Well, it's been an interesting week or so - I've been trying to write about it but this blog has been down.

Anyway, after some good meetings last week in Bangor to talk about possible research projects, Wednesday was the Federation of Museums and Galleries in Wales AGM.  Much better known as the Fed.  Saves a load of oxygen and typing.  The most interesting things, apart from the guest speakers was the Contemporary Collections project and "Rhannu".  

Contemporary collecting does split the museum world.  Not only do people disagree about whether we should be collecting modern items at all (although this varies between institutions), but they differ on what "Contemporary" means.  Apparently in some places it means only in the last 10 years, but the Sports project which has been running for the last 18 months or so in Wales used items since 1950. That project, which resulted in a travelling exhibition around the country to highlight contemporary collecting, and for which I was a member of the steering group, was valuable in making heritage people think about collecting modern items (whatever that means).  Perhaps a national definition will arise.  When it's mentioned most people (non museum folk) often thing of computers and modern electronic gadgets, the objects that define the modern age, that separate generations.  The latest project, however, is on Natural History collections.  Considering most collections of this type seem to be stereotyped as Victorian collections of stuffed birds and insects on pins this may seem odd, but a contemporary natural collection may tell us more about the environment, climate change and ecosystems as we now understand them.  It'll be an interesting project.

Rhannu has a lot of potential - a meeting place, really, for museum professionals throughout the country to swap ideas, information, best (and sometimes not so good) practice and case studies. 

The good thing about working in Wales is the networks - there is a very good feeling of everyone in it together, people keeping in touch, support always being there.

Thursday's meeting at Llandudno Museum was an excellent opportunity for people to make known how they felt about the museum and how its future should be shaped.  Having just been awarded a contract to work on their collections and train up staff to work in collections management there (for which I must thank again the most excellent Helen Bradley) I'll be a part of the process which will look at the collections.  I'll be using the CyMAL Significance Model to highlight the stars of the collection and eventually this will lea to a re-interpretation of the museum's collections.  Exciting project, starting next week - can't wait!

The main notable thing about Friday's interview in Scarborough - apart from the fog pretty much all the way between Leeds and the coast - was the presentation that I had to give on an object from the stores and say how I'd use it in a Key Stage 2 education session.  There was a choice of 4 objects to choose from, but as soon as I saw them I knew what I wanted to use.

So the main thing I'll remember from Scarborough is a stuffed kakapo. See below.

Still working on the collections at Llangollen Museum, two months of that still to go.

Last word of the day, on contemporary collections.  When thinking about technology remember this:

Everyone who has ever lived, lived in the Modern Age.

Today has been another collections management day - training the Llangollen Museum staff in the use of their collections database, in their case, PastPerfect IV.  If you've used MODES, PastPerfect can be a bit of a shock to the system.  To be honest, its search functions aren't as good.  I admit I'm wondering if one of my bugbears about it is that it's an American product, so addresses and phone numbers that you need to input in the UK aren't in the right format - same for dates (ugh!) and there's no flexibility in the system.  Give me MODES Compact any day!  Anyway, having got to grips with it I've been able to give the training necessary for the staff to accession and search once my bit of the project has been completed.

Still two months and a bit to go at Llangollen - now searching for the next job.

Time for a major update - sorry for not updating this for ages but between work and being a bit unwell, it's been one of those things that have gone by the board - more posts to follow - little and often will be the policy from now on I think!

I've had a good time digging at Project Eliseg (for more info see: http://www.projecteliseg.org/).  The dig at the 9th Century Eliseg's Pillar near Llangollen was great experience and the finding of the late Neolithic / early Bronze Age cist burial was a major find, showing the length of settlement in the area.  Have a look at the videos on the website or on YouTube.  Sadly it looks like that's the last year of excavations at Eliseg, for the time being at least.  The cairn beneath the pillar will keep some of its secrets for a while yet.  There were also medieval and probable Iron Age burials, but they had either been disturbed or were empty.  Either way, it was nice having a bit of a dig and deal with the hard historical evidence in the ground before it is sanitised and "packaged" with conservation and interpretation.

My work at the Sir Henry Jones Museum is nearly done - just waiting for the replies from those people who have loaned items to the Museum and that'll be it.  The Forward Plan and Conservation Care Policy and Plan are done, and the Museum will be all ready for their Accreditation return in a month.  

I'm also looking to going on the CyMAL register of Museum Mentors, for which the preparation of the documents and all the help I've been giving to Llangollen and Llandudno Museums has been good practice.  Other projects await....

I must thank Sarah Paul, Collections Adviser of CyMAL for her help and support.  I've also been doing some work on Significance and sending this to Sarah for help with the new Significance Model that CyMAL will shortly be bringing out.  If you ever have any questions on your collections ask Sarah - she's brilliant.

Llangollen Museum is an ongoing project, but most of the collection is now described and properly catalogued using PastPerfect IV.  I'm training the staff next Wednesday, and then doing a talk on Roman pottery to the Llangollen Brownies in the evening.  

It's all varied and all go, isn't it?

Well, it's been a busy time.  The last week has been taken up with an archaeological dig - can't say where or what was found - or not - until I get the go ahead and the relevant authorities have had their say, but it's been a load of fun - even the shovelling what seemed like tons of soil from the spoil heaps. Then again, retrospect is a wonderful thing - wasn't so good when I was sweating buckets after an our of shovelling or mattocking.  I can say that I'll be doing it again at the end of the month at Eliseg's Pillar near Valle Crucis Abbey near Llangollen. Can also say that over the last week it's been good being on the same site as Stewart Ainsworth, probably better known from Time Team - he's the one who looks at the landscape and tells them what's been going on all along!  As someone who hasn't dug in a while it was good to get the trowel out.

I've been working mostly on Collections Management again, both at Llangollen and at the Sir Henry Jones Museum.  Once I've collected my thoughts I'll say more on the collections side.  Also just embarking on the main part of my AMA.  Did a good talk last night at Llandudno Museum on the use of MODES to the Friends of the Museum - many thanks to Richard, Debbie and Sian James, it was a good evening, even if I was exhausted after hot footing it from... wherever we were digging.

Most of what I'll be doing soon will be on the subject of Museum Accreditation - bust week next week when I'll know more of where I stand.

Thought I hadn't posted in a while - many apologies!

Well, I'm now into writing the documentation for the Syr Henry Jones Museum and well into the collections at Llangollen.  Again, the job is made by the items you find, everything from a sheep's skull to Samian ware.  

Good meeting with Sarah Paul of CyMAL, and Helen Bradley, looking at the Accreditation Standard and what it means in practical terms along with a look at the stores of Conwy Council  and some from the Syr Henry Jones Museum as well as a peek at the collections of Llandudno Museum.  Nearly finished my stint there - good to see a job to its end, and the report to the Friends and the Trustees will be worth all the digging around in boxes - or is it the other way round?

Sarah gave us good advice on the documentation needed for the museums and the various plans and policies needed for certain sizes of institution expected by accrediting bodies. Very pleasant meeting, helped by the fact that Sarah is one of the more knowledgeable people you'll every meet, good company, and that we were meeting in the cafe at the Mostyn Art Gallery - with some very good cake!  Thoroughly recommeneded if you're in Llandudno  - 2 mins from the station.  30 seconds in you run!

The weather has been pretty bad up here,but in comparison with many other places, we've got off lightly - the worst I've experienced were flooded roads between Llangernyw and Abergele and later just outside Llangollen.  Thankfully none of it put a damper on the International Eisteddfod - great to see choirs and bands on the streets of Llangollen despite the drizzle.  I'm not fit to judge their singing but 10/10 for determination.  Also it's pretty great working in an office where live music is going on outside.

Then again I'm going to forsake the office and storerooms for the outside a bit more this summer as I'll be doing a little digging this year - always great to do some practical archaeology.  Trowels out - and also, given the weather,the wellies!

Will be booking my place at the Museums Association Conference this week - a lovely couple of days in Edinburgh.  

The big news of the week up here really ought to be Susan Dalloe leaving Denbighshire this week.  A fantastic servant of the county, Susan has been at the heart of museums and heritage throughout the region as well as just Denbighshire.  As a committee member of the Federation of Museums and Galleries of Wales Susan has been a national figure who certainly deserves better than that she has been served with by the political masters in the county.  Better pastures await!  Added to which those who really know heritage in North Wales know what Susan has done for the Denbighshire sites, including all the independent museums that she has mentored and I must include my personal thanks for her part in developing my career in the heritage industry, which has been immense.  If I've learned how to do anything properly, I've learned it under her tutelage.  

Don't it always seem to go, you don't know what you've got til it's gone.

Good line for a song that...

Good day today at the Syr Henry Jones Museum - working on their documentation.  Interesting exhibition they have on at the moment - it's about E.H. Jones, Syr Henry's son who was an prisoner of the Turks after being captured during the Kut debacle in 1916.  His experiences are detailed in his excellent book "The Road to En-Dor", which I believe that Maj. Pat Reid mentions in "The Colditz Story" as being an inspiration for British escapers during the Second World War. 

At the museum you'd find out how E.H. Jones corresponded with his parents through postcards using a code of sorts - great story and another reason to go and check out this small but perfectly formed museum.  It's a tribute to the truly "hands-on" trustees of the Syr Henry Jones Museum that they have a vibrant exhibition programme and an immaculately kept museum. Have a trip up to Llangernyw and check it out - only a quarter of an hour or so from either Llanrwst or Abergele, and well worth it.

Very busy recently - in fact it’s been an interesting couple of weeks – now working on two main projects.  The first is at Llangollen Museum, where I’ve been awarded the contract as Documentations Officer – 3 days a week for the next few months making sure that their collections are fully up to date, correct and all with the proper images.  It’s similar to the work I’ve been doing in Llandudno in many respects, but with the added photography and scanning.  

It’s always good to look through collections like this – ok it’s not exactly “every day is like Christmas!”, but there is so much scope for the curious curator (good name for a book – or a tv series – someone commission it now, I’ll take 10%... maybe 20…).  Favourite find so far has been the log book that I’ve mentioned on the Llangollen Museum Facebook page –I’ve been asked to blog on my findings by the management.  It was the log book of and RAF pilot who had gone on to fly gliders and detailed his missions on D-Day, taking across a party from the Royal Ulster Rifles (my grandfather’s old regiment, albeit in the 14-18 war) and later in the Rhine Crossings.  

I’ll be doing a bit of museum management at Llangollen as well and the possibility of a little practical archaeology later in the summer too… looking forward to it.

The other project is at the Syr Henry Jones Museum, Llangernyw.  It’s one of those museums that can get overlooked because it’s in a village in the hills between Abergele and Llanrwst and is, at first glance, only on one topic – it’s the childhood home of the aforementioned Syr (Welsh spelling) Henry Jones, who went from mending shoes in his father’s workshop, to gaining the Chair of Philosophy at Glasgow, and the museum celebrates his life an works – it is certainly a good story of local boy makes good, but it also offers a snapshot of Welsh rural life in the nineteenth century and points out the importance of education in Welsh society at the time.  The museum is well worth the drive through some very pretty scenery.  I’ll be working on the museum’s collections management but also their forward plan and documentation as they prepare for their Accreditation return in the October tranche.  

I’ve been working on collections management a lot recently, so it will be good and useful to work on the strategic side of museums management. 

Today was also the launch of the People’s Collection in North-East Wales.  It’s great to see results of the work you’ve put in, even if it was over a year ago – or maybe it just seems it…  The launch was at Wrexham Museum, which meant that apart from catching up with my AMA mentor I was able to view the exhibition “To War with Wellington” based on Michael Crumplin’s private collection of Napoleonic memorabilia.  Unmissable if you’re anywhere near the area and a Napoleonic fan.  Which I am.  

On the subject of a year ago, tonight also saw the broadcast of Lost Routes of Britain with Griff Rhys Jones – glad Nantclwyd y Dre got some publicity – and also satisfying to see the on screen experts tell the viewing audience the odd thing that you told them off-camera just a few moments before!  I was just out of shot a few times too… a good experience and an amazing chance to publicise Nantclwyd y Dre, which ought to be better known and more visited.