: Ymgysylltu â'r Gymuned

Yn 2016 cefais alwad ffôn gan Nichola Thomas. Roedd ganddi fab, Rhys, a fyddai wrth ei fodd yn gwirfoddoli yn yr amgueddfa. Roedd yn ddwy ar bymtheg ac yn y coleg yn rhan-amser ac yn awtistig.

Fe benderfynon ni gwrdd â Rhys a Nichola i ddarganfod beth oedd ei ddiddordebau a sut y gallai helpu yn yr amgueddfa.

Roedd Rhys yn eithaf swil ar y dechrau ac ni ddywedodd lawer, ond cymerodd bopeth i mewn. Fe wnaethon ni gytuno ar gynllun fyddai’n gofyn iddo ddod am ddwy awr bob dydd Mercher o unarddeg o'r gloch tan un. Byddai Rhys yn fy helpu ar y bwrdd ‘trin gwrthrych’ a byddem yn annog ymwelwyr i ddal gwrthrychau o’r 1950au, 60au a’r 70au a siarad am eu hatgofion neu ddim ond dysgu am y gwrthrychau. Pethau fel ‘Green Shield Stamps’, cwponau sigaréts, hen eitemau trydanol a hen offer.

Nawr, nid oedd gan y mwyafrif o staff yr amgueddfa fawr o ddealltwriaeth o awtistiaeth, os o gwbl. Mae gan un ddynes, Suzanne, fab awtistig a gallai egluro pethau fel sut i gyfathrebu’n effeithiol â Rhys. Roeddem i gyd yn teimlo y dylem fod yn fwy gwybodus, felly cynigiwyd hyfforddiant ‘ymwybyddiaeth awtistiaeth’ i’r holl staff. Rwy'n credu bod pawb wedi cofrestru. Agorodd yr hyfforddiant ein llygaid i fyd awtistiaeth. Un pwynt enfawr a ddaeth allan o’r hyfforddiant oedd bod gan lawer o sefydliadau le ‘ymlacio’. Mae hyn ar gyfer unrhyw un sy'n teimlo'n bryderus neu dan straen neu sydd angen dianc o'r prysurdeb am dipyn. Fe wnaethon ni benderfynu bod angen rhywbeth fel hyn arnom yn yr amgueddfa.

Rhys Thomas, gwirfoddolwr Amgueddfa Genedlaethol y Glannau cerbyd trydan o gasgliad yr amgueddfa.

Erbyn hyn roedd Rhys wir wedi dechrau mwynhau ei amser yn y ‘gwaith’. Sylwodd pawb ar weddnewidiad go iawn wrth iddo ddod yn fwy allblyg a llai swil a dechrau sgyrsiau gyda dieithriaid llwyr yn rheolaidd. Gofynnom i Rhys ein helpu gyda dyluniad yr Ystafell Ymlacio. Roedd e’n wych - gan wneud argymhellion pwysig a hefyd bod yn llefarydd ar ein rhan am yr hyn yr oeddem yn ceisio'i gyflawni. Gwnaeth hyd yn oed nifer o ymddangosiadau ar sioe radio Wynne Evans. Daeth Rhys yn gymaint o ffefryn ar y sioe nes iddo wahodd Wynne i ddod i agor ein Hystafell Ymlacio yn swyddogol.

Erbyn hyn, mae Rhys yn mynychu coleg llawn amser, felly dim ond yn ystod y gwyliau y gall wirfoddoli yn yr amgueddfa. Rydyn ni bob amser wrth ein bodd yn ei weld ac mae wir yn ychwanegu rhywbeth arbennig at ein tîm. Mae ein Hystafell Ymlacio yn llwyddiant ysgubol ac yn cael ei defnyddio’n ddyddiol.

 

 

Ym mis Gorffennaf, cynhaliwyd y Grŵp Pontio’r Cenedlaethau cyntaf yn Big Pit. Nod y grŵp oedd dod â’r hen a’r ifanc ynghyd, chwalu’r rhwystrau rhwng cenedlaethau a chefnogi aelodau’r gymuned sy’n byw gyda dementia neu’n ei brofi.

Bob mis, mae thema wahanol ac mae pobl o bob oed yn dod at ei gilydd i rannu profiadau ac atgofion, weithiau i ddysgu rhywbeth newydd, ymweld â rhywle newydd neu am baned a chlonc.

Mae gennym nifer o wirfoddolwyr hen ac ifanc, gan gynnwys rhai sy’n byw gyda dementia.

Dyma Gavin a Kim. Mae Gavin yn berson iau sydd â dementia, ac yn ddiweddar mae wedi ymuno â ni fel gwirfoddolwr gweithredol ar gyfer y grŵp. Mae wedi arwain gweithgareddau celf hefyd.

O’r sesiynau cynnar, rydym wedi sylwi ar gynnydd sylweddol yn hyder pobl, a mae’r parodrwydd i rannu sgiliau, syniadau a gwybodaeth wedi tyfu o wythnos i wythnos. Mae cyfeillgarwch wedi datblygu ar draws y cenedlaethau, gyda phobl yn trefnu cymryd rhan mewn gweithgareddau cymdeithasol tu hwnt i sesiynau’r grŵp.

Os hoffech chi ymuno â’r grŵp fel gwirfoddolwr, neu os hoffech ragor o wybodaeth am y grŵp, cysylltwch â: gwirfoddoli@amgueddfacymru.ac.uk

Mewn partneriaeth â Chyngor Tref Blaenafon, gyda chymorth Hwb Ieuenctid Blaenafon a Western Power Distribution.

Dyma ddyfyniadau ac adborth gan aelodau a’u teuluoedd:

“[Mae Mam] wedi bod yn dweud wrtha i am y clwb, a dwi’n cael y teimlad ei bod wedi mwynhau ei phrynhawn yn fawr… roedd hi’n falch iawn o’i darluniau o’r pwll… mae hi wedi darlunio mwy yn y diwrnodau diwetha nag ers blynyddoedd! Mae hi wir yn hoffi cwrdd â phobl mae hi’n eu ’nabod am glonc”.

Adborth gan ferch i aelod Grŵp Pontio Cenedlaethau Blaenafon. Cafodd yr aelod strôc yn ddiweddar sydd wedi effeithio ar ei golwg felly mae hi wedi colli peth o’i hannibyniaeth.

“Dwi wastad yn mwynhau dod i’r grŵp. Rydych chi wastad yn gwneud i ni deimlo’n arbennig, ac mae cael bod gyda’r plant yn hyfryd. Maen nhw’n rhoi cip gwahanol i chi ar y byd. Gallwch chi deimlo’n unig yn y cartref, hyd yn oed pan mae llawer o bobl o’ch cwmpas. Alla i ddim diolch digon i chi gyd”.

Aelod rheolaidd o Grŵp Pontio Cenedlaethau Blaenafon, sy’n byw mewn cartref gofal.

“Codi i’r Wyneb - Brought to the Surface” is a project on freshwater snails led by the Museum’s Department of Natural Sciences, supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. For more information on the project I recommend reading; Shells at the Surface of “Brought to the Surface” (January, 2019) and “Brought to the Surface” Now in Full Flow (June, 2019). 

Ben and I have been busy since the last blog entry in June 2019! We took our project on tour, visiting a variety of different public events, training workshops and conferences. As a result, we have had the pleasure of engaging with a bunch of interesting people. 1,263 people to be exact! This has included professional consultants, scientific researchers, amateur naturalists, keen gardeners and more! We would like to thank you all so much! Your commentary and feedback has supported us on our way to producing an identification guide for environmentalists of all ages and backgrounds.

Snail Safari was one of our favourite public events of the last year. The bilingual educational workshop was designed for children aged 8-11 and was held at St Fagans National Museum of History. The purpose of the event, which consisted of two separate sessions, was to simulate and promote the type of work that we, as taxonomists, carry out at the museum.

For the introductory session we led the group on a safari to survey the ponds and lakes in the gardens at St Fagans. With nets and buckets the children collected freshwater snails to examine back at the classroom where, many of them were given a chance to use a microscope for the first time! The Gweithdy carpentry workshop served as an excellent impromptu laboratory with plenty of space for the group to lay out trays of pond water for sifting. The session ended with a lively competition to find the biggest and/or fastest snail. The enthusiasm displayed by the group impressed us so much, that we decided to kick it up a notch for the second session.

Inspired by Guess Who, Guess Whorl is a competitive card game in which players take turns asking questions about identifying features. The goal is to deduce the identity of a mystery freshwater snail species using the process of elimination, with questions such as, “Does your snail have a pointy shell?” or “Does the shell have stripes?”. The indoor Snail Safari session consisted of an exciting tournament to award the best taxonomist and Guess Whorl player in the group. Driven by the competitive element, the children became fascinated by our card game and the variety of different snail shells illustrated on the cards. With 17 species to guess from and 9 different identifying features, Guess Whorl kept us occupied for an entire afternoon!

By the end of the session, the group had learned about the differences between types of British pond snails and how to deduce and describe those differences in the same way as a taxonomist might. With some nets and buckets, a few laminated cards, and a bit of ‘thinking outside the box’ we delivered our favourite workshop yet.

Guess Whorl can now be used as a useful teaching tool for a variety of future public engagement events. With some adjustments, we think that the card game could be used for training purposes in identification courses for professionals as well as beginners!

We would like to thank Ian Daniel from St Fagans for his enthusiastic approach and brilliant improvisational skills. Thank you to the children from Ysgol Plasmawr, Ysgol Bro Edern, Ysgol Glantaf, and year 7,8 and 9 ladder group and platform group from Cardiff West Community High School, for taking part in our Snail Safari.

At this moment in time, museums across the world are launching initiatives to collect objects and personal stories relating to COVID-19.

This pandemic has raised a raft of questions for all museums, especially in relation to how they collect the current crisis in meaningful, ethical and sensitive ways. At Amgueddfa Cymru, we routinely collect the here and now (think Brexit, the Women's March etc.), but the enormity of this pandemic – its impact on individuals and communities across Wales – is unlike any other national event we have documented in recent decades.

Today, we launched a digital questionnaire as a first step towards creating a national COVID-19 collection at Amgueddfa Cymru, to be archived at St Fagans National Museum of History. With your help, through the questionnaire, we hope to collect personal stories (written testimony, photographs and films) from across the country to create a comprehensive picture of life in Wales during the lockdown and beyond. We will also use the responses to identify and collect objects which could, in the future, represent the 3D memory of COVID-19 in Wales.

By doing this, we are revisiting a collecting methodology which is rooted in the Museum’s history, and is indicative of the early collecting practices of Dr Iorwerth Peate – the first curator of St Fagans. In December 1937, Dr Peate, who at the time was based at the National Museum of Wales in Cathays Park, published a questionnaire which was sent to 493 respondents across Wales. Launched in a decade largely defined by economic hardship and unemployment, it asked participants to provide information about the domestic, public and cultural life of their local area. Although developed by Iorwerth Peate, the questionnaire’s introduction was penned by the Museum’s Director, Cyril Fox:

This questionnaire has been prepared in the hope that persons in each parish in Wales will study the life of that parish on the lines indicated therein… The pamphlet indicates the direction in which the Welsh public can help in the work of this Department and its National Museum… Photographs and drawings will be gladly received… It is hoped, moreover, that correspondents, once they have established contact, will keep in constant touch with the Museum so that the Department is kept well-informed of any developments which are relevant to its work.

In preparing the questionnaire, the Museum was effectively asking the people taking part to become regular informants, to use their community knowledge to assist with developing a collection which would later form the basis for the creation of the Welsh Folk Museum at St Fagans in 1948. 

Questionnaires and blank ‘answer books’ requesting information on a range of subject areas were in regular use by the Museum up until the 1980s, and today the responses received (almost 800 in total) form a significant part of the archive collection at St Fagans.

Another collecting method pioneered by the Museum under the direction of Iorwerth Peate was the collecting of oral testimony. Following a public appeal launched on BBC radio in March 1958, St Fagans embarked on the systematic collecting of oral traditions and dialects. The funds raised allowed the Museum to buy recording equipment to undertake the work, including an EMI TR51 portable recorder, and a DC/AC converter, with two acid batteries and yards of cable, to record people in remote areas without electricity. A Land Rover was also purchased, fitted-out with wooden units made by the Museum’s carpenter to house the recording equipment.

Today, we have over 12,000 recordings in the archive, and in recent years we have become a repository for oral histories collected by community groups and organisations across Wales – from Mencap Cymru to Merched y Wawr.

The Land Rover may be long gone, but recording people’s lived experiences is still an important part of the collecting work we do, now more than ever. We very much hope that the COVID-19 questionnaire, the first to be launched by the Museum in the digital age, will enable people experiencing the pandemic in Wales to share their own stories in their own words, and provide future generations with personal, first-hand accounts of this chapter in our history.

 

In my previous blog I explained what rafting bivalve shells are and how Caribbean bivalves are ending up on British and Irish shores attached to plastics. There are numerous records of non-native bivalves on plastics in the southwest of Ireland and England but nothing has yet been reported in Wales, which is something that I’m trying to rectify. To encourage recording I’m enlisting citizen scientists – volunteers from the general public – who can help to spot and identify these rafting species in Wales. But first of all, I want to check to see if there are rafting species turning up on our shores so I began talking to groups who already go out on the shores to survey, beach clean or educate.

 

In December 2019 I met with a fantastic group of people at PLANED in Narbeth. PLANED have excellent coastal community links and everyone I spoke to was enthusiastic and willing to incorporate the rafting bivalves project into their usual activities of beach cleans, foraging, outdoor activities or education.  They were keen to help record any rafting species that they discover and we talked about how to identify any bivalves found. Since then I have been working on an identification guide that I plan to develop with the help of these community groups.

 

In February 2020 I met up with 35 people at the Pembrokeshire Coast National Parks offices in Pembroke Dock. They were eager to learn more about non-native bivalves on plastics. After lunch, those daring enough braved the freezing temperatures and gales to carry out a mini beach clean at Freshwater West beach. We found a lot of large plastic items in less than half an hour which we brought back to the car park for a closer look. Even though there were a lot of pelagic goose barnacles (stalked crustaceans related to crabs and lobsters that attach to flotsam) on some items, proving that the items had been floating in the ocean for a long time, no non-native bivalves were found.

In early March two colleagues and I attended the annual Porcupine Marine Natural History Society’s

conference where I presented the project and had several more offers of eyes on the ground to record and test the identification guide, which is great news.  I’ve also set up a Facebook page where volunteers can post images of any suspected non-native bivalves for me to identify. I’m hoping to meet up with several more groups later in the year to ask them to look for these pesky hitchikers so we can find out if and where they are attempting a Welsh invasion!

If you would like to help record non-native bivalves on plastics on Welsh beaches then do contact me at Anna.Holmes@museumwales.ac.uk