Agenda and minutes

AGREED that Councillors D W Davies and R V Smith be elected Vice Chairs of the Committee for the 2014/2015 Municipal Year.

 

Apologies for absence were received from Canon S J Ryan and

Councillor D W Davies.

 

In accordance with the Code of Conduct adopted by both Authorities, no

interests were declared.

 

To approve and sign as a correct record the Minutes of the meeting of the West Glamorgan Archives Committee held on 14 March 2014.

RESOLVED that the Minutes of the meeting of the West Glamorgan Archives

Committee held on 14 March 2014 be approved as a correct record subject to

the following amendment:

 

Add Councillor A Wingrave and delete Councillor J Dudley from the list of

Representatives of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council present.

 

Add Councillor J Dudley to the list of apologies and remove

Councillor A Wingrave.

 

REPORT OF THE COUNTY ARCHIVIST

 

Mr Kim Collis, County Archivist reported on the following matters:

 

SERVICE IMPROVEMENT

 

The County Archivist reported on the Service Business Improvement Action

Plan (BIAP) for 2014/2016. 

 

He detailed progress on the refinement and development of teacher’s

resources relating to the Wales Curriculum at Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3

on the subjects of Victorian Health, the First World War and World War II

Refugees.  He outlined that the Archive Service will be applying for Archives

Accreditation in the near future and informed members that the Richard

Burton Archives, Swansea University, had been the first service in Wales to

receive accreditation. 

 

He commented on the progress to improve the physical care of the archive

collections held in Neath Mechanics Institute and referred to the recent

upgrade undertaken to the heating system.

 

The Chair expressed his thanks and appreciation to Mrs Rosemary Davies who was retiring after 15 years with the Archive Service.  He wished her a long, happy and healthy retirement. 

 

SERVICE PERFORMANCE

 

The County Archivist reported on the number of visits to the Archives during

2013/14, which was almost exactly the same as in 2012/13.  It was added that

the Service was the fourteenth most visited archive service in the UK in

2012/13 out of a total of 126 services that responded to the CIPFA survey and

was still the busiest of the 13 local authority services in Wales by a factor of

more than 50%. 

 

SERVICE OUTREACH

 

The County Archivist referred to the recent publication of the Annual Report of

the County Archivist for 2013-14. 

 

AGREED that the link to the electronic version of the Annual Report be

forwarded to all Councillors.

 

The Chair referred to the marketing award won by the Archive Service for the

second year running and congratulated the County Archivist and his staff.

The County Archivist outlined a UNESCO award in respect of the Neath

Abbey Ironworks collection and further details were provided.

 

He also detailed the work carried out in relation to the centenary of the

commencement of the First World War and Members commented that the

celebrations should retain a local perspective.

 

Images of potential Christmas cards for the Service were circulated for

comment.

 

AGREED that the two Christmas cards for 2014 be the views showing

Mumbles Railway and Neath Castle.

 

ACCESSIONS OF ARCHIVES

 

The County Archivist detailed the various accessions received by the Service

during the last quarter. 

 

12^th September(Port Talbot), 12^th December(Swansea) & 13^th March(Neath)

All Fridays at 11.00am.

 

The dates of the meetings of the Committee for the remainder of the

Municipal Year were noted.