Fifteen heritage projects reach final of Heritage Angel Awards Wales

Fifteen outstanding examples of heritage achievement have been selected for a Heritage Angel Award by a panel of judges headed by Baroness Kay Andrews. Sponsored by the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, the awards will celebrate the work of volunteers, trainees, apprentices, young people and heritage professionals in repairing or rescuing historic buildings or making new discoveries.

Best Contribution to a Heritage Project by Young People

Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff
Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Carmarthenshire
Unloved Heritage – Ceredigion Heritage Youth Panel

In the ‘Young People’ category, the children of Thornhill Primary School, Cardiff, have been shortlisted for their Armistice Cantata, the musical they wrote to commemorate the end of the First World War, while the pupils of Ysgol Dyffryn Aman, Carmarthenshire have been shortlisted for their research honouring former pupils who had lost their lives in the same war, and the Unloved Heritage – Ceredigion Heritage Youth Panel have recorded the history of Llawrcwmbach, a traditional upland farmhouse.

Best Craftsperson or Apprentice on a Heritage Rescue or Repair Project

Rachael Cochrane and Liam Davies, Monmouth and Brecon Canal
Matthew Roberts and Brett Burnell, St Fagans
Hugh Haley, Yr Ysgwrn

The shortlist for Apprentice or Craftsperson award includes Rachael Cochrane and Liam Davies for their work restoring the Brynich Aqueduct over the River Usk on the Monmouth and Brecon Canal; Matthew Roberts and Brett Burnell, for their work on the construction at St Fagans of Llys Llywelyn, a reconstructed medieval hall based on the excavated remains of Prince Llywelyn’s hall at Llys Rhosyr near Newborough on Anglesey; and Hugh Haley, furniture conservationist, for his work restoring the war poet Hedd Wyn’s collection of bardic chairs, including Y Gadair Ddu (The Black Chair).

Best Heritage Research, Interpretation or Recording

Discovering Old Welsh Houses Group
The Lost World of the Welsh Chapel
Archif Menywod Cymru / Women’s Archive Wales

In the research category the shortlist includes the Discovering Old Welsh Houses Group, whose volunteers are transforming our knowledge of medieval Welsh houses; The Lost World of the Welsh Chapel project, which has made a photographic record of some 5,000 chapels; and Archif Menywod Cymru / Women’s Archive Wales, a rich archive of items relating to women’s history, including the experiences of women who worked in the manufacturing industries from 1945 to 1975.

Best Rescue of an Historic Building or Place (for projects under £5m)

Yr Ysgwrn, Trawsfynydd
Insole Court, Cardiff
Plas Kynaston, Cefn Mawr, Wrexham

The three shortlisted building restoration projects (under £5m) are Yr Ysgwrn, the home of the renowned Welsh poet, Ellis Humphrey Evans, better known by his bardic name, Hedd Wyn; Insole Court, the former home of one of Cardiff’s great coal-merchant families, saved by community effort; and Plas Kynaston, a Georgian house in the County Borough of Wrexham, now providing low-cost single bedroom apartments to meet local housing needs.

Best Major Regeneration of an Historic Building or Place (for projects in excess of £5m)

St Fagans, Cardiff
Glynn Vivian Art Gallery, Swansea
Cardigan Castle, Ceredigion

In the over £5m category the contenders for the award are the £30m redevelopment of Wales’s open-air Welsh history museum at St Fagans, Swansea’s Glynn Vivian Art Gallery and Cardigan Castle.

The winners in each category will be announced at the awards ceremony in Caerphilly Castle on Thursday 8 November. The five winners in each category will then be invited to the London awards ceremony on 27 November when an overall winner will be chosen from all the Angel Award winners in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.

Andrew Lloyd Webber said, ‘I applaud everyone who enters the Angel Awards and showcases the marvellous work they are doing to rescue and sustain our heritage’, while Baroness Andrews said, ‘The judges had a very difficult task picking just three in each category because of the passion, skill and commitment shown by all of the people and projects nominated for an award’.

END

Notes for Editors
Heritage Angel Awards Wales is a new Welsh awards scheme sponsored by the Andrew Lloyd-Webber Foundation.

About the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation
The Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation was set up by Andrew in 1992 to promote the arts, culture and heritage for the public benefit; since inception Andrew has been the principal provider of funding for all its charitable activities. In 2010, the Foundation embarked on an active grant giving programme and has now awarded grants of over £19.5m to support high quality training and personal development as well as other projects that make a real difference to enrich the quality of life both for individuals and within local communities. Significant grants include £3.5m to Arts Educational Schools, London to create a state of the art professional theatre, £2.4m to the Music in Secondary Schools Trust, £1m to The Architectural Heritage Fund, $1.3m to the American Theatre Wing and over £350,000 annually to fund 30 performing arts scholarships for talented students in financial need. http://andrewlloydwebberfoundation.com/

Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales are administering the Awards in Wales on behalf of the Heritage Angel Awards Wales Steering Group.

The steering group is made up of representatives of a number of Welsh organisations including Cadw, the National Trust, the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, the Heritage Lottery Fund, the Welsh Archaeological Trusts, the Council for British Archaeology Wales Cymru, the Institute of Historic Building Conservation, the Royal Society of Architects in Wales, Glandŵr Cymru – Canal and River Trust in Wales, and Wales Council for Voluntary Action.

The judges for the Awards are:

Baroness Kay Andrews, Chair of the Heritage Lottery Fund in Wales
Cefyn Burgess, the internationally renowned textile designer and artist known for his paintings of Welsh chapels.
Andrew Teilo, the actor who plays the part of Hywel Llywelyn in Pobol y Cwm, the long-running soap opera broadcast on Welsh-language station S4C.
Jamie Davies, a member of the Heritage Lottery Fund Committee for Wales and trustee of the Llŷn Maritime Museum.

Winners of the five categories will be announced at the Awards Ceremony. Rhys Mwyn (BBC Radio Cymru presenter, blogger and archaeologist, former singer with the Welsh band, ‘Anhrefn’) will present the Heritage Angel Awards Wales in Caerphilly Castle on Thursday 8 November.

The five categories are:

Best Contribution to a Heritage Project by Young People
Best Craftsperson or Apprentice on a Heritage Rescue or Repair Project
Best Heritage Research, Interpretation or Recording
Best Rescue of an Historic Building or Place for projects under £5m
Best Major Regeneration of an historic building or place for projects in excess of £5m

Images:
Images 1 & 2
Insole Court, Cardiff, before and after restoration by the volunteers of the Insole Court Trust

Images 3 & 4
Plas Kynaston, Wrexham, converted to much-needed housing by the Welsh Georgian Trust

Image 5
Rachael Cochrane, an apprentice with Glandŵr Cymru — the Canal and River Trust, working on the restoration of the Brynich Aqueduct, near Brecon

Image 6
Caerphilly Castle, venue for the Heritage Angel Awards Wales on Thursday 8 November 2018

Further images are available

Contact details:
Angharad Williams, Public Engagement Manager, Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales,
01970 621 237, angharad.williams@rcahmw.gov.uk

Mae’r datganiad hwn hefyd ar gael yn y Gymraeg.
This press release is also available in Welsh.