produce woollen stockings for local colliers. Today, every pair of socks is individually made on a hand knitting machine.
3. Just add hot milk to this luxury hot chocolate for a warming drink. Add a nip of Penderyn for an even more indulgent treat. This hot chocolate comes with a chunky earthenware mug.
4. These stylish pure new wool blankets from Tweedmill Textiles in Denbigh combine great design and value. Layer up a couple for an elegant style statement for the home.
5. Woven in Wales using a traditional pattern these 100% wool tweed flat caps are a stylish way to keep warm whether you’re out and about in the city or country this Winter.
Insects love eating dead things. In nature, they are important decomposers. But in museums (and in your house) they can be a right old nuisance. Museums - who look after and preserve your heritage - need to keep a constant watchful eye on their collections; sometimes, this work hits the news, such as last week at Bakewell Old House Museum in Derbyshire.
Museum collections contain a lot of dead things. Wood is eaten by the larvae of furniture beetles (woodworm) who create very attractive tunnels; that is nice if you like tunnels, but not so good if you like that historic picture frame more than the tunnels inside it. Mould in archives and libraries provides a nice little food source for booklice. Carpet beetle larvae and clothes moth caterpillars aren’t fussy – they will eat wool, fur and feathers.
There is hardly a museum that does not have pest insects in its stores from time to time. These are the same insects you will find in your home. Your wardrobe at home is irresistible to moths. And did you ever have to throw away a bag of flower or cereal because it contained a healthy population of weevils or flour beetles? This is annoying, but you can easily buy a new pair of socks, or a new packet of flower. But can you imagine a WWI flag or a specimen of the extinct quagga being destroyed by moths? These are irreplaceable objects.
So insects like organic things. Parts of museum collections that are susceptible to insect infestations include entomology (yes, insects even love to eat insects!), taxidermy, botany, furniture, costume, shoe and library collections, and anything containing wood. It is often the larvae of insects that feed on organic objects. Insects also like not being disturbed. At home, you are more likely to find weevils in flour that is several months old than in a bag you bought last week.
To deal with an insect infestation does not mean fumigating the place with chemical insecticides; instead, it means not letting a problem get out of hand. It means regular checks and audits of the collections to spot any problems early. It means setting up pest traps around the entire building and checking them regularly. It means collecting data on insect activity across the site to spot patterns and relating them to particular problems, for example high humidity. It means setting up pest control zones with different restrictions in various parts of the building and a quarantine facility, which is something more and more museums are doing. It means good housekeeping: regular cleaning of stores, avoiding rubbish accumulating, putting specimens and objects safely away immediately after using them. And should any infestations be spotted we kill insects usually by freezing the object rather than using chemicals.
We are not quite "waging war on hungry bugs"; our approach to dealing with insect pests is called “Integrated Pest Management” (IPM). A couple of years ago the BBC made a helpful programme on this: What's eating the museum?, featuring museum pest management specialist David Pinniger. Work on this at National Museum Cardiff has only just started but IPM will receive a lot of attention in the next couple of years. Because of its general interest, pest management at the museum is also an area where we will involve the public through workshops, exhibitions and volunteer programmes. It will help us keep safe the collections we care for on behalf of the people of Wales while giving everyone an opportunity to learn about the fascinating world of insects.
The 14th October 2014 was the 101st anniversary of the Universal Colliery disaster at Senghenydd. 440 people were killed in this disaster on the 14th October 1913. It is still the worst mining disaster in the U.K. Last year on the centennial of the disaster a Welsh National Memorial to all mine disasters was unveiled on the site of the pit head. The memorial can be seen on the front of this memorial service programme acquired recently.
You can read an article on this disaster on our website. It is also possible to view all the objects from our collections that relate to this disaster on our ‘Images of Industry’ online database. Check it all out here
This interesting autograph book was donated this month. The book contains autographs, inscriptions and drawings connected with the South Wales Miners Federation, and most date to 1926. There are also some inscriptions relating to the Spanish Civil War. The photograph here shows the main inscription on the inside of the front cover.
This month also saw the launch of our First World War online database. It currently contains all objects and documents from the social & cultural history collections. It will soon include all our WW1 related objects from the industry collections as well. The site can be viewed here
To complement the launch of this database, staff from across Amgueddfa Cymru were involved in an ‘Explore Your Archives’ event held at the Oakdale Institute at St. Fagans: National History Museum. This event was an opportunity to show some original documents and photographs to members of the public, and promote the work we do in looking after these important collections.
Bight and breezy hand printed bag showing some of the Welsh capital’s best loved buildings. Heavy weight, wipe clean cotton makes these bags long lasting. They come in two sizes, a roomy shopper and a mini tote, perfect as a lunch bag. Each bag comes with a button badge so that you show your love of Cardiff wherever you go.
A perfect present for romantics
This beautiful silver ring is inspired by a 15th-century gold posy ring found near Ewenny Priory. Inscribed with ‘ieme la belle’ on the outside there is a secret translation just for the eyes of your loved one on the inside that reads ‘love is beautiful’.
Looking for a present for an art lover?
Internationally acclaimed for its eccentricity and lovelorn lyricism, Dylan Thomas’s 1954 ‘play for voices’ has long echoed in the imagination of the founding father of British Pop Art, Sir Peter Blake. This beautiful book captures his obsession with works in pencil, watercolour and collage.
St Fagans Lovespoon Collection
This stunning collection of Welsh Lovespoons have been hand carved by Sion Llewellyn. Each one is based on a Lovespoon from the collection at St Fagans: National History Museum.
Knit one, purl one
Join the craft revolution with this lovely 100% pure new wool yarn made on the historic machinery at National Wool Museum near Carmarthen West Wales. Just a few balls will knit up a cozy snood or buy for a 500g cone for a cost effective way of making a larger project. Roll on winter…
Two weeks ago, Botany Curators at Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Cardiff welcomed scientists from across Europe, including Romania, Bulgaria, Germany and Spain. The visitors, who are all experts in the study of plant fossils and pollen analysis, spent two days discussing how best to study the changes that have occurred in plant diversity over the last 400 million years. These changes are important as they help scientists understand how vegetation has influenced climate and environmental change in the past. The meeting included 17 presentations discussing the vegetation from different geological time periods. The visitors also had the opportunity to go behind-the-scenes at National Museum Cardiff to see a selection of rare plant fossils from the David Davies Collection and pollen specimens from the Hyde Collection. This meeting was fully funded by an exclusive grant from the European Science Foundation. It is intended that the workshop will inspire a series of international collaborative projects that will maintain the Museum’s reputation as a centre of excellence in this field.
We produced a Storify Story based on Tweets made throughout the conference.
