National Waterfront Museum

Working for Victory: Welsh Industry and the First World War

• 11 October 2014 — 15 March 2015 *on now

The tens of thousands of Welshmen who went to fight in Europe during the 1914-18 war were supported by many thousands more who worked in essential industries, often joined by women for the first time in the workplace.

This exhibition looks at what they produced, how it contributed to the war effort and the impact of the war on Welsh industry.

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/whatson/?event_id=7672

Examining the effect of the Great War on Welsh industry, and the contribution of Welsh industry to Britain’s war effort.

Suitable for

• Any age

The Calch [lime] project investigates, preserves and interprets the limestone quarries and lime kilns at Herbert’s Quarry, near Brynamman. This exhibition examines the industry in Wales and what this community project has achieved.

Living by the Sea

• 31 January — 22 March 2015 *on now

Commissioned by the Port of Milford Haven, as part of Seafarers Awareness Week 2013, these portraits of people who make their living at sea, were taken by pupils from Milford Haven School to raise awareness of the contribution made by seafarers working in Pembrokeshire.

Suitable for

• Family friendly

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/whatson/?event_id=7674

Candelori is an Italian who moved to Llanelli in the 1950s to find work in the tinplate industry. He later took up sculpture as a hobby and became an accomplished creator of beautiful works.

This exhibition will focus on the two series of ‘Craftsman at work’ which he produced mainly in terracotta.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7908

Meeting and interviewing players, coaches, ground staff and fans, the pupils of Ysgol Pen y Bryn have curated this display - kicking off a build up to the Rugby World Cup later in the year.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7907

The Wallace & Gromit motorbike and sidecar is a replica of the model that appeared in the film A Close Shave.

This was the first time the W&G motorbike featured and was the first time we met Shaun the Sheep. Mike Prankerd restored and built the outfit himself between 2008 and 2009.

The W&G replica Top Bun bread van is a copy of the model van that appeared in the W&G film A Matter of Loaf and Death. Mike Prankerd restored and built the van during 2013 and 2014.

Both projects were built with the kind permission of the Wallace & Gromit people at Aardman Animations in Bristol.

Nick Park CBE, the inventor of Wallace & Gromit has seen and kept track of both projects and has given them both a big thumbs up.

The projects make regular visits to Bristol and have been used by Aardman Animations for charity and promotional work.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7905

A history of the Sandfields estate in Port Talbot, built to house the growing workforce of the town’s famous steelworks.

This exhibition has been produced as a collaborative project between pupils from Sandfields Comprehensive School, Swansea University, West Glamorgan Archive Service and the Museum.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7906

Explore the work of those teaching on the Foundation Art & Design course at the University of Wales, Trinity St David as they exhibit their skills as practitioners in areas including 3D design, animation, fashion and fine art. Curated by the Mission Gallery.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7917

Based on a major new study carried out by Swansea University, this exhibition will explore how disabled people were treated and viewed in the mining industry and the south Wales communities that relied on it. Find out about the dangers of a miner’s life before the NHS and ‘health and safety’.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7909

Drop in with your little ones to play, make, sing and meet Morys the Museum Mouse. Enjoy themed arts and crafts as well as bilingual songs and story time.

Ideal for those aged under five.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7868

A packed afternoon of inspiring demonstrations, hands on activities and jaw-dropping experiments!

Delivered by Materials: Live! Science Grrl and The South Wales Materials Association, Swansea University.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7874

Talk by Swansea University’s Dr Richie Wood about the contribution of women on the home front to the British war effort.

Organised by the Historical Association.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7873

Drop in to make your mum a lovely Mother’s Day flower magnet.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7875

Join the Swansea Astronomical Society and friends for a special springtime evening to celebrate the stargazing live season.

The team will guide you through how to use a telescope and no experience is necessary.

There will also be plenty of in-house activity including children’s crafts and special 3D film screenings to launch you to the stars and back.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7878

Join us as the Museum opens early for this extraordinary solar event showing the biggest eclipse for the next decade.

Despite being just off the path of totality as the moon passes between the earth and the sun, Britain will still be treated to one of the skies most amazing phenomena with over 80% coverage.

The Swansea Astronomical Society will be on hand to guide you through the morning and offer an enhanced view of the event through their safe solar telescopes.

Pre-booking for this event is advisable and will include a hot drink and a pair of solar glasses.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7877

Just in time for the clocks to spring forward, this fascinating horological talk will look at the stories behind the history of Swansea’s Tower clocks.By Mr David Mitchell, Fellow of the British Horological Institute. Organised by the Historical Association.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7881

In a galaxy far, far away two scientists will probe the fantastic frontier between movie magic and cutting-edge science. Star Wars conjures up images of spaceships, super-weapons and all sorts of visions of the future.

Purely science fiction? Author Mark Brake and TV science presenter Jon Chase will explain how one of the most successful epics in entertainment history may actually anticipate real-life future science, right here on Earth.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7882

Besides its set-piece political cartoon in each issue, the magazine Punch contained a mass of humorous images that illustrate the progress of the First World War from a social and cultural perspective. These provide a fascinating insight into changing attitudes towards both the conflict itself and life on the home front.

This illustrated lecture by Steph Mastoris, Head of the National Waterfront Museum, will discuss a number of the themes depicted in the Punch cartoons between 1914 and 1919.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7885

Join our holiday production line to write a post card, add extra print using our 19th century Stanhope letterpress and embellish it with your own custom made stamp using materials such as bubble wrap and string.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7886

Design an exciting fast car in this family drawing workshop and enter the competition for Art Across the City 2015.

The competition is inspired by a project by artist David Cushway, Locws International are working with him to create a scale model of a prototype for a land speed record car for Art Across the City 2015, Swansea’s annual public art festival which opens on 21 March 2015.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7861

Using a clever design and two pennies, make a balancing bird or butterfly to perch perfectly on the end of your finger (or nose!)

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7892

Discover the amazing colourful light shows that beam fleetingly across the sky in between our wet Welsh weather.

Led by TV’s science communicator Jon Chase and ideal for age seven and over.

Runs at 11:30, 13:00 and 15:00.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7893

Choose from a quirky selection of shades and pick the perfect one to give a new lease of life. Vintage fabric, buttons and embellishments will be on hand to help with the transformation.

Materials provided - all abilities welcome.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7895

Upcycle an old lamp shade into a gorgeous new creation. You can stick it, rip it, cover it or bling it!

Ideal for age seven and over.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7894

We welcome author, broadcaster and foreign correspondent Trevor Fishlock for a fascinating talk on his recent book dedicated to the lives of the famous Davies sisters.

Shy and fabulously wealthy, the Davies sisters poured their fortune into charity and famously collected a magical trove of paintings which they bequeathed to the Welsh nation.

However, for all their fortune and privilege, they lived lives honed by shyness and self-denial and haunted by love.

Trevor has worked on assignment in more than 70 countries and was staff correspondent of The Times in India and New York, and Moscow bureau chief for The Daily Telegraph. He has written books on Wales, India, Russia, America and on nineteenth-century exploration, and has presented more than 150 television programmes about life and history in Wales.

You will have the chance to buy Trevor’s book A Gift of Sunlightand have it signed by Trevor himself from 3.30pm onwards.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7897

This talk is an examination of King John’s concession of Magna Carta in June 1215 in its broader political context starting with a brief overview of the crises that punctuated English politics between 1214 and 1217.

It will then examine the three main groups of participants in these crises: the rebel factions who forced the king to the negotiating table in 1215 and opposed him in the ensuing civil war
their allies from France, Scotland and Wales
and the king’s supporters.

The talk will then use this discussion of the actors in these momentous events to assess the significance of the Great Charter for the people who created and opposed it.

By Prof Daniel Power, Head of History and Classics, Swansea University. Organised by the Historical Association.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7898

Inspired by the striking Adriano Canelori exhibition.

Create a figure at work then bring it to life through simple digital stop motion animation.

Suitable for age seven and over. Sessions run at 11:30 and 14:30 on the 18 and 19 April, and at 11:00 and 14:00 on the 6 and 7 June.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7899

Drop in to make a creative fluttering wind sock to whizz around in the wind.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7904

Museums at Night Science Special

• 15 May 2015 6:30-7:30pm

A chance for the whole family to engage with demonstrations and practical experiments in this fun interactive Lucky Dip show.
How do Polar bears keep warm?
How do you launch a tennis ball into space?
Answer these questions and many more with a tour of our scientific world (where you get to pick what we look at)!

Suitable for

• Any age

Admission

Vehicles of all kinds gather around the Museum for a celebration of rolling Wales.

From motorcycles, buses and trucks, to the Museum’s Sinclair C5 along with a special visit from Wallace & Gromit’s motorbike and sidecar.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7921

A talk by Cardiff University’s Professor Helen J Nicholson.

In May 1565 Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent attacked the island of Malta with 200 ships and 40,000 men. Ruled by the Knights of St John, Malta was the key to the control of the Mediterranean, the stepping stone to Sicily and southern Europe and only a few hundred religious warriors stood between Suleiman and the heart of Christendom.

How could the Knights of St John - long ago driven from their original home in Jerusalem - stand against the massed troops of the greatest general of the age? This lecture will follow the Knights of St John as they stood alone against the invader.

Organised by the Historical Association.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7919

See our working replica of the world’s first steam locomotive as we fire her up and drive her down the track.

On 21 February 1804, the original of this locomotive ran on the nine-mile tram road from Penydarren to Abercynon, hauling a load of ten tons of iron and about seventy people who hitched an unofficial ride!

This was the first recorded journey made by a steam locomotive on rails and would initiate a world-wide revolution in transport in the nineteenth century.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7922

Having a clear out? Offload your unwanted books and find a different collection in exchange. You can also swap your surplus plants and seedlings just in time for summer.

All books should be in good, readable condition and a book for a book token system will be in place.

With Oxfam Cymru

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7923

Meet CBBC’s The Blowfish, the world’s only heavy metal marine biologist as he takes you through the most brutal, epic, amazing and unexplained parts of the oceans greatest creatures.

In this show, The Blowfish will explain why it isn’t always the big toothy things that you should be scared of and will demonstrate how physics and chemistry interact with biology to create the most spectacular and seemingly-alien creatures on the planet.

With the benefit of some real, live undersea friends, and a good dose of heavy metal, you will walk out of the show with a whole new respect for the sea’s lesser known critters.

The Blowfish is a favourite on CBBC shows like Blue Peter, How to be Epic @ Everything and Absolute Genius with Dick & Dom. He is also a regular guest on This Morning (ITV1) and is resident wildlife expert on Sunday Brunch (Channel 4).

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7927

Meet our time travelling soldier to hear tales from the terrible trenches. Then get hands on with some wartime artefacts.  

Sessions run at 11:30, 13:00 and 14:30.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7933

Delve into our selection of recycled materials including vintage buttons and fabric, old maps and junk jewellery then upcycle them into a beautiful word for your wall. Then showcase them in a lovely selection of found frames.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7936

A walk and talk taking in the fascinating history of Swansea Marina. Led by John Ashley, local historian and author of Ashley’s Walks Around Swansea and Gower.

Please come properly prepared for the outdoors. Wear sturdy footwear and remember that conditions could be wet and slippery and the ground uneven. Taking part in the tour is at your own risk. We will aim to run this tour in most weather conditions but if unsure please contact (029) 2057 3600.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7934

Create an innovative embellished letter to spell a simple word using a selection of recycled items such as buttons, stencils, wallpaper and junk jewellery.

We then have a cool selection of old frames for you to add the finishing touch and make a statement for your bedroom wall.

Suitable for ages 7 and above.

Suitable for

Admission

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7935

Surrounding the Museum, view this superb Welsh Coach Rally, displaying the latest types of touring coaches along with classics from days gone by.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7942

A fascinating and unexpected insight into the history of Swansea city centre. Led by John Ashley, local historian and author of Ashley’s Walks Around Swansea and Gower.

Walking Rating: easy

Meeting point: Museum reception desk

Please come properly prepared for the outdoors. Wear sturdy footwear and remember that conditions could be wet and slippery and the ground uneven. Taking part in the tour is at your own risk. We will aim to run this tour in most weather conditions but if unsure please contact (029) 2057 3600.

Suitable for

Website

http://www.museumwales.ac.uk/swansea/whatson/?id=7945