Pen Llŷn Ecomuseum (Ecoamgueddfa) at the Eisteddfod in Boduan

Aled Hughes was interviewed by Gwyn Jones, the Head of Oriel Plas Glyn y Weddw Gallery. As the three-year period of the LIVE project, which has funded the work of the Llŷn Ecomuseum over the past three years, has come to an end, it was great to be able to share the successes and the products of the project with the people of the area and with everyone who came to enjoy the buzz of the Ecomuseum stand. The aim of the Ecomuseum is to ensure that Pen Llŷn is respected as a home as well as a destination. You can find out more about the Ecomuseum on their websites: www.ecoamgueddfa.org and www.ecomuseumlive.eu. 

There was an extremely full schedule with 21 events in total, but there is no space to mention all of them here. One of the highlights was being able to host two of the county's schools every morning to display the backdrops that were created for the 'Gair Mewn Gwlân' (‘Word in Wool’) project.

Many of the products of the Ecomuseum were shared – the leaflets for learning Welsh, Welsh in the Eisteddfod, six leaflets from the Wildlife Safaris, and there was a session by Rhys Mwyn and Dr Kate Waddington discussing the relics from Meillionnydd near Rhiw which were displayed throughout the week, and they also launched a Tre'r Ceiri virtual tour (ecomuseumlive.eu) – a resource available as a permanent exhibition at Porth y Swnt.
 

Many launches!

Three books and a series of vlogs were launched during the week at the Eisteddfod:

 

CipLŷn – a book which is the peak of the LIVE project

CipLŷn is a volume that achieves two goals, namely presenting the Llŷn Ecomuseum to the nation and giving 14 ‘girls’ (‘merchaid’) from Llŷn the opportunity to share their experiences and feelings about their own square mile through words and pictures. It contains a record of their feelings towards the place of their birth, towards the community and about their desires and concerns about the future, giving us a glimpse of their life from day to day. The response to the book has been very enthusiastic locally and from beyond Wales. 

This is what Dr Jamie Davies from AHRC press had to say:
 

 

 

Gair mewn Gwlân / Word in Wool

'Project' is too vague a word to convey the true power of the work which was led by Chiefpoet Esyllt Maelor and which was recorded in this book through the funding of the Ecomuseum LIVE. 37 Gwynedd primary schools were able to put words and names on backdrops of squares that were knitted by people from around the world, but mainly from Gwynedd. 

Esyllt comments: “There are the names of gates and pools, caves and rocks, farms and wells, fields, rivers, heaps and quarry points. Pupils from the project's schools chose the names and then proceeded with the help of school friends to embroider, sew and place them on the backdrops. There are hours of labour of love here. And I haven't mentioned the poems yet! They are here between the pages waiting for you to turn to them.”

 

Dwdls Cymraeg – a book by Prof Oliver Turnbull.

This is a lovely little book recording Prof Oliver Turnbull's journey as he learns Welsh. Dr Einir Young was fascinated with the doodles at an event on St David's Day this year and offered to finance the publication of the book for three reasons:

i)    that they are such a great way to show that there is no 'correct' way of learning Welsh and that there is freedom for all speakers just found unique ways to remember words and constructions; 
ii)    that promoting the Welsh language is one of the main aims of the Ecomuseum;
iii)    and finally, that Nant Gwrtheyrn is one of the partners, where anyone can come and learn Welsh. It might be possible to learn Welsh anywhere in the world but in Pen Llŷn you can use Welsh naturally all day every day if you want.

 

Launching the Coastal Path and the Sailors’ Path vlogs

Over the past few months, Aled Hughes, one of the BBC Radio Cymru presenters, walked 110 miles/180km along the Llŷn Coastal Path from Trevor to Porthmadog, and the Sailors' Path from Abersoch to Nefyn. Aled came shared his experiences at the Ecomuseum stand and showed clips from some of his vlogs (there are 15 in all, about 9 minutes long and in Welsh with English subtitles. In them he shares interesting stories, together with interesting facts about the area).

The vlogs were produced in partnership between Aled Hughes, the Wales Coast Path and the Ecomuseum with LIVE funding.

The stand was designed and created by Gwenan Griffith who is sitting at the table in the background near the backdrops in the picture above. She is responsible for the website and the digital activities that have developed as a result of the Ecomuseum. Simply put – she is the 'brains behind the brand' and she will be the manager of the next aspect of the work (more information to share in due course!).

 

Ecoamgueddfa for all

The Ecomuseum stand had the opportunity to welcome a number of well-known people and share the vision of the Ecomuseum with them, including the former Archdruid, the Chiefpoet Myrddin ap Dafydd; the new Archdruid, Professor and Chiefpoet and Chiefwriter Mererid Hopwood; Professor Edmund Burke, Vice-Chancellor of Bangor University and Professor Andrew Edwards, Deputy Vice-Chancellor of Bangor University; Dyfrig Siencyn, Leader of Gwynedd Council; Marian Wyn Jones, Chair of the University Council; Liz Saville-Roberts, Member of Parliament for Dwyfor-Meirionydd; Mabon ap Gwynfor Member of Parliament Dwyfor-Meirionydd; Cefin Campbell and Jane Dodds, Members of Parliament for Mid and West Wales; Derek Walker, Future Generations Commissioner and his team.

 

But more importantly, hundreds of people from Llŷn and Eifionydd and beyond adopted our home on the field as their home, enjoying a cup of tea and a chat and meeting each other on our comfortable sofas!

In addition to this, Dr Einir Young took part in two panels – in the Future Generations Commissioner Session organized by Aberystwyth University discussing Tourism and the viability of the Welsh language, and with Dr Sara Parry from the Business School of Bangor University to discuss Sustainable Tourism at the University stall. Gwenan Griffith also spoke on Radio Cymru about the work more than once.

 

Researching and Teaching Archaeology at Bangor

The project has been invaluable to the research and teaching of Archaeology at Bangor University also, as Dr Kate Waddington comments:

“The LIVE Ecoamgueddfa project has created fantastic opportunities for archaeology staff and students in the School to engage with communities on the Llyn peninsula and to showcase some of the new archaeological research which is being carried out in this region. The Meillionydd pop-up exhibitions and talks, held at a number of sites within the Ecomuseum, were combined with a series of object handling workshops and 3D photographic modelling of Iron Age objects. These sessions - which were well-attended by school children of different ages as well as members of public with an interest in archaeology, crafts and art - led to many fascinating conversations about the interpretation of some of the objects. They also provided additional training opportunities and resources for our undergraduate and postgraduate students. The 3D photographic models have now been published online in a digital exhibition, enabling the artefact assemblage and research from this site to be more accessible: arcgis.com.

“Additional virtual reality resources have been created which further enhances the accessibility of some of the monuments in this region, including a new informative 360-degree tour of Tre'r Ceiri hillfort, which we launched recently as a permanent exhibition at the National Trust's Porth y Swnt in Aberdaron, and which is now available online (LIVE (Llŷn Eco-museum) | Bangor University). Two additional 360-degree degree virtual tours are near complete and will be published soon. We look forward to many more collaborations with the staff within the Ecomuseum!”

 

Further information

For more information, contact: g.h.griffith@bangor.ac.uk and e.m.young@bangor.ac.uk.

• LIVE (Llŷn Eco museum)
• Tre'r Ceiri Virtual Tour