Wythnos nesaf bydd Caerffili a’r cylch yn croesawu Eisteddfod yr Urdd a dros 15,000 o blant a phobl ifanc i’r dref i gystadlu mewn cystadlaethau megis canu, dawnsio a pherfformio. Uchafbwynt yr ŵyl i lawer fydd seremoni’r coroni a chadeirio.

Ar y penwythnos yma, ganrif yn ôl, bu Kate hefyd yn ymweld ag Eisteddfod, sef Eisteddfod Llanuwchllyn 1915.

Enillydd cadair Eisteddfod Llanuwchllyn y diwrnod hynny oedd neb llai, nag Hedd Wyn, un o brif ffigurau llenyddol Cymru.

Y gadair yma oedd y bedwaredd gadair iddo ennill mewn eisteddfod leol, a’i ffugenw oedd ‘Fleur-de-lis’, enw a ddefnyddiodd sawl tro wrth gystadlu. Dyma hefyd oedd yr eildro iddo ennill cadair Eisteddfod Llanuwchllyn. Yn yr eisteddfod gyntaf, yn ôl llafar gwlad, bu’n rhaid cadeirio Hedd Wyn yn ei absenoldeb, oherwydd iddo adael yr eisteddfod yng nghwmni un o ferched y fro, ac aros allan gyda hi.

Derbyniodd glod aruthrol yn y ddwy eisteddfod. Meddai’r beirniad ym 1913:

Well done Hedd Wyn, dos yn mlaen hyd nes cyrhaedd Cadair Genedlaethol.

A dyna be wnaeth – yn 1915 aeth ati i geisio am Gadair Genedlaethol Eisteddfod Bangor ond ni ddaeth i’r brig y tro yna. T.H Parry Williams a gipiodd y gadair a’r goron y flwyddyn hynny.

Er iddo golli ym Mangor, ddwy flynedd yn ddiweddarach, bu iddo ennill Cadair Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Penbedw 1917, ond yn dorcalonnus, bu farw mewn brwydr yng ngwlad Belg rhai wythnosau ynghynt. Yn ystod y ddefod, gosodwyd gorchudd du dros y Gadair.

Bu eisteddfodau yn elfen bwysig o fywydau'r Gymru yn ystod y Rhyfel. Fe roddodd gyfle i bobl ddod at ei gilydd i fwynhau ag anghofio pryderon rhyfel, pe bai hynny ond am ysbaid fechan. Mewn cyfnod o ansicrwydd, dychryn a pherygl fe fydda’r eisteddfod yn corddi ymdeimlad o ysbryd cymunedol, nid yn unig ar y ffrynt Gartref ond hefyd i filwyr hiraethus o Gymru:

The Welshmen in khaki could not let Easter go by without his feast of song, and “somewhere in England” the lads from the Principality had a Welsh Divisional Eisteddfod. Cambrian Daily Leader, 25 Ebrill 1916  

This follows on from Marsli Owen's blog.

When we decided to do an event called ‘Through the Keyhole’ I thought about the different things I could show people in the historic houses of St Fagans.  I wanted something that linked the past and present, so I chose tea drinking and based myself in the parlour of Kennixton farmhouse.

At Kennixton, the parlour is decorated in the style of the 1750s – you might recognise it as Captain Blamey’s house in the recent Poldark tv serial.  I decided to do the event in costume to help bring the house to life, and laid the table for tea as they would have done in the 18th century.   

Tea has a very exciting history, inspiring fashion, fortune, revolution, and crime.  It was brought to this country in 1657 by Catherine of Braganza, the Portuguese wife of Charles II.  A bit like the Kate-effect of today it swiftly caught on as a fashionable drink.

Like a lot of popular things, tea was taxed very highly by the government.  Some unscrupulous dealers would try and make tea go further by adulterating it with hawthorn leaves or even dried sheep poo!  To combat the high tax on tea, many people in Wales would have bought their tea from smugglers.  It’s possible the residents of Kennixton got their tea the same way.  It was originally built on the Gower coast so smuggled tea would have been easily available. 

It wasn’t just the Welsh who objected to paying the high tax on tea; the Americans didn’t see why they should pay it either.  They showed their feelings by throwing British tea into Boston harbour - the Boston Tea Party – which kick-started the American War of Independence in 1775.

I loved doing this event and it generated some really interesting conversations with visitors. Just doing some day-to-day activities in the house made it feel much more like a home. But I have to confess I was relieved to get out of the dress at the end of the day - the large skirts and tight sleeves were so restricting.  I finished the day wearing my comfy jeans and enjoying a mug of tea curled up on the sofa!

There will be one last blog next week to follow on by Heulwen, who will be talking about the Prefab.

The youth forum worked extremely hard to get their first publication out in time for the Fragile? exhibition and it looks so wonderful! It contains interviews with artists, responses to the work on show and even an article about Spillers and Vinyl. We were also really lucky to have a great designer on board to work with the forum to create something so gorgeous - so thanks Chipper Designs!

You can pick up your copy of the youth forums magazine (or have a look at the pdf over on the right) at the exhibition and we would love to know what you think about it. Also we would love to know what your favourite fragile thing is, a baby? a cup? a building? let us know on twitter or instagram using #fragilefaves

We have created word clouds based on the most commonly used terms in the responses to two questions on display in the exhibition. Figure 1 shows the feedback to the question "Which object would you recommend to a friend?" and Figure 2 shows the terms used to the query "How do you feel surrounded by so many fragile objects?".

We hope to periodically produce these word clouds; they may show that the most frequently used terms change over time or that they remain the same. Interesting conclusions could be drawn from either. If they change it could be that people will appreciate certain works due to the time of year, the likelihood that they attended an event or changing fashions. If they remain unchanged the conclusion could be drawn that some works resonate strongly with the majority of visitors.

The questions are posed using two methods on the landing of the west wing galleries; as a comments section on the iPad's and a bulletin board with paper and pencils provided to write a response (Figure 3).

These questions were posed to combat the standard "What do you think of the exhibition?". Rather we wanted to create questions which would encourage key concepts of the exhibition: to stimulate curiosity and encourage debate. This (we hope!) will happen through visitors reading the questions and considering their own responses and by seeing the responses of others which are left on display in the space.

Excitingly we have found visitors have taken to this style of questioning; the responses to the question about recommending an object to a friend (on the "bulletin board") have been through text and images with some visitors expanding upon why they like certain works (Figure 4) . In the comments field on the iPad's which asks about personal experience in the exhibition we have been interested to seeing the varying reactions. Such as a visitor on the 5th May who responded: "Scared worried but its lovely" or from the 16th May "I really liked the pull between wanting to touch and not being able to touch. When i stepped into the first installation i was overwhelmed with a child like want to feel and discover for myself.".

Let us know If you have any comments on the exhibition, questions or if there's a subject you'd like to see a future blog post about. By Penelope Hines & Jennifer Dudley

Over the Easter Holiday, we held an activity called ‘Through the Keyhole’ at St Fagans. The idea is for members of the Learning Department to be out in the historic buildings interpreting and discussing the buildings or objects, drawing attention to its history or history closely associated with them. During the week there will be 3 blogs by 3 members of staff that took part in this event.

I left it a bit last minute to decide which Building to use. With this in mind, I decided to go for a building I already know a bit about, Gwalia Stores. I hold formal sessions (with school groups) here so have background knowledge and an idea of the kind of activities I could do, and a costume good to go!

I raided the photo archive and took copies of the building in its original location, and some fresh coffee and coffee beans to weigh and highlight the coffee grinder, but also to bring back some smells to the shop. When open originally, the smells would have hit you as you walked in; dried fruit, teas, tea, coffee, cheese, meats and all sorts of items for sale.

One of the photos that prompted the biggest reaction was the photo of Gorwyl House overlooking Ogmore Vale. It was the house William Llywelyn built for his family when they’d made enough from the shop to move out from above it. The contrast is quite striking between the ‘mansion’ as it was locally called and the rest of the valley’s terraced houses, and its position on the hill mirrors he high social status of the Llywelyn family at the height of Gwalia Stores’ success.

I enjoyed being in the shop and getting the chance to tell its absorbing history, which mirrors that of the Valleys themselves. It was great to talk and imagine how different an experience a weekly shop would have been 100 years ago, how much more social especially.

The staff would also have trained as apprentices for years and would have been a well-respected role, and the shops really were a centre point in the community. There was much reminiscing by visitors, and some even came from Ogmore Vale and remembered the shop in its original location. One lady commented on the gap that’s still there in Ogmore Vale opposite the railway station, after discussing and looking back on the history of the shop, losing these shops and the experience of going there has left gaps in communities all over Wales.

The next blog will be up soon, discussing the event in one of the other historic buildings.