Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Gelli Aur (Golden Grove) Country Park owners are planning for a golden new future. This involves the provision of a high class art gallery along with extensive renovation of the park’s built environment. To enable these works half of the park’s 37-acres is closing to the public to allow for a start on the new developments. Twenty acres will remain open and the park expected to attract its usual large numbers of visitors over the Easter holiday weekend. Carmarthenshire County Council have been managing the estate under lease terms and have continued to do so in partnership with Golden Grove Trust which acquired the estate, buildings and Country Park in September, 2011. The Trust have long-term restoration, renovation and conservation plans which are under way. These will include: Restoration of the built environment; public access to art gallery and renovation of the historic landscape. Because of health and safety issues and security and insurance measures faced by the Trust while this...

The chief of the Healing The Wounds charity has criticised the Welsh Assembly Government and Health Minister Edwina Hart for snubbing the fund-raisers. The Executive Director of Healing the Wounds, the charity that is working to help Armed Forces Personnel, Veterans and their families in Wales, said he was desperately unhappy about the response of the WAG. “We have requested meetings with Health Minister Edwina Hart, but she has declined to speak to the charity,” said Kevin Richards. “Also, there was a distinct element of farce about our most recent meeting with the WAG’s officials.” The charity is still looking for suitable premises for a Welsh convalescent home and treatment facility for victims of PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder). Last week, the charity announced it had been forced to drop its plans to site a home at the historic Golden Grove Mansion House in the Tywi Valley. “The mansion has reached such a stage of dereliction that it is no longer viable for the project,” said...

The Healing The Wounds charity has been forced to drop its plan to develop the historic Golden Grove mansion in the Tywi Valley. But it has reassured supporters that it is continuing to work to help Armed Forces Personnel, Veterans and their families in Wales. The charity was launched in December of last year with an inspirational idea to turn the historic Tywi Valley mansion into a convalescent home and PTSD (post traumatic stress disorder) treatment facility. “Sadly, we now have to admit defeat on the Golden Grove front, but all our fund-raisers and supporters can be assured we are still working towards our aim of finding a suitable location for a convalescent home and treatment facility,” said Healing the Wounds Executive Director Kevin Richards. “The original idea to develop Golden Grove was ambitious, but we genuinely thought the site would have been ideal for the project. “As it is, more than a year has gone by since the charity’s launch and the condition of the mansion has deter...

The organisers of the Healing the Wounds Golden Grove Mansion Appeal have been bowled over by the response to a HTV Wales programme featuring their campaign. “It has made a huge difference to public awareness,” said Kevin Richards, Director of Healing the Wounds, the appeal fund which aims to turn the famous Golden Grove Mansion in the Tywi Valley into a convalescent home for the Armed Forces. “The appeal is already being talked about within the local community, but the HTV Wales Sharp End programme took us to a whole new, national level,” said Mr Richards. “The feedback to the programme has been tremendous. A lot of people out there are unaware of the difficulties our servicemen and servicewomen face when they return from the battlefields and when they try to rebuild their lives in the civilian community.” The programme presented the shock statistic (reported by the Howard League for Penal Reform) that as many as one in 10 of British soldiers who have fought overseas end up in jail af...