Newsletter: January 2023

Happy New Year to all our followers and supporters!

We hit the ground running in January with plans for a busy year ahead. Our first month of 2023 has been full of visitors, online engagement and exciting new developments. We hope you can join us for more as the year progresses. Follow along on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, YouTube and our website for updates and new content.

Short story competition

The Royal Mint Museum short story competition is now live! There is a variety of information contained within the pages, there is an inspiration section where you can find ideas and stories about people and communities who have travelled across continents over time, there is an FAQ section for you to find out how to enter, information about the prizes and much more. There are also sections where you can meet our judge, our illustrator, and previous winners, even reading some of their stories. There is also a downloadable worksheet to help entrants on their writing journey, with other downloadable resources relating to coins from around the world.

Dates for your diary - the competition will be live and accepting entries from Monday 20th February to Friday 31st March. The winning writer will be presented with a voucher for £5,000 of school library books, and equipment from our friends at Peters, as well as a United Kingdom annual coin set for 2023. In addition, the story will be professionally illustrated by Chante Timothy. There will be an additional four ‘runner-up’ prizes and five ‘highly commended’. All the resources on the website are available in Welsh and story competition entries may be submitted in any language.

English language learners visit

The Museum team recently welcomed a number of adult English language learners and their tutor, Beth, in an event co-hosted by the Royal Mint Experience. Adult Learning Wales is a charity that is the largest provider of adult community learning in Wales, it provides relaxed and informal learning in partnership with other organisations and commits to inclusiveness, health and wellbeing, cultural enrichment and equality to improve and promote social justice and community engagement. The learners were originally from Ukraine, Jordan, Egypt, Morocco, Sudan, Ethiopia/Eritrea and Libya and enjoyed learning about the relationship the Royal Mint has with the coinage of their countries. As part of the English language qualification they are working towards, the learners have been asked to write a newspaper article based on their visit. We look forward to reading them.

Museum in a box

As of the end of January, our Jubilee Reminiscence Boxes have reached a grand total of 307 homes! This collection of boxes has been circulating around the United Kingdom since May of last year. In that time, they have travelled far and wide, from Ballymena to Canterbury, from Kirkcaldy to Tenby with an estimated 10,000 people having engaged in the sessions. The Museum team appreciate all the lovely feedback we receive from staff and residents. These photos from Wellington Vale Care Home, Hampshire, capture a reminiscence session in action. If you would like to see the places where our boxes are, have been and will be, please check out our map.

 

New trustee

We are pleased to announce the appointment of Mario Pisani to the Royal Mint Museum Board of Trustees.

Mario is Senior Civil Servant at His Majesty’s Treasury, where he currently serves as Deputy Director for the Financial Stability Group.

Since joining the Treasury in 2005, Mario has worked on a range of areas, including macroeconomics, public finance, international policy and communications. Between 2008 and 2011 he was Private Secretary to the Chancellor of the Exchequer. During 2006 Mario was seconded to the Financial Times, London.

Mario is also a Visiting Professor at King’s College London and sits on the Council of the Society of Professional Economists. He holds degrees in economics and is a qualified accountant.

We welcome Mario’s varied and extensive expertise and look forward to working closely with him in the years ahead.