Welsh Journals

J. T. Morgan, one of the wholesale drapers. His first wife was so kind. I remember she would give the little samples of fabric to children to dress their dolls. There were a number of women members mainly wives and daughters, although there were a few women who were members in their own right, such as the Miss Kirklands. It was still a very male-dominated environment. Audrey Williams, the archaeologist, worked in the Museum when I was there. She was a wonderful person, so kind, and always so smart. She used to wear tailored suits. When she went out on a dig she wore trousers but always changed when she came back. She was friendly with Professor Grimes. They were excavating where the airport is. There are barrows under the concrete runways and she examined them before they built the aerodrome. She invited Sir Mortimer Wheeler here. He loved the Museum, and said, 'I hope this is going to last'. Her sister, Nancy, came in with her fiancé, Peter Williams, and they were so much in love Mrs Williams used to talk to me about archaeology. She knew so much, and she was quite willing to share. There was nothing shy about her. She knew who she was. She was always a smart woman I always remember she loved suits. You couldn't really tell how old she was; you felt she'd always look like that. She was very active and did a lot of work for the Museum that did give other women members some leeway. I feel quite strongly about that my grandmother, Catherine Griffiths, was a suffragette. Dylan Thomas came in sometimes. Mr Young said, 'If that Dylan Thomas comes in just ignore him. He's quite harmless.' He would walk in and straight to the gentlemen's toilet, where there was a chair he could sit in to sleep off his hangover. I was told just to let him be, but to be sure he left before I locked up. When I locked up at 7 o'clock I would have to bang on the door and call, 'Mr Thomas, you must come out now or I'm going to lock you in!' He would come out then. He was lovely, quite benign, and he had a glorious voice. The lecture room was used for the Royal Institution committee meetings; there were no lectures during the War. The younger members were in the services, and the older ones had their work cut out to keep the place going. Children used to sit their piano exams in the lecture room they were so nervous. All the children loved the stuffed elephant; it was part of the Museum. I remem- ber one day a man came in and gave a look at the elephant and screamed and ran down the steps. I think he must have been drunk, the rumour was that he was Dylan Thomas, but he wasn't. It is not true that the elephant was harmed by the Blitz. I was a Warden and I remember quite well where all the damage was. During the War I joined the Civil Defence. My area was from Castle Street to the bridge and down to the Museum. In the air raids I had to walk the streets in my area and get people into air raid shelters. During the Three Day Blitz I thought the whole world was on fire. You couldn't go to the centre of the town. I'd sometimes be up all night if there was a raid, then into work next day. I couldn't do that now but you can when you're young. When I'd done my patrol I would always look into the Museum to see if it was all right. Well, on the third night of the Great Blitz I went in. Of course it was quite dark. I only had a tiny torch but I felt my way around. I was looking for broken glass. I looked all round but every- thing seemed all right, so I went home to get a couple of hours sleep. Next morning