Welcome to our Society and to our first newsletter

County Council Plans for the Provisions Market

Welcome to the first newsletter of the Llandeilo and District Civic Trust Society. Our aim is to keep members of the society informed about conservation issues, regeneration and developments affecting our beautiful and historic area. Future editions of the newsletter will be free to members of the society. We hope that you will enjoy the contents of the newsletter and we will be keen to include future contributions and letters from both members and non-members in future editions.

In the past the former Llandeilo Civic Trust Society has been responsible for launching the Llandeilo in Bloom project and for campaigning for action to reduce the heavy traffic passing through the centre of the town.

The society was re-established early in 2004 with a new name and expanded area of activity to include the neighbouring communities of Dyffryn Cennan, Llanfihangel Aberythych, Llangathen and Manordeilo & Salem. Please join us and add your voice to our efforts to improve the quality of life for all in the places where we live and work.

Leading architect to assist with society launch

The Society is delighted to announce that the renowned architect, Professor Malcolm Parry, has agreed to give a public lecture in support of the official launch of the Llandeilo and District Civic Trust Society.

Professor Parry was formerly the head of the Welsh School of Architecture. He broadcasts regularly on television and radio. In recent years he wrote and presented his own series On the House and made two BBC films on the architecture of Swansea and Pembrokeshire. Other recent productions include a documentary on the National Museum of Wales’ innovative House for the Future project. We are delighted that such a distinguished speaker has agreed to assist with the launch of the Society.

The launch was held at the Llandeilo Civic Hall on Thursday November 18th at 7.00pm. The lecture was followed by a cheese and wine reception.

County Council Plans for the Provisions Market

The Llandeilo Provisions Market in Carmarthen Street was built in the 1860s by the Stepney Gulston family. Structural improvements were made by the Llandeilo Urban Council in 1923 and it flourished during the early part of the 20th century with stallholders selling market garden produce as well as woollen and household goods.

In its ‘heyday’ concerts, including Gilbert and Sullivan operas, were frequently held in the market. However, it declined during the late 1960s and in the 1980s it was taken over by the Brockington Scott engineering firm. It has been empty since Brockington Scott moved their operations to Pontardulais.

The building is now owned by Carmarthenshire County Council and they are currently looking for potential occupiers. The L&D CT Society held a meeting with the Estates Department at the Market Hall in May where it learnt that the current preference is for the building to be converted to multifunctional business/office use. The Council are currently seeking funds to create several self-contained ’business units’ that will be arranged around a central ’atrium’.

The recent use of the Market as a venue for both the Llandeilo Festival and Ceramica Cymru demonstrates that the building still holds a central place in the life of the town.

A New Future for the Public Hall and Literary Institute?

Llandeilo Public Hall and Literary Institute is located on Rhosmaen Street, up an alley, next door to Fountain Fine Art. The building was originally a Calvanistic Methodist Chapel (the oldest in Llandeilo), built in 1788. In 1892 the Chapel authorities sold the freehold to six Trustees to hold in trust for the benefit of over a hundred people of Llandeilo specified in the deed of conveyance. Over the years the building has been used for the benefit of the community, as a Literary Institute, Library, Youth Club, Whist Drives, O.A.P. activities, Women’s Institute Market and currently as a thriving Snooker Club.

The L&D CT Society has been holding discussions with members of the Executive Committee of the Institute about possible ways of regenerating the building, so that it could become available for further use by the community, such as a heritage centre and museum.

The Llandeilo Heritage Group

We are please to report that the L&D CT Society is represented on a new group that has recently been established by the Llandeilo Town Council to promote the development of a heritage strategy for Llandeilo. The group has been formed in response to a Heritage Audit recently prepared by Cambria Archaeology on behalf of the Town Council.

The Audit proposed the development of a Llandeilo Town Heritage Interpretation Scheme including promotional leaflets, a town guidebook, a town trail and heritage interpretation panels. However, it also recognised the need to establish a forum for communication between the organisations that were already developing plans to promote aspects of the Town’s heritage such as the proposals for Dinefwr Park and to display copies of the Llandeilo Gospels in St Teilo’s.

The group also includes representatives from the National Trust, the Wildlife Trust, St Teilo’s Church, the County Council, The Heart of Wales Line Traveller’s Association, and the Llandeilo Festival.

Planned improvements for Llandeilo Railway Station

Members of the Executive Committee joined by members of the Heart of Wales Line Traveller’s Association and the Llandeilo 41 Club during a visit to Llandeilo Railway Station

In June the L&D CT Society organised a meeting with interested parties to discuss the future of the Railway Station. It was generally recognised that there was a need to improve the general appearance of the station which is such an important gateway to the town.

Computer-enhanced photographs have now been produced by local architect Paul Regan (who is a member of the Executive Committee of the Society). These show the effect that the introduction of appropriate railings and planting boxes would have upon visitor’s first impressions of the place.

Further changes could be made which, while less simple, would not be difficult to incorporate. These could include the facing of the existing walls to the steps from the Station in stonework and the improvement of the southern platform shelter by adding a slated pitched roof and cladding the blockwork in stone.

The L&D CT Society would now like to lead a campaign to turn some of these ideas into a reality.

Letters

Dear Editor,

On behalf of Llandeilo Town Council, we offer our very best wishes to the re-formed Civic Trust. We look forward to seeing the Society taking an active part in celebrating our wonderful historic town and its lovely surrounding area. Good things are happening in Llandeilo, and let's hope that with all the current initiatives we will see great improvements to benefit the whole area. Pob lwc i chi.

Ros Bellamy
Maer / Mayor, Cyngor Dref Llandeilo Fawr Town Council

Principal Objectives

The Llandeilo and District Civic Trust Society is an independently run branch of the Civic Trust for Wales.

The Civic Trust for Wales seeks to improve the quality of life for all, in the places where we live and work, by encouraging community action, good design, sustainable development, conserving and developing the built and historic environments, through partnership with: local government, business, industry and voluntary sectors, to bring about the regeneration of urban and rural communities.

YMUNWCH GYDA NI NAWR

Yr ydym yn falch iawn i gyhoeddi yr ennedigaeth yn 2004 o Gymdeithas Ymddiriedolaeth Ddinesig Llandeilo a’r Cylch. Bydd y Gymdeithas newydd yn cynnwys ardal fwy eang nag Ymddiriedolaeth Ddinesig Llandeilo ddiwethaf, felly fe fydd yn estyn buddion ei gwaith i ardaloedd cylchynol, a byddant yn cael eu cynrychioli am y tro cyntaf. Os hoffech chi wybod mwy am nodau a dyheadau yr Ymddiriedolaeth, neu os hoffech chi ein helpu yn ein gwaith ac ymuno gyda ni fel aelod, mae angen i ni glywed gennych chi, trwy gryfrwng y Saesneg neu’r Gymraeg.

Mae aelodaeth y Gymdeithas ar gael i bawb am y costau blynyddol canlynol - Oedolion £6.00 (£8.00 pâr teuluol), Hen Bobl £4.00 (£6.00 pâr teuluol), Iau £2.00, Corfforaethol £20.00

Cysylltwch gyda ni wrth ysgrifennu at: -Yr Ysgrifennydd, Cymdeithas Ymddiriedolaeth Ddinesig Llandeilo a’r Cylch, Neuadd Sir, Stryd Gaerfyrddin, Llandeilo, SA19 6AF. Mae ffurflenni aelodaeth ar gael hefyd o Lyfrgell Gyhoeddus Llandeilo.

JOIN US NOW

We are pleased to announce the formation in 2004 of the Llandeilo and District Civic Trust Society. The new Society will embrace a wider area than that covered by the former Llandeilo Civic Trust, thus extending the numerous benefits of its work to outlying districts which will now be represented for the first time. If you would like to know more about the aims and aspirations of the Trust, or would be interested in helping our work by becoming a member, we need to hear from you, be it through the medium of Welsh or English.

Membership of the Society is open to all and costs £6 a year for adults (£8 family couple), £4 for Senior citizens (£6 family couple), £2 junior and £20 corporate.

Membership forms can be obtained from the Secretary, The Shire Hall, Carmarthen Street, Llandeilo, SA19 6AF. They may also be collected from the Librarian, Llandeilo Public Library.

This newsletter is edited by Gwilym Hughes who can also be contacted at The Shire Hall, Carmarthen Street, Llandeilo, SA19 6AF. email gwilym@cambria.org.uk