"For twenty years locals and visitors alike were fascinated by the exhibition 'Aberystwyth Yesterday'. This was the creation of Margaret Evans OBE who was a lifelong collector of everything associated with Aberystwyth.

When Mrs. Margaret Evans died in 1996 the Aberystwyth Yesterday collection was put into store. It had been displayed in the old railway station and the building had become unsafe.

Ceredigion Museum was asked to help with cleaning and documenting the collection. We packed it away and have been storing it in suitable conditions since that time.'

This new temporary display called Hidden Treasures shows highlights from that collection and consists of items chosen by members of Ceredigion Museum staff.

The choices and the reasons for so choosing are eclectic and diverse, and reflect both the wide range of the collection and the preferences and interests of the museum staff.

There are six members of staff with one part time worker at the moment but we have a number of long-term volunteers and helpers. We all have very different interests and together we can claim to total over a hundred years of museum experience between us.

We have all chosen to display items which mean something special to us. This makes for a very wide ranging exhibition.

Mrs. Evans was an avid collector and was especially attracted to clothes and accessories. Mary Turner Lewis who has worked with the textiles collection for a number of years explains her choice for the show.

"I have chosen a small selection of the 400 hats from Margaret's collection. Hats were until relatively recently, an essential part our attire. They were worn to show the wearer's occupation, authority, rank and social standing, or in the case of the many women's black hats, to show that they were in mourning. Most of the hats date from the mid 19th century to the 1950s when hats began to lose their importance and popularity."

Besides choosing a number of hats Mary has also included a few dresses from various periods, she goes on to say: "This collection of costumes is my endeavor to re-create the gorgeous display of dresses etc. that greeted the visitor to the Aberystwyth Yesterday exhibition.

They illustrate the diversity of the changing fashions that accompanied the 19th and 20th century together with the changing roles of women in society which demanded simpler, more comfortable and practical forms of dress as females became more active in the workforce and public life."

Other items on show in the Hidden Treasures display include a Ferguson radio, a whicker bath chair, which might have been used on Aberystwyth promenade, a bright and colourful collection of 1920s and 30s ceramics by Clarice Cliff and Susie Cooper as well as some decorative fans, a Victorian dress and an old ice-cream cart advertising the Penguin Cafe.

I have chosen the ice cream cart which represents a number of interests of mine including the development of Aberystwyth as a seaside resort; the integration of incomers to the town, both permanent and transitional and the health of the community.

It is not known when ice cream was first made available in Aberystwyth. There were certainly ice cream stalls on the promenade from at least 1926 using ice supplied by Robert's Brewery, Trefechan.

After the Second World War there were four principal ice cream sellers in the town. One of which was Antoniazzi's of the Penguin Café, 8 Pier Street and 20 Terrace Road. They produced Italian style ice cream which was sold on the promenade from a three wheeler pedal cart operated by Tom Corri.

There was one awful time when the sale of ice-cream led to an outbreak of illness. Another ice cream seller called Bitchell's also operated from a mobile pedal cart.

Unfortunately, the sale of his ice cream during 1946 led to an outbreak of Typhoid in the town. It has been said that this was caused by the use of dirty dish-cloths, but it appears that that Bitchell's power supply failed and he was unable to heat up the cream properly before freezing it.

210 people contracted the disease and four died. The resulting bad national publicity reduced the number of visitors to Aberystwyth that summer and the following year.

The exhibition Hidden Treasures is housed in the main auditorium at the Coliseum and is free. Any other information can be obtained from contacting me at the museum."

Article by Michael Freeman