Newsletter: March 2024

The Big Reminiscence Event

Earlier this month we held the Big Reminiscence Event in the Royal Mint Experience. Staff, former staff, and people from the local area came together to share stories and memories about the Royal Mint!

Our reminiscence boxes were available to interact with, we had a programme of short talks, objects to see and handle, people to chat with and special St David's Day deals in the cafe.

There were opportunities for people to chat to the Museum team and to book in oral history recordings and we brought a high-resolution scanner with us to digitise images of times past and add them into the collection.

Our thanks to all who attended. Building on the success of the event plans are now being made for a follow-up event in September. More information will be available soon!

Lego

This month our Education Manager was invited to be a judge for the Lego League competition.

A number of schools, both primary and secondary, competed at the regional heats held at St Fagans Museum and run by educational charity Engineering Education Scheme Wales.

The student teams had to deliver an innovation project and compete against the other teams with a Lego robot of their own design, completing a series of timed challenges.

The teams also had to deliver a presentation to the judging panel about their work. Many of the students had never presented to a panel before and there was an incredible level of confidence and teamwork on display.

Big congratulations to all the students taking part.

Work Experience

This month we were pleased to welcome Cerys Robinson to join our team for a two-week placement. Cerys is currently studying towards an undergraduate degree in History at the University of South Wales. She wanted to get some practical experience in the Museum environment as well as investigating potential career paths in the heritage sector.

During her time with us Cerys took part in education workshops for young people at the Royal Mint Experience, collections management activities and cataloguing, conducting research and answering public enquiries.

We enjoyed having her as part of the team and we wish her all the best for the future. If you would like to undertake a work experience or study placement at the Museum please reach out to us via our contact form for more details.

New Trustee

Our Board of Trustees welcomed a new member for his first board meeting in March. Andrew Mills, member of the Royal Mint Executive team, joined us as the new Trustee Representative of the Royal Mint Limited.

Andrew joined the Royal Mint in 2009 having previously held roles at a number of global private sector businesses (Kodak Limited, Eastman Kodak, ICI, De La Rue and Opsec Security) in sales and marketing and then general management.

He is accountable for the financial performance and strategy of the Currency Business within the Royal Mint, that includes United Kingdom circulating coin and overseas circulating coin, and chairs the Mint Directors Association Sustainability Sub-Committee.

Andrew became an Executive Director of the Royal Mint Limited in April 2016.

Podcast

Our podcast team has been extremely busy in the last few weeks as they reach out to interview more guests about the relationship between coinage and all things nautical. Topics discussed have been as broad as Britannia, the conservation of coins from shipwrecks, the difficulties of raising a wreck, maritime trade in the 17th century and the significance of ships on Tudor coinage.

We would like to thank all of the recent interviewees for their time and expertise. Our hardworking team now have just a handful of discussions remaining before the job of editing begins and the podcast launches in June wherever you get your favourite shows. We’ll see you there!