A CAMPAIGN has been a launched to help restore an historic building to its former glory.

Llanfyllin Mayor, Councillor Simon Baynes, has launched the Dolydd Preservation Trust’s campaign, Sponsor a Slate for the Master’s House.

The roof of the building, which stands at the heart of the old Llanfyllin Union Workhouse, is in poor condition, threatening the whole complex and the enterprises it houses.

Phase one will include thorough repairs and the reinstatement of the classical cupola which once crowned the house.

It will also include replacement of the missing floorboards of the top storey, stolen long ago, and the floor above the Meadows Gallery, which had to be dismantled owing to dry rot.

The roof is covered by around 10,000 Welsh slates in graduated sizes, and the trust aims to raise £10,000 towards the cost of repairs through the Sponsor a Slate appeal.

More than £6,000 has already been raised: a grant from the Architectural Heritage Fund helped to cover the cost of designs, schedules and consents as well as a bat survey, and a leaning chimney has been rebuilt.

The total cost of the scheme is £80,000 and funding applications are in progress.

For more information on the Sponsor a Slate Appeal, visit www.localgiving.com/sponsoraslate

The roof is thought so important that the Welsh National Roofing Centre, based at Caerphilly, will use it to offer training to its Level 3 students in Heritage Roofing from all over Wales.

At the launch of the appeal 325 slates were sponsored, including 100 by the Bodfach Trust.

Cllr Baynes said both he and Llanfyllin Town Council, had been very pleased to support the restoration of Y Dolydd over the years and were delighted by its progress

Trust chairman Iris Gordijn said that the trust was proud of its achievements and its contribution to conserving Llanfyllin’s heritage.

Anyone can sponsor slates by going on line to www.localgiving.com/sponsoraslate; sending a cheque or by donating direct to Llanfyllin Dolydd BPT Master’s House Appeal, sort code 40-30-13, Account No 91410598.

Names of sponsors will be recorded unless they prefer to remain anonymous, and ‘Super sponsors’ who sponsor 50 slates or more will appear on an honours board when work is completed.

The trust plans to start work on the roof in late August 2019, once the long-eared bats have completed their breeding cycle.

Later plans include internal improvements and the provision of a new entrance, toilets and a lift to the upper floors.

Y Dolydd already houses Wales’s only workhouse museum, open daily free of charge.