Newsletter: November 2023

Engineering students visit Llantrisant

The Museum is once again taking part in the Engineering Education Scheme Wales (EESW) project for sixth form students. This year we have been partnered by Howells School in Cardiff and the students have been set a real-life engineering challenge to solve.

The students will be working with engineers in the Royal Mint to come up with a working solution to automating part of the packaging process. The project is facilitated by the Museum’s Education Manager, Amy Williams, who recently organised a site visit for the team to meet with engineers in the factory.

The project will run until March 2024 when the students will present their project at the CREST Awards, which are run by the British Science Association, celebrating achievements in STEM.

Canteen Roadshow

The Royal Mint Museum always has lots of interesting things going on and this month we took some time out to share our work with our colleagues at the Royal Mint. Our team held a very successful ‘canteen roadshow’ in which we talked to people about what life was like for Mint workers in the past, and shared details about some of our upcoming projects.

We also shared some interactive activities, such as our reminiscence boxes, that have been sent out free to care homes for the past four years and highlights from our school workshops, including the opportunity for people to strike their own medieval coin.

Research at the National Archives

This month our Engagement and Information Officer, David Mason, spent a week researching at the National Archives in Kew, working through Royal Mint files dating back to the seventeenth century. Files and documents from the Royal Mint become a matter of public record after a specified period of time, and are stored centrally at the National Archives under the designation MINT. David’s current work involves examining the amounts of gold and silver brought into the Mint, melted and struck, from 1660 to 1700. This period is one of great technological and aesthetic advancement at the Mint, and his research will feed into the Museum’s forthcoming projects over the next year.

“It’s always great to be able to work through files at Kew. Some of these documents will have been examined only a handful of times since they were archived there, but all of them contain interesting data and figures. While some of them can seem a little dry – such as the ledger books recording the weight of gold brought in every month – even these are the basis of fascinating stories: why was the Mint striking more or less in any given month, and from where and whom was precious metal acquired for coining?”

Teachers’ event

This month the Museum and the Royal Mint Experience (RME) jointly hosted a teachers’ evening to showcase our exciting education offering for pupils ages 4-11. Our Education Manager, Amy Williams, talked through our workshops, which include Fakes and Forgeries, Making Money, Coin Designer and Time Travel Adventure. These are available through visits to the RME in Llantrisant, South Wales, online virtual visits and outreach to schools.

Over 30 teachers attended the event, most of whom had never previously visited the Royal Mint and were interested to see the range of workshops on offer. Due to the success of the evening, there are plans to run more next year. If you would like more information and to be added to the mailing list, please email your contact details to victoria.Long@royalmint.com

Civil Service Awards 2023

Congratulations to our Trustee Mario Pisani whose HM Treasury team has been shortlisted for the Prime Minister’s Award for Exceptional Public Service, as part of the Civil Service Awards 2023.

Mario, who became a Trustee of the Museum in December 2022, said "It’s fantastic to see our work recognised in the PM’s exceptional public service award category. As most of our work in the Civil Service, this was a true team effort, with colleagues from across HM Treasury - Financial Services, Fiscal, Private Office, Parliament Unit, International, EGU, Public Services, TLA, TOA and Finance - all involved across our London and Darlington sites." We wish Mario and his team the best of luck at the Awards Ceremony next month.