Earlier this month saw the takeover of our brand new Atrium space by Cardiff High students. Over 80 year 10 pupils from their Art, Music and Drama departments filled the space with their performances and artworks inspired by the museum’s collections. This was the culmination of 6 weeks of work by the students, although the planning goes back almost 6 months!

We were initially contacted by Eve Oliver from Cardiff High with an idea for a cross-curricular project in the summer. The idea was to bring together pupils studying the creative arts together to work on the same theme. After discussions with Elen Phillips, the Principal Curator Contemporary & Community History at St Fagans, the idea of working around the theme of ‘Protest’ was suggested. This was chosen because it would give the pupils an opportunity to explore their own beliefs and values as they responded to the museum’s collections.

The project began with a visit to St Fagans on October the 4^th for 85 pupils. Elen gave a presentation to the pupils around ‘Protest’ using objects from the collection as inspiration. These included objects around the suffragette movement, anti-racism protest and the miner’s strikes of the 1980s. It was an opportunity for the pupils to hear the histories of these objects but also an opportunity to see them in the flesh, and you could see how inspiring this was for them.

After the visit to the museum, the pupils returned to their school to unpick these themes in more depth. Over the next 6 weeks the pupils enjoyed masterclasses with Timothy Howe from the Sherman Theatre, Anita Reynolds from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama and the artist Anna Barratt.

The culmination of this part of the project came on November the 16^th. Cardiff High returned to St Fagans National Museum of History to display and perform the work that they had done. We used the new atrium space at the museum which was filled with artworks and performances. We invited the parents of the pupils to watch, and including some museum staff, there must have been around 50 in the audience.

The drama students performed extracts from the play The Radicalisation of Bradley Manning by Tim Price while the music students performed the classic call to arms Yma o Hyd by Dafydd Iwan. The backdrop to the performances were a mass of protest banners and placards created by the art students. The performance culminated in a sing-along of Yma o Hyd by the entire cast as well as the audience. It was truly a powerful performance which brought the atrium to life!

The project has been a great success with the pupils debating and questioning their understanding of ‘Protest’, using contemporary references to deepen their understanding of the past and gaining insights into the beliefs of others. For the museum, it was a fantastic way of engaging with a local secondary school, using a model that we are keen to use again. We have already begun discussion on what other themes we could explore next year!

Diolch yn fawr Cardiff High!

Hello Bulb Buddies,

Thank you for the comments and observations you sent in with last weeks weather readings. I've included some of these below. Many of you have commented that the temperature has dropped and that you have had higher rain fall. Some of you have even had snow! For this reason I want to talk to you about how Meteorologists (weather scientists) measure snow. 

It is a lot trickier to measure the amount of snow that falls than it is to measure the amount of rain. This is because snow misbehaves! Snow is often blown by the wind into drifts, which causes some areas of deep snow and less snow in the areas around it. Because the snow fall is uneven the measurements from these places will be wrong! This is why we have to measure snow on flat surfaces, in the open and away from areas where drifts happen! Snow also likes to play games with Meteorologists who want to measure it, it melts into water and re-freezes into ice! This means that the snow measured on the ground isn’t always the same as the amount of snow that has fallen. Another problem is that new snow settles on old snow, so it is difficult to tell how much snow has fallen in one day from the snow that fell the day before! 

Meteorologists have to take all these tricks the snow plays, and work around them to discover how much snow has fallen. They look at snow fall (the amount of snow that falls in one day) and snow depth (how deep the total snow level is, old snow and new snow). One way that Meteorologists measure snow fall is to use a piece of ply wood. They place the wood in an open location away from areas where snow drifts occur, and measure the snow on the board at 6hr intervals, clearing the snow from the board each time they measure it. This means they are only measuring the snow from that day, which will tell them how much snow has fallen on that day in that area! 

Snow fall can also be measured in its melted state, as water. This means that you can use your rain gauge to measure the water equivalent of snow fall! If you only get a bit of snow then it should melt in your rain gauge anyway. But if you get a lot of snow, take your rain gauge inside to the warm and wait for the snow to melt into water. Then measure the water in the same way as you have done each week and report this as rain fall in your weather logs. 

If you have snow and enough time for an extra experiment – why not have a go at measuring snow depth? To do this all you need is a ruler (also known as a snow stick!). Place the snow stick into the snow until it touches the surface underneath, and read the depth of the snow.You need to take these measurements from flat surfaces (benches work well) in open areas and away from snow drifts! You need to take at least three separate measurements to work out the average snow depth in your area. You work out the average measurement by adding the different readings together and dividing them by the number of measurements. So, if I measured the snow depth of three surfaces at 7cm, 9cm and 6cm, I would add these together (7+9+6 =22) and divide that by three, because there are three readings (22÷3=7.33). So 7.33 would be my average reading for snow depth on that date. 

Weather stations such as the MET Office have come up with new ways of measuring snow depth, using new technologies. The picture on the right shows one of the MET Offices snow stations. These use laser sensors to measure how deep the snow is on the flat surface placed below it. This means that Meteorologists can collect readings from all over the country at the push of a button – which is far more reliable and a lot easier than sending people out into the cold with snow sticks! The map on the right shows how many snow stations the MET office has and where these are, is there one close to you? 

If you have snow and measure the snow fall with your rain gauge or the snow depth with a snow stick, then please tell me in the ‘comments’ section when you are logging your weekly records! I would be very interested to know what the snow depth is compared to the snow fall collected in your rain gauge! 

Keep up the good work Bulb Buddies, 

Professor Plant

 

Comments from week three:

 

Ellel St John's CE Primary School: We had record amounts of rainfall on Wednesday 22nd November that resulted in major flooding. Our village (Galgate) was on the local and national news.

Professor Plant: I’m sorry to hear you’ve had such bad flooding Bulb Buddies! I did hear about this on the news, and other schools have commented to say that they were affected too. Thank you for informing me of how extreme the weather has been in your area.

 

Arkholme CE Primary School: This week it has flooded the garden and also the playground. As you can see, there has been quite a lot of rainfall and it has been quite chilly. Lancaster had the most rainfall recorded in one day ever.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, I heard about flooding in your area on the news. I hope the school grounds have drained now and that you are able to play outside again. Keep me updated!
 

Henllys CIW Primary: On Wednesday actual rainfall 22mm.

Professor Plant: Thank you for the detailed weather report Bulb Buddies.

 

Canonbie Primary School: It has been a busy week as in rehearsal mode for our school show. It has rained more this week. It has been icy and cold.

Professor Plant: Your comment is very Christmassy! I hope your school show goes well Bulb Buddies.

 

Auchenlodment Primary School: There was torrential rain on Monday night and we even had snow on Friday. It's beginning to look like Christmas!

Professor Plant: I hope you enjoyed the snow Bulb Buddies.

 

Carnbroe Primary School: We were off on Monday. We have had lots of different weather this week. It has been very wet, frosty and on Friday it snowed. We checked our plants and although they were a bit wet they were still fine.

Professor Plant: Your bulbs are very hardy and will be fine with some cold weather. Well done for checking on them, and thank you for sharing your observations of the week’s weather!

 

YGG Tonyrefail: Wet week professor plant!!

Professor Plant: Your rain fall readings testify to that as well Bulb Buddies. Keep up the good work.

 

Ysgol Bro Pedr: Very wet week.

Professor Plant: You’re not the only ones to report an increase in rain fall Ysgol Bro Pedr, I’m interested to see if this continues into next week!

 

Inverkip Primary School: Will our plants grow well with this temperature and rainfall? We think our plants will grow well because they are getting used to a new temperature and are not getting too much rainfall.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, your plants are very sturdy and are nice and snug in the earth. Your temperature and rainfall from this week will be perfect for them, it’s only extreme weather conditions or sudden changes in weather that would prove difficult for them!

 

St Paul's CE Primary School: Rainy and windy days, with heavy rain 23.11.17 overnight (22.11.17). Frosty on each of the mornings.

Professor Plant: Thank you for your weather observations Bulb Buddies. I can see that your readings show a much wetter week than in week two.

 

Peterston super Ely Primary School: The children were amazed by Tuesday's rainfall result!

Professor Plant: That is quite a high reading! I’m glad to hear that they are enjoying the project.

 

Bacup Thorn Primary School: The weather is really cold this week. Friday has been the coldest. We might get snow this weekend.

Professor Plant: Hi Bacup Thorn Primary, gosh it has been a cold week for you. I hope you are wrapping up warm to take your weather readings!

 

Ysgol Casmael: First frost today

Professor Plant: Do you think you will have snow before Christmas Bulb Buddies?

 

Ysgol Iau Hen Golwyn: There has not been a lot of rain this week and the temperature has been going down each day and then on the last day it went up one as well.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, it sounds as though you got of lightly in terms of rainfall compared to a lot of other schools! Thank you for your weather observations.

 

Darran Park Primary: We have had lots of rain with quite high temperatures except for Friday where the temperature was a lot colder with no rain

Professor Plant: Thank you for your observations Bulb Buddies.

 

Ysgol Y Traeth: Wedi bwrw glaw llawer ac wedi bod yn wyntog ofnadwy.

Athro’r Ardd: Diolch am rannu eich sylwadau tywydd Cyfeillion.

 

Ysgol Beulah: Mae'n llawer oerach heddiw na oedd e llawer mwy or wythnos.

Athro’r Ardd: Helo, dywedodd ysgolion eraill mai dydd Gwener oedd eu diwrnod oeraf nhw hefyd. Diolch am rannu eich sylwadau tywydd.

Hi Bulb Buddies, I have enjoyed reading your comments and studying your data. I’ve also enjoyed the photos that have been shared on Twitter showing some of you taking your weather readings. It looks as though you have been outside in all weathers in the pursuit of scientific study! Fantastic!

In week two, most of you reported colder weather, and some reported frost! What do you think the weather will do between now and Christmas in your area? Do you think you will have a white Christmas? Why not write down your thoughts, and then look at the MET Office website to see if meteorologists (weather scientists) think the same?

 

Your Comments:

 

Carnbroe Primary School: Hi, this week our weather has been very cold and some of our class went out to check the plants. They were alright. On Thursday and Friday it was very wet.

Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear that you are keeping an eye on the plants Bulb Buddies, and that they have had a nice watering from the rain!

 

Canonbie Primary School: Hello, we have felt it slightly warmer this week and our results highlight this through our measurements. We even remembered to do them on Pudsey Bear Day in our Pj's.

Professor Plant: Wow Bulb Buddies, I’m glad you’ve had some nice weather. I hope there is a photo of you taking readings in your pyjamas- it sounds like a funny sight to see! Good work!

 

Betws Primary School: I look after the plants and they are growing so well.

Professor Plant: It sounds like you are doing a great job! Remember to let me know if there are any signs of the plant sprouting, this is likely to happen January-February.

 

Pembroke Primary School: Detailed Data weekend 11th and 12th November
11/11 Rain 6.2mm mean temp 10.2 High 12.8 @ 10:00 Low 7.8 @ 00:00
12/11 Rain 0.6mm mean temp 6.7 High 8.6 @ 14:00 Low 4.2 @ 21:30
13/11 Rain 0mm mean temp 5.7 High 8.6 @ 15:30 Low 2.2 @ 04:00
14/11 Rain 1.4mm mean temp 10.4 High 11.7 @ 10:30 Low 6.8 @ 00:30
15/11 Rain 1.4mm mean temp 11.1 High 12.9 @13:30 Low 9.8 @ 06:00
16/11 Rain 0mm mean temp 9.7 High 13.3 @ 12:00 Low 5.2 @ 00:00
17/11 Rain 0mm mean temp 5.6 High 9.8 @ 12:30 Low 2.7 @ 04:30

Professor Plant: Lovely to see your detailed data for the week. Can you work out the average temperature and rainfall for the week? It’s nice to see that the readings you are taking and the detailed data you have are so similar!

 

Bardney Church of England & Methodist Primary: Another dry week!

Professor Plant: Fantastic news Bulb Buddies, you’ve been luckier than some other schools!

 

Arkholme CE Primary School: This week has been fairly cold some rain with a little bit of frost on a couple of days.

Professor Plant: Thank you for your overview of the week Bulb Buddies, it’s nice to have a description of the weather on different days whilst studying the data.

 

Our Lady of Peace Primary School: This was our friends that helped this week.

Professor Plant: Lovely, I’m glad that other classes are getting to take part and see what you are doing as part of the project!

 

Harmony Primary School: On wed our rain collector had fallen over.

Professor Plant: Thank you for letting me know Bulb Buddies, had it been raining on Tuesday night/ Wednesday morning?

 

Scoil an Droichid: We are going to change the position of the rain gauge because we didn't get much rain in the rain gauge.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, is there something obstructing the rain fall?

 

Auchenlodment Primary School: It's been a lot colder this week!

Professor Plant: A few schools have reported the same! I hope you have your hats and scarves ready for the winter!

 

Peterston super Ely Primary School: So far we are really enjoying taking our measurements and can't wait for the bulbs to sprout.

Professor Plant: Fantastic Bulb Buddies, I’m really enjoying the project too and I’m looking forward to seeing photos of your plants once they have started growing!

 

St Paul's CE Primary School: Cold and windy all week. Some frost early morning. Rain on Thursday and Friday.

Professor Plant: Thank you for your weather observations Bulb Buddies!

 

Inverkip Primary School: The lowest was 5 degrees Celsius. We enjoyed doing it this week.

Professor Plant: I hope you continue to enjoy taking readings Bulb Buddies. It will be interesting to see how the weather changes between November and March.

 

Portpatrick Primary School: Brr! Feeling chilly.

Professor Plant: Oh dear Bulb Buddies, it has been getting colder as we approach the end of November! Make sure you wrap up warm to take your weather readings!

 

Darran Park Primary: We haven't had a lot of rain this week. The temperature has remained very similar to last week.

Professor Plant: Good observations Bulb Buddies, thank you for your update.

 

Ysgol San Sior: Thank you for this great project – A.

Professor Plant: Thank you for taking part and for sharing your work with us A.

 

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: Hi this week has been a week that has been hot and cold. Been very cold in the mornings. Bye Bye see you next week.

Professor Plant: See you next week Bulb Buddies!

 

Ysgol Y Traeth: Wedi bod yn wythnos oer iawn yn Abermaw!

Athro’r Ardd: Gwnewch yn siŵr eich bod yn cadw'n gynnes wrth gymryd eich darlleniadau tywydd Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn.

 

YGG Tonyrefail: Wythnos braf a sych.

Athro’r Ardd: Dda i glywed Cyfeillion, rydych wedi cael tywydd gwell na rhai ysgolion eraill.

Forget Raindrops on roses, you can keep your whiskers on kittens…

With such varied collections that we have in the museum I can’t help noticing some fabulous objects.

Thanks to players of People’s Postcode Lottery, we have had funding so we can enhance records and add images for you to view in Collections Online, soon you’ll be able to search the museum catalogue and discover your own favourite things.

These are a few of my favourites:

What a fabulous picture this is! (I may be a little biased). This picture shows the first ever test match between the Wales and New Zealand rugby teams in 1905. Wales won 3 – 0 (a try was only worth 3 points in those days rather than 5 points as it is now).

Roman copper alloy figurine of a mouse

This lovely little mouse (only 3cm high) was found in Loughor, or Leucarum as the Romans knew it. Is it nibbling some cheese, or has it found a biscuit somewhere?

Electric locomotive

It might look like something from Thunderbirds, but this is an electric locomotive used in Glamorgan Haematite Iron Ore Mine (Llanharry Iron Ore Mine) from the 1960s. These locomotives replaced the use of horses for haulage in the mine.

Detail of the silver thread embroidery on the court mantua. 

This shows detail of a dress from the 1720s. This is a very grand court dress (known as a mantua) which would have been worn for presentation at court by Lady Rachel Morgan the wife of Sir William Morgan of Tredegar House. Just look at the incredibly detailed embroidered silver thread on silk damask. The best thing about it I think, is that it was altered during the 19^th century by one of Lady Rachel’s descendants, probably to wear as fancy dress! The dress will be on display in the new galleries at St Fagans National Museum of History in the autumn of 2018.

Puzzle jug made by the Cambrian Pottery c. 1800

What’s the puzzle about this puzzle jug? Try and pour from it, and you’ll end up with beer all over the place. To find out how these were made, and importantly, how you’d use it, check out this video by the V&A museum.

If you want to see more of the collections you can explore online or come and visit one of our museums. Not all of our items are on display, so before you make a special trip to see something specific, check that it’s on display first.

Thank you for sharing your comments when entering your weather data Bulb Buddies. It's always fascinating to hear what your experiences of the project have been. I've answered the comments from week one of the project below. Keep up the good work!

Professor Plant

 

Your Comments:

Stanford in the Vale Primary School: Hi this is Stanford in the vale primary school, we done this amazing project last year. I am R one of the gardening club members. I was the one that recorded and submitted this data last year. I loved doing this project last year, I hope I will this year to. I will be also teaching some of my friends how to do this project this year too. Bye Bye R.

Professor Plant: Hi R, it’s fantastic to hear that you enjoyed the project last year and I hope you enjoy it even more this year! Well done for sharing your knowledge by teaching others. You will be able to see your results from last year on the website, and can compare them to your findings this year! Good luck.

 

Belvoir Park Primary School: Thermometer has broken so no record for temperature.

Professor Plant: Thanks for letting me know Bulb Buddies. A new thermometer is in the post and should be with you early next week.

 

St Andrew's RC Primary School: It has been a cold week with low rainfall.
We had so much fun doing this job.

Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the project Bulb Buddies. Keep up the Good work!

 

Tonyrefail Primary School: We had to move our rain gauge on Wednesday as we realised it was very close to a shelter. There was no school on Monday.

Professor Plant: Well done for noticing that the rain gauge reading was being affected and for finding a more suitable place Bulb Buddies. Good work!

 

Carnbroe Primary School: Hello Professor Bulb our names are B and F. We are the rainfall and temperature measurers this week. The weather this week has been dry, sometimes sunny and we have only had rain on one day!

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, thank you for sharing your weather observations with me! I hope that you are enjoying the project.

 

Canonbie Primary School: We really liked this week because everyone had a good time measuring rainfall and temperature. We liked using the correct scales to measure temperature in Degrees Celsius. We made sure that our results were accurate whilst having fun as well! It has been quite cold this week but the afternoons have been brighter-lovely fresh weather. See you next week.

Professor Plant: Hi Bulb Buddies, I’m glad to hear that you are enjoying the project! It sounds as though you are being very thorough in your investigation. Fantastic work!

 

St Kieran's Primary School: I have really enjoyed the planting of the bulbs and reading the thermometer and rainfall gauge.

Professor Plant: It’s lovely to hear that you are enjoying the project! You might also enjoy comparing your results with those from other schools across the country by using the weather record graphs on the website.  

 

Whitestone Primary School: Children are excited about taking part in this project again this year.

Professor Plant: Fantastic to hear, I hope they enjoy the project and that they engage with the resources on the website to further develop their knowledge and skills from last year.

 

Steelstown Primary School: We have been enjoying taking part in the project so far.
Everything is going successful at the moment. We are happy that we joined the project.

Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear everything is going well Bulb Buddies. Keep up the good work!

 

Carnforth North Road Primary School: It was very muddy but we really enjoyed it.

Professor Plant: I’m not sure if planting your bulbs was muddy, or if it was muddy when you collected your weather readings? I’m sure mud will have added to the fun in both cases!

 

Waddingham Primary School: This week the whole class read the temperature and rainfall measurements so we knew we were accurate.

Professor Plant: Fantastic Bulb Buddies, it’s a good idea to take readings together to begin with to make sure everyone is getting the same answers. Good work.

 

Llanishen Fach Primary School: We've enjoyed being weather monitors this week.

Professor Plant: You’ve done a fantastic job as weather monitors Bulb Buddies. I’m glad to hear you are enjoying the project.

 

Ysgol Bro Pedr: Our data is collected at the same time every day. We had two frosty early mornings, but it opened up beautifully by the time we recorded the temperatures. Tuesday was a washout!

Professor Plant: Good work Bulb Buddies, consistency is important to scientific investigations. Keep up the good work!

 

Inverkip Primary School: Our temperature has been the same all week. We hope this will make our bulbs grow faster.

Professor Plant: That’s very interesting Bulb Buddies. Are you able to check the thermometer in the morning, just to be sure that it is working properly? It’s likely to be colder in the morning than it will be in the afternoon. Why do you think that is?

 

Pembroke Primary School:

We have a Vantage Pro2 weather station and we can provide more accurate data.
This will include daily low, high and mean temperatures and daily rain to nearest 0.2mm. I was unable to paste an image of records so typed below.
Monday 6th Mean temp 8.3 High temp 11.7 @13:30 Low temp 3.9 @ 06:00 rain 0.2mm
Tuesday7th Mean temp 9.3 High temp 12.1 @11:00 Low temp 4.1 @ 00:00 rain 3.6mm
Wednesd8th Mean temp 6.2 High temp 10.4 @14:00 Low temp 2.8 @ 07:00 rain 0.2mm
Thurs 9th Mean temp 10.4High temp 15.4 @12:00 Low temp 6.6 @ 00:30 rain 0.0mm
Friday10th Mean temp 10.9High temp 12.4 @13:00 Low temp 7.8 @ 00:30 rain 0.0mm

Professor Plant: This is very exciting Bulb Buddies, thank you for sharing. There’s lots you can do with this data, including finding the average temperature and rainfall for the whole of November! Once you have this, you can compare your data to the average for the UK!

 

Betws Primary School: I think that the spring bulbs are growing up faster than last year.

Professor Plant: You’ll have to watch your pots carefully, and let me know when you see the first signs of growth!

 

Auchenlodment Primary School: We are working hard to learn how to read scales and record the important data.

Professor Plant: Fantastic Bulb Buddies, you are doing a great job!

 

Ysgol San Sior: Great first week.

Professor Plant: I’m glad to hear it Bulb Buddies!

 

Arkholme CE Primary School: We are the first to record the weather and temperature and are bulbs are safely planted!!

Professor Plant: Fantastic Bulb Buddies, thank you for your hard work!

 

St Robert's R.C Primary School: Our first week of records Professor Plant from Dosbarth Seren.

Professor Plant: Diolch Dosbarth Seren, great work!

Ysgol Y Traeth: Mae hi wedi bwrw glaw yn Abermaw wythnos yma ond dydi hi ddim yn

ofnadwy o oer.

Athro’r Ardd: Diolch am rannu eich sylwadau, cadwch lan hefo’r gwaith da!

 

Ferryside V.C.P School: Roedd yn wythnos sych a'r tymheredd yn gyson.

Athro’r Ardd: Dda iawn Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn, diolch am rannu'ch sylwadau.

 

YGG Tonyrefail: Wedi mwynhau.

Athro’r Ardd: Rwy'n falch o glywed hynny Cyfeillion y Gwanwyn.