A £25,000 Heritage Lottery Fund Planning Grant towards a project to turn the Old Tannery at Machynlleth into an exciting new art gallery and sculpture space was announced this week.
And another £20,000 gift to the project from local businessman Peter Saunders, of Halo Foods, has also been revealed adding to the £50,000 left by the famous Welsh artist, Sir Kyffin Williams, earlier this year.
The heritage grant will enable th
e Machynlleth Tabernacle Trust to plan for the proposed development to meet the dramatic growth in demand for exhibition space.
The trust will be able to carry out a full archaeological survey of the Tannery and its site, to create a display of the tanning activities once carried out there, and to research how best the new gallery can serve the growing public interest in art that has become evident in the past 20 year since they first opened the Museum of Modern Art Wales in the town.
Ruth Lambert, chairman of the Tabernacle Trust, said: "The idea of turning a building that was formerly a major part of the agricultural life of the Dyfi valley into a magnificent new art gallery is an exciting aspect of the importance of preserving the nation's heritage.
"The character of the old will be preserved to serve the future. We are delighted that the Heritage Lottery Fund will help us do this."
The Trust opened the existing MOMA Wales 20 years ago in a converted shop next to The Tabernacle arts centre in Machynlleth with its galleries fully booked with exhibitions until 2009 while the Tabernacle Trust's own collection of Welsh 20th century Welsh paintings has grown, too.
Already MOMA Wales has more than 20,000 visitors each year from all over Wales, the UK and overseas, and the plans for the new gallery have caught the imagination of the public who have supported the Old Tannery fundraising activities with such enthusiasm.
The Old Tannery is a beautiful but decaying building just behind the current galleries.
The sale was agreed between the owner, local businessman Mr IG Owen, and the Tabernacle Trust in March 2002 so that it could be saved and restored and converted for public use rather than be developed commercially.
Fundraising began immediately as the sooner the money was raised the less interest there would be to pay on the £45,000 cost of the purchase.
The generosity of individuals, together with one or two highly respected grant-making trusts, astonished the trustees; and above all the dedicated work of the Friends of the Tabernacle to raise the money was crucial.
Concerts in Machynlleth and in London, auctions of stamp collections, horse-racing evenings, garden openings and the sale of famous wood engravings all played their part. Within three years the sale had been completed and the community had saved one of its finest old buildings.
A fascinating link with the industrial history of Machynlleth would be preserved while in its walls could be built a brilliant new art gallery and sculpture space in which the Tabernacle Collection will be exhibited.
Local historian Leslie Leigh carried out detailed research into the history of the tanning industry in Machynlleth and of the Old Tannery itself which will be invaluable in displaying the history and use of the building after restoration.
Discussions on the most extensive use of the proposed new gallery included talks with the then patron of the Friends of the Tabernacle, the late Sir Kyffin Williams, and with the National Library of Wales in Aberystwyth, where the majority of Sir Kyffin's paintings are held.
It was agreed that the Old Tannery gallery would also become an exhibition space for the Patagonia Collection, together with other major collections held by the National Library.
A fully-costed plan for the conversion of the Old Tannery was commissioned and the the success of the Heritage Lottery Fund grant application will be widely welcomed by all of those campaigning for the new gallery for contemporary Welsh art.
The Old Tannery Appeal was considerably boosted earlier this year when it was announced that Sir Kyffin Williams had given £50,000 to the Trust in his will.
The Peter Saunders Trust has also made a generous gift of £20,000 to support the Appeal, it was announced this week.
"The total cost of the conversion will be high but with the generous support of individuals such as Peter Saunders, and the continued efforts of all involved, I am confident that the new gallery will be in place in the near future," said Hugh Ramsbotham, secretary of the Old Tannery Appeal.
The full article contains 776 words and appears in n/a newspaper.
