"This project came about as a result of a chance encounter with an old sea dog.
Some years ago there was an exhibition at Ceredigion Museum, Aberystwyth about the history and working of the Royal National Lifeboat Institute.
One of the exhibitors was an old sailor who spoke about many interesting aspects and adventures on the wild seas. Sadly he died a few months after the display and it seems that his stories and memoires were lost forever.
This inspired us to apply to 'Its your community' to find funding so that we could purchase recording equipment. Being a local authority museum situated in the centre of a small seaside town we attempt to engage with the history, memories and interests of the people who live and work along the sixty mile coast of Ceredigion.
We have recently been redesigning our main sea faring display and it seemed important to include missing aspects of that history.
Ceredigion Museum has a beautiful collection of paintings and objects related to shipping and the sea but the display also needed to include other elements of information. It was thought that sound would help interpret those missing histories.
Four key elements were identified to make up the project.
Besides recording historians William Troughton and Gerald Morgan talking about imports and exports as well as emigration from mid Wales Stuart recorded local singers and choirs. Helped by Anna Evans of Aberystwyth recordings were also made of adventures on the high seas and rescues by the RNLI. Another layer to the project involved recording local legends in both Welsh and English.
We searched and found local choirs and solo artists who sang songs related to our theme of the sea. This left only the myths and legends of the sea and we were fortunate to be able to call upon Sue Jones Davies who helped bring to life the classic tales of our local heritage.
Even though we display old and interesting objects related to our history we also inspire new work. It felt important to include contemporary sounds in our recordings so besides having the Aberystwyth male voice choir singing an old sea song we also recorded Borth choir, who sing the contemporary works of their conductor, Nick Jones.
Wales is famous for its choirs and these are two of the best in the area. But I know there are other choirs that I must record too so please contact me if you have any sea shanties or sea songs in your repertoire. I want to gather local voices that reflect the range of talent in our community.
By making these voices available in the displays the visiting public can enjoy another dimension of the history and culture of this area that would not necessarily be available to them.
We are fortunate in that the museum collection is housed in and old Edwardian theatre with a stage, and this lends itself to the more theatrical displays. We opened the new displays by hosting a concert of those who took part in the project singing on the stage.
The support from the 02 grant went towards purchasing recording and play back equipment. All those who took part including speakers, choirs, soloists, readers, actors, adults and children made the project a huge success and enabled visitors to the museum to enjoy another aspect of our local culture.
The equipment from 02 will be used in the future to collect and record other stories and we are already working with a group of young people on the idea of creating a sound trail to guide visitors around our historic harbour.
Other funding for this project came from CyMAL, Council of Museum, Libraries and Archives of Wales. Alongside the new sea faring display Ceredigion museum officially opened the new lead mining display, partly funded by The Spirit of the Miners fund. "
Article by Stuart Evans
