£2 million plan for new home for Carmarthenshire Archive Service


Carmarthenshire County Council will invest £2million to deliver a new purpose-built base for the Carmarthenshire Archive Service.
The council’s Executive Board today agreed to finance a new building at a preferred location, as an extension to the rear of Carmarthen Library.
Executive Board members heard how bringing the archive service into the town centre would bring additional footfall to the King Street area of town, whilst adding to its ‘cultural quarter’ ethos.
Several other sites had been considered, including Abergwili Museum and the Guildhall in Carmarthen, and Parc Howard in Llanelli.
It is seen as a positive step forward for the archive service, which has been affected by an outbreak of mould at its present base in Parc Myrddin.
The Collection is currently undergoing cleaning and is being returned to temporary storage at Glamorgan Archive and The Richard Burton Archive, Swansea.
Providing a new purpose-built repository in Carmarthen will allow the return of the archives, and also improved access with shared resources at the library.
Funding has been allocated from the council’s Capital Programme to finance a new building, and following Executive Board endorsement, council officers will now progress with detailed plans and costings for the site.
Cllr Meryl Gravell, Executive Board Member for Regeneration, said: “I’d like to thank the Friends of the Archives and the staff who have made this proposal possible. It’s great that a location has been found within Carmarthen Town Centre, which will provide a perfect link with other cultural services such as the library and art gallery, as well as being close to the car park and transport links.
“This is an exciting time for us as we are also in the process of digitising the archives to make them accessible not only to people locally, but worldwide.”

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Former Gower MP Gareth Wardell the guest speaker at Llanelli Rotary Club

Image
Former Gower MP Gareth Wardell was the guest speaker at the weekly meeting of Llanelli Rotary Club held at the Stradey Park Hotel. Mr Wardell gave an illuminating address, weaving comparisons between his job as a politician and his late father's job as a Tumble barber. It was an amusing, highly-entertaining and thought-provoking address. Mr Wardell, now 69, won the Gower constituency seat in a Parliamentary by-election in 1982. The Labour MP held the seat until his retirement in 1997. He now works as a public affairs consultant in Wales. Mr Wardell's Parliamentary term was largely in opposition to Margaret Thatcher's Conservative Government. But his did make a significant contribution by being the youngest MP to chair the Welsh Affairs Select Committee. Mr Wardell recognised that in the 'fame stakes' he may have played second fiddle to his father, Jack, who was one of the UK's oldest barbers and who cut and styled hair for almost 80 years. Jac
Read more

'Class of 1980' from Burry Port enjoy reunion

Image
There was a big class reunion held in Burry Port at the weekend. Members of the Class of 1980 from Porth Tywyn (Burry Port junior) School got together at The Coasting Pilot pub. The reunion was organised by Christine Rees and same 22 members of the original class of 28 turn up to discuss their old schooldays. One ‘Class of 1980’ member was Burry Port businessman Owain Davies. He said: “We all have very happy memories of our time in school. We had a fantastic teacher in Mr Heddwyn Jones, who now lives in Four Roads. “We were very fortunate to have the same teacher for three years and we were a very happy class. Mr Jones was an inspiring teacher and we all got on every well and we are all still good friends. “Heather Thomas (now Heather Osmond) made it from Surrey, but she was trumped by Gail Morris, who flew in from Ohio in the United States for the reunion. “It was a fantastic evening at the Coasting Pilot with good food, good wine and good company. We even recreated the class
Read more

Lauryn Davey is making her mark in athletics - but needs sponsors

Image
Ammanford-based Lauryn Davey is making a major mark in the world of Welsh athletics. At just 16, she is the best all-round athlete of her age in Wales. She's chalking up Welsh championship victories and has been honoured by her club, the Carmarthen Harriers. Lauryn's been earmarked as a future international star, but knows the road to the big championships is difficult, demanding and expensive. Ammanford businessman and well-known comic entertainer Phil Evans has launched a campaign to get cash backers for Lauryn's athletics career. "Everyone in the area is hugely proud of her achievements in athletics to date," said Phil. "But we also want to see her go on and do bigger and better things. "Together with some friends, I am helping find ways of generating much-needed sponsorship cash for Lauryn. "She has massive potential to succeed on the international stage and I am sure a little bit of financial help will help to smooth her
Read more