: Gwirfoddoli

If you stroll through St Fagans National Museum of History in August you will be exposed to an exuberant display of color, texture and fragrance at the Dutch Garden. Located at the parterre next to the Castle, this is one of the most beautiful historic gardens in Wales!

As you walk through the symmetrical paths you will find a variety of grasses such as the impressive gold Stipa gigantea, the bright green Sesleria autumnalis and the graceful Sporobulous heterolepis surrounding the Cherub statues. These all add texture and the dreamlike feel to the garden. There is also plenty of colour in a palette of purple, blue and red from flowers contrasted with the gold and bright green of grasses. You will notice the Verbena bonariensis with tall stems and clusters of purple miniature flowers, the vigorous blue Geranium Rosanne and the Helenium Moerheim Beauty with dark orange red flowers amongst a variety of Sedums and other cultivars.

I suggest that you visit this magnificent garden through different seasons of the year as it goes through a magical transformation.

This garden has changed a lot over the years. The most recent design was created by our talented Deputy Head Gardener Ceri Goring and maintained by a team of gifted gardeners and volunteers. This sustainable and drought tolerant garden has been carefully planned to withstand dry summer months, saving not only water but also the gardener’s hosing time.

If you walk around the fountain on a warm summer day your senses will be awakened by the fragrance of the lavender hedges, the buzzing of the pollinating bees, the tranquil sound of the cascading water and the impressive visual display of one of the most beautiful gardens in Wales.

Back in 1998, long before I started my current job as Senior Textile Conservator at St Fagans National Museum of History, I spent two work experience placements at the museum, helping my predecessor Clare Stoughton-Harris.  I had just started on my 3-year post-grad course in Textile Conservation the previous year.  The course was based in apartments within Hampton Court Palace.  I saw an ad for a placement at St Fagans on the Centre’s noticeboard and decided to apply. A few weeks later, I found myself driving over to Cardiff to start my placement.

My first stint was for 3 weeks, over the Easter Holidays.  The work mainly consisted of preparing St Fagans castle for re-opening after refurbishment, so it involved a lot of surface cleaning, but we also got around to wet cleaning a carpet.  The image shows Clare sponging the carpet in the detergent bath in the studio. 

When I came back in the summer, my project was to improve the storage conditions of the shoe collection.  Most shoes were stored on open shelving, with several pairs stacked on top of each other.  Some were not wrapped at all and were gathering dust, and others were wrapped in yellowed newspaper as you can see in the 2 pictures below.  That’s me, unwrapping and examining some children’s shoes!

As they were, the shoes were also very inaccessible as it was impossible to know which pair was wrapped in each bundle of tissue paper.  So I remember assembling endless flat pack boxes and re-packing the shoes… so here they were in their lovely new storage boxes:

Once the contents of the Old Costume Store moved into the Collection Centre at St Fagans in 2008, the project was improved upon by adding thumbnail images of each pair, clearly attached to the outside of the box, so here they are in their current configuration!

From 1998, it took another 7 years, and jobs with the National Trust, in Norfolk, a private studio in Dublin and 2 years at the British Museum before I was became the Senior Textile Conservator at Amgueddfa Cymru. Now I have the occasional pleasure of overseeing students myself and can return the favour of giving them the chance to expand their experience and help them along their career path!

Written by Caitlin Jenkins, MSc Conservation Practice student, Cardiff University

I’m Caitlin, an MSc Conservation Practice student from Cardiff University and I have just finished my summer placement at National Museum Cardiff. I’ve been working with conservator Julian Carter on the natural history collections, with the last five weeks focused on preparations for the museum’s summer exhibition, Snakes!

The first week saw me elbow deep in jars full of snakes, as we worked our way through getting 32 fluid preserved specimens ready for display. Although the snakes had already undergone previous treatment, many were very old and in need of attention. After checking the jars’ condition, we added or replaced conservation fluid as required.

Many snakes needed to be rehomed in new jars. Some preservationists use wires or mountings, but we chose to follow the natural shape of the snake and its flexibility to guide its positioning within the jar. My favourite of the specimens was a grass snake that had been preserved in the act of eating a toad (with one leg dangling from its mouth...poor toad!)

I was also able to assist with preserving a new addition to this collection – a boa constrictor named Aeron. After formaldehyde injections and several fluid changes, we needed to find an extra-large shiny new jar, because he was over a metre long. Aeron has now bagged a starring role as the centrepiece of his display case. I really enjoyed this experience, and it has given me a fantastic insight into the complexities and potential of fluid preservation.

My other major project was the treatment of three snake models destined to be part of a large interactive exhibit within Snakes! Two were painted plaster models of a rattle snake and a king cobra. These incredibly detailed antiques were perhaps cast from real specimens. The third was a moulded rubber and polystyrene grass snake model from the 1960s. The models had survived in remarkably good condition given their age, they just needed a little ‘zhoosh’ to make them display-ready. Light brushing and swabbing with water and mild detergent was all that was needed to remove ingrained dust. Any loose or flaking areas were consolidated to ensure that they didn’t become further detached from the model.

Nevertheless, small elements were missing from each model. The grass snake model posed a specific conservation risk, as rubber and plastics can become unstable over time. Its tongue became fragmented during cleaning and unfortunately proved too badly degraded to reattach. Using photographs of the real-life snake species as a guide, I fashioned replacement tongues for this and the king cobra model from a strong plant-based fibre known as Japanese tissue. They were secured in place and painted to blend them into the jaw area. Being able to see the immediate improvement after each snake ‘facelift’ was very satisfying - this took cosmetic surgery to a whole new level!

Finally, the finished models were settled into their new home for the summer – a large interactive exhibit affectionately dubbed ‘the snake pit’. I’d become so immersed in their treatment over the last five weeks that I was kind of sad to see them go – but it was satisfying to see them looking their best and used in the spirit for which they were originally created.

I’ve really enjoyed working on Snakes! from preparation to completed display – it’s been a fantastic experience. If you are in the vicinity of the museum, pleasssse pay them a visit.

The exhibition runs till 15th September 2019, entry charges do apply, and all your contributions go towards bringing you even bigger and better exhibitions in the future. Please note that there is no live handling of the snakes within the exhibition, there will be a series of bookable handling sessions throughout the summer as well as a Venom themed Open Day in August. To find out more about all of this, go to our What's On page.

My name is Brian and I live in Talbot Green. When I was in school I used to do gardening in Y Pant. In the winter I used to help my dad in the garden.

I worked in Remploy in Tonyrefail for ten years starting in 1974. We used to do all sorts of jobs. Then I did four years in Llantrisant, and twenty five years in Porth. On Fridays we finished early and went to the pub for lunch. I retired in 2013. I have the opening plaque from when Remploy opened in Porth in 1988. The building has been demolished.

Since I retired I have done a computer course and a photography course. I have also done pottery and pop art, and I have a big collection of paintings that I have done.

I came to the Take Charge coffee morning in August 2018 and found out about the chance to help at The Secret Garden at St Fagans National Museum of History. That’s when I decided to start gardening again. I’ve learned about teamwork, we work here in a team.

I enjoy doing it, I feel happy. I look forward to coming out and abought especially. I feel tired after, but good tired. My favourite job is raking. I’ve learnt that I enjoy volunteering.

The Secret Garden is maintain and developed by Innovate Trust whose main work is to support people with learning disabilities, mental health issues and people with physical impairments.

Hi pawb, my name is Joe Lewis and I am a Learning Officer at St Fagans National Museum of History. I have been working for Amgueddfa Cymry - National Museum Wales for 10 years this year.

This year is also 10 years since the volunteering department was set up in National Museum Wales.

I began my career in Amgueddfa Cymru as a volunteer in the summer of 2009. I volunteered at the National Roman Legion Museum in Caerleon where I spent the summer dressed as a Roman and engaging with the public. After this experience I was asked to join the pool staff to help facilitate school sessions and public events.  

Between 2009 – 2011 I did a part-time Masters in Archaeology and volunteered for the Portable Antiquities Scheme, based at National Museum Cardiff. This volunteering role gave me experience in object photography and identification. It was through this experience that I was given the opportunity to catalogue an assemblage of Roman artefacts from Brecon Gaer Roman Fort. This gave me my dissertation topic and later the opportunity to publish 2 papers on Brecon Gaer.

Before I started volunteering at National Museum Wales I had been unemployed for several months and was suffering with depression. Volunteering helped to give me vital work and academic experience that helped me get a job and out of depression.

I owe a great deal to the volunteering department for giving me the opportunities I’ve had to lead me to where I am today. A massive thanks to them and a Happy 10^th Anniversary!