December is a great opportunity for us as an organisation to say thank you to National Lottery players for your generous contributions which help us enormously with our work on a daily basis.

The first 20 national lottery players to visit one of our national museums between 3 and 9 December 2018 will get a free gift made up from goodies at our shops!

St Fagans National Museum of History; National Museum Cardiff; National Waterfront Museum, Swansea; Big Pit National Coal Museum; National Wool Museum, Drefach Felindre; National Slate Museum, Llanberis will all be participating.

Please present your ticket at the museum shop.

As soon as the 20 free gifts have gone, we will make an announcement via our social media channels.

St Fagans has benefited recently from National Lottery funding. We were awarded £11.5m in 2012 to begin the redevelopment of the Museum, the biggest grant ever to be awarded in Wales from the Heritage Lottery Fund. 

Thanks to the generous contributions of National Lottery players, over 3,000 volunteers and 120 community organisations, street charities and local groups from all over Wales contributed to the £30m redevelopment of the Museum.

Taking part in the #ThankstoYou initiative is just one way we can say thank you to the National Lottery and Lottery players.

 Terms and conditions:

●     Please present one National Lottery ticket to claim your free gift at St Fagans National Museum of History; National Museum Cardiff; National Waterfront Museum, Swansea; Big Pit National Coal Museum; National Wool Museum, Drefach Felindre; or National Slate Museum, Llanberis

●     All National Lottery games qualify for the free gift. Proof of purchase of a National Lottery game can be either a hard copy ticket or a digital ticket.

●     The offer is valid from 3 – 9 December 2018 until all 20 free gifts at each museum have been given out.

●     In the event of queries on the day, the manager’s decision is final.

YR IAITH GYFRIN

Doeddwn i erioed wedi clywed am rywbeth fel hyn, ond rwy’n deall nawr bod y ffenomenon yn bodoli yn Lloegr a gweledydd Ewropeaidd eraill fel Denmarc, yr Iseldiroedd a Ffrainc.

Mae Gwenllian M. Awbery, Is geidwad yng ngofal yr archif sain ac astudiaethau tafodieithol yn Sain Ffagan  yn y 70au a’r 80au, wedi recordio 9 person arall yng Ngogledd Cymru yn trafod yr iaith gyfrin. Gallwch chi ddarllen ei gwaith diddorol ar http://www.draenog.co.uk/VLibrary.htm

Dechreuodd staff Sain Ffagan Amgueddfa Werin Cymru recordio hanesion pobl ym 1958, gan deithio Cymru gyda Land Rover a charafán. Ers hynny, mae haneswyr, cerddorion, ieithyddion ac ymchwilwyr wedi bod yn darganfod trysorau ymhlith y 13,000 o recordiadau sain sydd yn y casgliadau heddiw. Yma clywir lleisiau o bob math; o ffermwyr, glowyr a chwarelwyr i botswyr, meddygon esgyrn, carcharorion rhyfel o’r Eidal ac Iddewon Cymreig, mae rhywbeth yma i ddiddori pawb.

Wrth darllen manylion y siaradwyr cyntaf yng nghronfa ddata’r casgliad sain, sylweddolais bod nifer wedi eu geni yn y 19eg ganrif, ac un ddynes oedd wedi’i geni ym 1865! Oherwydd hyn, gallwn ni ddarganfod byd gwahanol yn y recordiau, lle oedd bywyd yn anodd iawn ond hefyd yn llawn brawdoliaeth. Byd llawn ofergoelion, ysbrydion a chreaduriaid o bob math...

Felly pan ddechreuais i ddigideiddio ein casgliad, roeddwn i’n gwrando gyda chyfaredd ar yr hyn oedd y tapiau yn eu dadorchuddio, roedd yn fêl i’r glust. Roedd y tapiau cyntaf yn hynod ddiddorol gan fod nifer yn fy atgoffa i o acen ein ffermwyr ni yn Llydaw – roedd hynna’n deimlad rhyfedd a rhyfeddol.

Ond rhaid cyfaddef, ar ôl digideiddio miloedd ar filoedd o recordiadau stopiodd fy meddwl dalu sylw bob yn dipyn. Fel rhyw mantra cyfrin Cymreig, roedd y lleisiau yn mynd i mewn drwy un glust ac allan drwy’r llall, a’r sain analog yn troi’n ddigidau a rhifau ym mhob ystyr y gair! Ond weithiau, fodd bynnag, roedd pytiau o sain fel larwm yn tynnu fy sylw. Perlau soniarus ar goll yn y mor o sŵn yn codi i’r wyneb...

Dyma isod tri enghraifft ohonynt fy mod yn cynnig i chi wrando ar:

YR HWYL

Fy nheimlad cyntaf wrth glywed y recordiad hwn oedd bod gan y dyn yma broblem go iawn. Roeddwn ni hefyd yn dechrau amau bod fy hen nain yn iawn pan fyddai hi’n dweud bod y Protestaniaid wedi damnio! Mae rhywbeth bygythiol a dychrynllyd yn y ffordd mae’n cyfathrebu, fel petai’r llais yn dod o fyd gwahanol.

Y GWAEDDWR

Dw i’n hoffi y ffordd y mae’r gwerthwr yma yn hanner canu, hanner gweiddi. O’i gymharu â’r enghraifft gyntaf, mae’n fodd tangnefeddus a difyr o gyfathrebu.

(I'w barhau yn y blog nesaf).

We are busy preparing our Natural History #MuseumAdvent calendar and we couldn't resist sharing with you a sneak preview! This year the backdrop for the calendar is a snowy National Museum Cardiff. Each of our 24 natural science curators and scientists have selected one of their favourite objects from the collections to showcase each day. The advent calendar will feature on the @CardiffCurator Twitter account, so why not tune in each day and see what natural science specimen or object is behind each door. The calendar will feature plants, insects, sea worms, shells, fossils, minerals, seaweed and diatoms to name but a few. Once we have opened all of the doors, we will reveal the curators behind the favourite objects.

Hi Bulb Buddies!

I hope you all enjoyed your half term holidays!

I want to say a big thank you for all your hard work on planting day. You helped to plant over 17,000 bulbs across the country! And from the photos I’ve seen, it looks like you all had a great time doing it!

Weather records started on 5th November. There is a resource on the website with more information on weather records. I’ve attached this here in case you haven’t already seen it! This resource helps you to answer important questions, such as ‘why rain fall and temperature readings are important to our investigation into the effects of climate on the flowering dates of spring bulbs’!

Use your Weather Chart to log the rain fall and temperature every day that you are in school. At the end of each week, log into the Spring Bulbs website to add your weekly readings. You can also leave comments or ask questions for me to answer in my next Blog!

Let me know how you get on! You can share photos with me via email or Twitter.

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies!

Professor Plant