ITP team highlights from our week in Cardiff
Last week, the ITP team travelled to Cardiff to attend the Museums Association Conference 2025. Alongside the conference, part of the programme for the week included visits to museums in Cardiff and across the South Wales region. Here are some of our highlights from the week…
Deliberately deliberative: Birmingham Museums Trust citizens’ jury
Written by Claire Messenger, ITP Manager
During the Museums Association Conference 2025 I had the opportunity to be part of a session which shared how a citizens’ jury was delivered by Birmingham Museums Trust (BMT).
Deliberately deliberative focussed on part of BMT’s strategic plan, which was to create a citizens’ jury, which brought together a representative group of Birmingham citizens, to advise on the future role and direction of the trust.
The panel discussion included representatives of Birmingham Museums Trust (the commissioning body), Shared Future (the facilitator), and of the jury itself, who discussed the process and impact of BMT’s jury.
The session was hugely impactful. Bookended by short films of the jury members sharing their experiences and the knowledge gained, the discussion looked at BMT’s vital question for the future of the service….’what does Birmingham need and want from its museums, now and in the future; and what should Birmingham Museums Trust do to make these things happen?’
Two jury members were part of the panel discussion, and their personal stories highlighted perfectly the impact and value of working with local communities and how the voices of museum audiences – and potential audiences – can be fundamental to truly transformational change.
What struck me most were the partnerships created from the citizens’ jury experience – not just between members of the jury but with colleagues across BMT – and the impact of the project. One of the jury members shared, as her closing remarks, that in her 80 years this had been the most impactful experience of her life. What a way to close a session!!!
Through the link below you can learn more about the project, watch the films and download the final report.
https://www.birminghammuseums.org.uk/about/what-we-do/citizens-jury
(Above) Images of St Fagans, where the 2025 Museums Association Conference was held.
National Roman Legion Museum
Written by George Peckham, ITP Coordinator (Annual Programmes)
I did not know what to expect when we arrived at Caerleon, a quiet town on the outskirts of Newport in Wales. However, Caerleon is the site of a notable Roman legionary fortress, Isca Augusta, making the area of significant archaeological importance.
There were lots to see in Caerleon in a short amount of time, including the substantial remains of an amphitheatre and the remains of a Roman bathhouse, which has been made into an immersive museum. But the highlight for me was the National Roman Legion Museum, which displays a large collection of artefacts from the area. I was surprised by the sheer number of objects on display, including pottery, glass, mosaics, coins, and weaponry. In fact, the museum preserves and displays half a million objects from the old Roman fortresses which once made up this area of Wales.
(Top Left) Caerleon Roman Amphitheatre, (Bottom Left) Caerleon Roman Garden, (Right) National Roman Legion Museum.
Outside, the museum has recreated a Roman garden. Visitors can see how a garden in 43AD Britain may have looked, complete with fountains, garden furniture and other decorative features. In the centre of the garden, a functioning herb garden with labels that explained what the Romans would have used the different herbs and plants for.
Overall, I was pleasantly surprised by the Caerleon and the National Roman Legion Museum. I could see this being a great place for school groups who are learning about Roman Britain to visit.
Saint Fagans National Museum of History
Written by Amelia Kedge, ITP Coordinator (Legacy Projects)
(Above) Sain Ffagan, Saint Fagans National Museum of History.
One of my favourite places during our visit to Cardiff was St Fagans National Museum of History. The host institution for this year’s MA conference, St Fagans is Wales’s most popular heritage attraction. The huge site spans more than 100 acres and features a magnificent castle, a 16th century manor house, over 40 original historic buildings from Iron Age roundhouses to miners’ cottages, and a living collection of animals, plants and woodland.
St Fagans is a working museum, and interpreters deliver workshops and demonstrations bringing traditional crafts and activities to life. During the conference I attended a session called An Introduction to Farming… which may sound strange for a conference about museums! I learnt that St Fagans’s small team of dedicated farmers look after more than 150 animals, including sheep, cows and pigs, and are committed to championing heritage Welsh breeds. During the spring the museum runs school visits for children to observe lambing season.
The museum’s interpretation of history is inclusive and community focused. In the main museum site, contemporary displays explore social change, migration, and language, linking Wales’s past to its present. What stands out to me most is the way it centres everyday life, showing that history is not just about grand events or famous figures, but about communities, traditions, and resilience. For me, St Fagans is a model for how museums can preserve tangible and intangible heritage while remaining relevant and accessible to contemporary audiences – a true celebration of Welsh life in all its richness.
St Fagans National Museum of History | Museum Wales
Big Pit National Coal Museum
Written by Caitlin Noble, ITP Assistant
(Left to Right) The Pithead at Big Pit National Coal Museum; ‘Six Bells, Abertillery’ by L.S. Lowry, National Museum of Wales, Cardiff; Signs leading to King Coal exhibition bearing Welsh words, such as ‘hiraeth’, meaning ‘longing’.
Our recent visit to the Big Pit National Coal Museum in Blaenavon, was a moving exploration of Welsh industrial heritage nestled in the heart of the South Wales valleys. The site stands as a powerful testament to the nation’s coal-mining legacy and to the resilience of its people. The preserved pithead, winding gear, and historic buildings form a tangible archive of labour, community and identity. The immersive King Coal exhibition, approached by signs bearing evocative Welsh words such as ‘hiraeth’ (longing), ‘cartref’ (home), and ‘ffrindiau’ (friends) framed the visit through themes of memory, belonging and solidarity. Inside the exhibition – sound, film, and artefact merged to convey the lived experiences of miners with an emotional depth that situated personal testimony within a broader narrative of social and industrial transformation.
As part of the ‘Job-A-Knock’ tours the museum offers – we descended 90 feet underground into the tunnels of the former working mine. A humbling and intimate experience, the dark tunnel walls were infused with the stories of camaraderie, pride and endurance that define Welsh mining culture. Throughout the site, the honesty of the miner’s voices – spoken and written – offered a rare authenticity that blurred the boundary between past and present. For me, the experience resonated strongly with ‘perthyn’, the Welsh word for belonging, and the theme of this year’s MA conference. This was reinforced again at the National Museum of Cardiff – where L.S. Lowry’s ‘Six Bells, Abertillery’ captures the same valleys and terraced streets that surround Big Pit, just a few miles apart.
A living monument to Welsh history, Big Pit – in my opinion – represents those defining phrases, like ‘hiraeth’ and ‘perthyn’, that echo throughout all of Wales – its communities, histories and legacies.