Ychydig dros bythefnos yn ôl, fe ddechreuais yn fy swydd yma yn Amgueddfa Cymru. Mae wedi bod yn gychwyn digon prysur wrth i mi fynd ati i gwrdd â staff ym mhob un o'n safleoedd ni, yn ogystal â mynychu dathliadau pen-blwydd Amgueddfa'r Glannau yn bump oed. Mae pawb wedi bod yn arbennig o groesawgar, ac rydw i'n falch iawn o gael y cyfle i arwain sefydliad sydd mor uchel ei barch.

Rydw i wedi ymuno ag Amgueddfa Cymru ar adeg gyffrous iawn. Mae datblygiadau ar droed i greu Amgueddfa Hanes yn Sain Ffagan ac i droi llawr cyntaf Amgueddfa Genedlaethol Caerdydd yn Amgueddfa Gelf Genedlaethol i Gymru - disgwylir y bydd y gwaith yma wedi'i gwblhau ym mis Gorffennaf 2011. Dros y misoedd nesaf, byddaf i'n cefnogi cynnydd y projectau yma yn ogystal ag yn cadarnhau'r neges bod Amgueddfa Cymru yn adnodd modern ar gyfer Cymru. Swyddogaeth yr Amgueddfeydd Cenedlaethol yw gwasanaethu pobl Cymru, ac un ffordd o lwyddo i roi'r weledigaeth yma ar waith yw ffurfio partneriaethau diwylliannol. O ystyried sefyllfa ariannol y wlad ar hyn o bryd, mae'r dull yma yn bwysicach fyth.

Wythnos diwethaf, lansiwyd ein dogfen Ysbrydoli Cymru

yn y Senedd. Mae dysgu wrth wraidd popeth a wna Amgueddfa Cymru ac mae'r papur yma'n dathlu'r gwaith yma, a'n gweledigaeth ni o fod yn amgueddfa ddysg o safon ryngwladol. Mae'r llyfryn yn dangos sut mae ein gwaith o ddehongli a chyfathrebu ein casgliadau i bobl Cymru, a'i hymwelwyr, yr un mor bwysig â bod yn geidwaid i gasgliadau'r genedl.

Mae Amgueddfa Cymru yn unigryw ymysg amgueddfeydd cenedlaethol yr Ynysoedd Prydeinig oherwydd ei amrywiaeth o safleoedd a hefyd eu cysylltiad clos gyda'r cymunedau a'r rhanbarthau y maent yn rhan ohonynt. All yr un amgueddfa genedlaethol yn Llundain ddod yn agos at gyflawni hyn.

Mae'r casgliadau hefyd yn anhygoel o amrywiol yn eu hystod eang o ddisgyblaethau - o hanes cymdeithasol i gelf, o wyddoniaeth natur i hanes diwydiannol. Mae hyn yn galluogi'r amgueddfa i apelio i gynulleidfa eang, gyda chydbwysedd rhwng y rhywiau - sydd eto'n wahanol i rai amgueddfeydd yn Llundain!

Mae'r cyfle i weithio yn un o'r prif amgueddfeydd Celtaidd yn apelio'n fawr imi. A minnau wedi fy ngeni ym Melffast, ac wedi astudio Archaeoleg a Hanes Iwerddon yn yr Alban, rwyf yn falch o gael y cyfle nawr i ddysgu mwy about am ddiwylliant a hanes Cymru.

We've convened a crisis meeting of the Forum's members in order to draw up a planned response to the Government's National Development Plan - the Plan with no chapter on housing. Members also looked at the Position Statement I'd drafted the week before, which we're placing in the Times of Zambia - a government paper, so we altered the tone a little bit!

I spent the rest of the week visiting members to carry out the baseline survey. The week was sort of topped and tailed by highlights. At the beginning we visited two women's co-operatives in rural areas, teaching women skills like brick-making and land rights issues. The week ended, however, with a visit I'll never forget. If I said I enjoyed it that would be inappropriate - nobody could enjoy seeing the appalling circumstances some people live in. We visited two compounds, one in Lusaka and one 200 miles north in Kitwe, to conduct focus groups with the residents' committees. In Lusaka, about 2,000 people live in the compound in homes that range from breezeblock constructions to shacks that are collapsing around them. They draw water from shared taps located around the compound. Everywhere is dirt and dust. Some people, usually women, set up their own business, ranging from a single table with a few vegetables to brick-built grocery shops - and loads of hairdressers. I was taken to see the school, which was spotless and being repainted as I was there. A gang of schoolchildren, in their navy blue uniforms, were chatting and giggling on their way from school, just like a crowd of Cardiff schoolkids. Everywhere I went I was followed by a growing crowd of small children. At first they mutter 'muzungu' (white person) but when I wave at them I get dazzling smiles and waves back. And then when I attempt to greet them - 'muli shani' - they burst into laughter.

The residents' committees in both Lusaka and Kitwe are simply inspirational. They're politicised, aware, committed; they spoke in dialect but I continuously heard the words 'advocacy', 'sensitised' and 'empower'. They have the will, the intelligence and the inner resources to achieve what's needed to lift these communities out of abject poverty, if only the infrastructure we take for granted was put in place for them.

Some good news, after our crisis meeting my colleague secured a meeting at the Ministry of Finance the next morning, and a committment to revisit the Housing Chapter to try, with the NGO's help, to make fit for reinstatement in the National Plan. It's a start.

Final Natural History Open day – Wednesday 27^th October 2010

Members of the public will be given an intimate insight into the museum’s natural history collections next week. As part of the International Year of Biodiversity, the departments of Biodiversity and Systematic Biology along with Geology have been holding open days throughout the year to showcase the work that they do.

Museum experts in a wide range of fields, from bugs to beetles, dandelions to diatoms can all be found in the main hall along with a crazy array of critters from the national collections. Visitors can also sign up for a wide variety of behind the scenes tours where they will be able to find out more about the incredible collections that the museum holds and the research that we do.

I will be running tours of the large shell collection, showcasing some of the 2 million shell specimens that we hold as well as explaining some of the work that is carried out by our researchers. Other tours will take you round the Welsh National Herbarium, the amazing vertebrate collections with their primate skeletons and stuffed animals, the insect collections with butterfly specimens over a hundred years old, and the vast array of pickled animals in jars in our marine lab.

This is to be the final open day for this year, so don’t miss your chance! Come and meet the experts and take the opportunity for a unique trip behind the scenes. Book your tour place on the day - numbers are limited to 10-12 people on each tour. Tours are suitable for ages 8 and over, but unfortunately are unsuitable for people with limited mobility because of the stairs involved.

Jennifer Gallichan

For October and November 2010 we have opened a small exhibition in our main hall celebrating the diversity of fish found around the UK. These fish are all from our collections, with the oldest specimens going back to 1904.

To get these specimens usable for display we have had to do some conservation work. This has been as simple as cleaning the glass jar or Perspex display tank, to working on the specimen itself and changing the preservation fluid. How the fish has been preserved can affect its overall appearance and condition, but unfortunately whatever method we use the colour will be lost.

Many of the fish have been preserved in an alcohol solution, usually ethanol, which does result in shrinkage and the fish becoming very stiff. The preserving fluid can also become a very dark amber colour. This is due to materials such as lipids in the fish tissue being extracted out by the alcohol solution. However we know ethanol based preserving solutions work as the practice has been going on since the 1600’s! In more recent years we have found that it can also preserve DNA that is usable in modern molecular studies.

Another common preservative is formaldehyde, commonly called formalin. A diluted solution, usually of around 4% formaldehyde, has been used for over a century now. Formaldehyde causes chemical cross linking reactions in the biological tissues and this is termed ‘fixation’. Unfortunately formaldehyde does have problems, being pungent and potentially toxic to work with.

Some of the fish have also been preserved in a fluid called ‘Steedmans’. This is a mixture of propylene glycol (often used in anti freeze), a phenol (an aromatic organic chemical) and formaldehyde. This can preserve fish shape very well but there are concerns over its long term preservation properties.

For the main hall display all the preserving fluids were checked. All the specimens in formaldehyde and ‘Steedmans’ were moved to a safer alternative. This uses a chemical called DMDM Hydantoin which replaces the use of formaldehyde in everyday products such as shampoos and cosmetics and is much safer to work with.

Some of the specimens themselves needed some cleaning and tidying up. After years in a jar many had a build up of old proteins and fats on their surface. Other specimens had corrosion products on them from old metal tags that had been used for labels. Many of the specimens were also moved to more suitable glass jars.

The end result is an intriguing display highlighting specimens with fishy stories from the museums collections. The aim has been to make the specimens as accessible as possible so that visitors can get a close look at the preserved fish. The exhibition also represents the ongoing work that is required to care for the museums natural history collections for both now and the future.

Julian Carter