This project has grown so fast over the past year that we are currently constructing a new website specifically for it which should be launched in January 2022 – a link will be posted here soon!
An area of land near the centre of Llanidloes, is being leased by the Trust for the purpose of saving two buildings and setting up a community project in the heart of the town.
The Chapel and Hall – substantial buildings on the land – are both in need of renovation and conversion. So far the roof has been patched to prevent further damage in the short term and the buildings are being gradually cleared of all their rubbish.
A Community Garden has been growing on this site since 2014
The Trust had a consultation for local groups and people at the Minerva Centre in January 2019 . Thank you so much to everyone who came – it was such an amazing turn out! It was exciting to have some great contribution to the history of the buildings and some links with other projects around the country that are working well and we can learn from. So many great ideas for the future. The results have been collated by PAVO and a summary is published here.
Please keep in touch and keep the great ideas flooding in! – and there will be lots of opportunities for consultation as the project unfolds.
M.A. students from the Centre of Alternative Technology have looked at the town, engaging with the community to create some very exciting suggestions for a sustainable future. These are especially relevant with the town’s recent declaration of a climate emergency and the need to find ways to a more vibrant, low carbon future that increases community resilience. For us, William Harvey’s suggestions for the Fold were both incredibly imaginative and hugely inspiring. His ideas reflected our desire to create a space that truly brings all elements of the local community together. It reminded us of how important it is to engage the younger generation. Some of his plans are accessible here
We have put in a funding bid for the next stage of the project – To create the Hanging Gardens – a room that will build on the already established Community Garden and bring together many organisations working to establish greater biodiversity locally. It will provide local people with practical opportunities to help with local projects – and local farmers with volunteers to help implement changes that will make a real difference to the land around us.