New Kitchen Completed at Community Centre, Llanwrtyd Wells Station

We were delighted to welcome around 35 local people and dignitaries to the official opening of the new kitchen at Llanwrtyd Community Centre on Thursday, April 18^th, 2019, at 11am.

We were fortunate in receiving a grant of £12,000 from The Welsh Assembly Integrated Care Fund to renovate the old kitchen and bring it up to Health and Safety Standards.

The group is extremely grateful to Dominique Jones, Senior Partnership Manager with Powys County Council in particular for her assistance and support in gaining the grant, and were pleased she could join us for the occasion along with a Communications Officer Philip Stasiw who took a short video of the proceedings.

The Chairman of the Coffee Club committee, Eifion Lloyd welcomed everyone and began with a minute’s silence in memory of John Price who had recently passed away. John had worked on the railway both in Llanwrtyd and Llandovery in varying capacities over the years, and was the last Signalman at Llanwrtyd before the line became automated. Eifion then presented flowers to Sue Williams and Ella Mountford for their hard work in running the Heart of Wales Coffee Club before handing over to the Town Mayor for the official opening.

Councillor Lynda Pace-Avery thanked the Trustees for inviting her to officiate. She said that the renovation of the kitchen would reflect a new phase in the life of the building. Lynda went on to thank Kirsty Williams AM, Dominique Jones Senior Partnership Manager, Sue and Ella, and to all the other volunteers and drivers who give their time generously and enthusiastically. Lynda was presented with a basket of fresh flowers by Sue.

Visitors were invited to partake of refreshments, and view a display of art work done by some pupils from Ysgol Dôlafon especially for the event, and we are very grateful to those pupils and the staff for arranging this for us.

By courtesy of Network Rail the group are using the old Station Buildings, which have been completely renovated, to house the community centre which has a meeting room seating 12 people, a community room seating 20 people, an office with high speed broadband and printing facilities, toilets and a fully fitted kitchen. There is a small garden area, plenty of free parking and of course full access to the beautiful Heart of Wales Railway Line.

The centre is used regularly each Tuesday and Thursday as a coffee club for people of all age groups to encourage interaction and combat the isolation which is often prevalent in rural communities. Free transport can be arranged for people living within a two-mile radius of the centre which is on Station Road, Llanwrtyd Wells. The centre is also a service point for Red Kite Credit Union.

LWCT would like to offer sincere thanks to everyone involved in whatever capacity with the centre and opening day, not least Lynda Pace-Avery, Kirsty Williams AM, Dominique Jones, Network Rail and all our wonderful volunteers. Photographs courtesy of Chris Prichard.

Below are a few of the pictures the pupils of Ysgol Dolafon did for the event.