Pick up some bargains and raise money for charity! Abergavenny Ladies’ Business Association (ALBA) is offering the the chance to get rid of your quality clutter and bid for bargains at an auction that will raise money for Plas Gunter Mansion and MIND Monmouthshire, the latter being ALBA’s charity of the year. Wednesday 1 st May 2024 Doors open 6.30pm for 7pm start (ends 9ish) King’s Arms Hotel Atrium (back) room, 29 Nevill St, Abergavenny NP7 5AA Tickets on the door: £7 (includes a glass of wine, beer or soft drink) All bargain-hunters welcome – even if you have nothing to donate - because we need buyers! 70% of proceeds to Plas Gunter Mansion* & 30% to MIND Monmouthshire The King’s Arms is kindly providing the venue for free for this charity event. Items for auction must be in good condition and full working order where applicable and things that sell well are antiques, small electricals, ornaments, jigsaws, pictures, picture frames, vouchers for services, unopened toiletries, gift sets, handbags, hats & scarves (etc). NB: no clothes, shoes or books. Drop-off points on the day (or bring along on the night): EH Accountancy: 1 Horsington’s Yard, Lion St, Abergavenny NP7 5PN King’s Arms: 29 Nevill St, Abergavenny NP7 5AA Please bring along plenty of cash! A card machine is available but this will incur charges and reduce the amount going to charity.

Our recent successful application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund means the Trust can get on with developing restoration plans for the building. But the month by month task of maintaining it and making sure Gunter's regular financial outgoings are covered continues. That's why we've launched the Gunter Jackpot! Pay £2 a month to be entered into a monthly prize draw and you could win £40. The Jackpot! is open to anyone and you can buy as many tickets as you like. The monthly prize draw will take place at the end of every month. Find out all the details and buy your tickets by clicking on the link to Gunter Jackpot! Good luck!

Plas Gunter Mansion has been awarded a £222,340 development grant by the National Lottery Heritage Fund to start the ball rolling to conserve and transform the house into a fascinating visitor experience. Plas Gunter Mansion Trust is receiving initial support from The National Lottery Heritage Fund to develop plans for a major project to renovate the 17 th century town house located in Cross Street in Abergavenny. Made possible by National Lottery players, the grant will allow the Trust to create detailed restoration plans, develop ideas, including events and activities, which engage more people in the heritage of Gunter Mansion whilst strengthening ties with the local community. It will also be used crucially, to seek over £600,000 of match funding to help deliver the overall vision. By carrying out targeted preparation the Trust will make a full application for a Heritage Fund delivery grant of £3.3m by December 2025. If successful, the delivery grant will enable the full project to begin. This will include essential conservation work and the creation of an exhibition space which will bring the mansion’s fascinating history alive for the community and visitors to Abergavenny. Two commercial spaces for local businesses in the building will also be upgraded so that they generate an income, helping the building to become financially sustainable. Physical work on the building is still over two years away, but eventually there will be a range of educational and social activities, including training for volunteers to act as guides for the exhibition, and the opportunity for an apprenticeship in traditional building crafts and conservation. At present it is anticipated that the refurbished building will re-open in 2027. Commenting on the award, Owen Davies, Chair of Plas Gunter Mansion Trust said: “The potential of our project to engage more people with heritage, boost the local economy and make Abergavenny a better place to live, work and visit is considerable. We will open the most historic parts of the building to the public for the first time and reveal a capsule of stories from the past 400 years. Local, national and international visitors will be able to learn more about the history and cultural identity of Abergavenny and its relevance to the wider themes of persecution, tolerance and sanctuary which are particularly pertinent today”. He added: “I’d also like to thank the local organisations which have supported us including Monmouthshire County Council, the Town Council, Our Lady and St Michael’s and St Mary’s churches, King Henry VIII School and teams of committed volunteers who have helped keep alive the dream of restoring the mansion for our community.” Andrew White, Director of Wales for The National Lottery Heritage Fund said: “We are delighted to support Plas Gunter Mansion Trust with this initial grant to help with the preservation of this important heritage building. Thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, this project will enable the Trust to work towards safeguarding this important local landmark for future generations and provide opportunities for its story to be shared.” 

The Trust's Annual General Meeting & Presentation took place on 16 November 2023. It was well-attended by around 30 supporters. The formal business of the AGM was followed by a presentation from the Trust's Chair, Owen Davies. He reviewed activities during the past year and gave the audience a glimpse of what the building may look like after the restoration. To find out more about what was discussed and for a glimpse of what the restored building may look like, click on the links below: AGM minutes Presentation and discussion

We are waiting for the Heritage Fund's decision about our £3.1 million application which we should receive in December. In the meantime, the Trust's attention has turned to our everyday finances and we've recognised that we need to do some serious fundraising. Context Costs are going up for the day-to-day running of the Trust, e.g. insurance costs, and our income is not keeping up with expenditure. There have also been a few unexpected one off costs, such as necessary electrical work. This is our immediate focus and we need to raise additional funds to cover our costs. If we are successful and get Heritage Fund funding, we will have to find match funding of around £600,000. We may also need more professional support, such as bookkeeping to manage the large sums of money. This is our longer term goal. We will go out to Trusts & Foundations as part of our fundraising plan but we will also need community support and we need to get into the habit of fundraising as a matter of course. A fundraising group made up of trustees and volunteers had its first meeting last week and discussed a range of suggestions including a lottery, merchandise, events and a social media campaign. We are in the process of firming up some of the ideas, but if you have any experience or interest in helping, or you have a brilliant idea, please get in touch at info@plasguntermansion.org.uk . One of the ways you could really help is by giving the Trust a regular monthly donation. You can do this easily at www.plasguntermansion.org.uk/donate .

The Trust is thrilled to announce that a full application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund has now been submitted! The application was extremely detailed with the Heritage Fund wanting to know what physical work we are planning and what activities we intend to run. We also had to demonstrate how we will include diverse audiences, what economic benefits the project will generate and how the project will continue to be sustainable after the funding stops. Fortunately, the work we did in the first half of the year looking at business planning, funding, audience development and interpretation answered all these questions and more. If you're not familiar with the plans, the building will be divided into four spaces: A visitor centre and exhibition, starting on the ground floor and taking in the most historically significant parts of the building on the first and second floors, including the ornate plasterwork ceiling and attic chapel. One commercial unit on the ground floor. One commercial unit on the ground and first floors. A flexible space on the centre of the first floor which can either be used commercially or by the Trust for various activities. There will also be a range of activities which may be run from the building or from other venues, aimed at bringing the Gunter story to groups of people who might not ordinarily be interested in this type of building. We want Gunter to be well-used locally and an essential tourist attraction for people visiting the town. The total cost of the development is now £3.1 million with us needing to raise around £600,000 from other sources and we will have to wait until December to find out if the application has been successful. Our consultants, Headland Design Associates and The Funding Centre , who were extremely helpful when we were putting together the application, have assured us that we are much better prepared than the majority of applicants, but of course there are no guarantees. If we are successful, we will go into a funded development period of about 18 months during which our plans will be finessed and finalised. We will commission a Conservation Plan which will advise us how to treat the building and how to maintain it after development, detailed architectural plans will be drawn up, exhibition interpretation will be explored and finalised, and activities will be tested and refined. We understand that development applications are often not successful the first time, but this is further than the project has ever got before so we will continue to prepare with all fingers and toes fully crossed.

We are eagerly awaiting the performance of Sanctuary: The Secrets of the Gunter Mansion , a new play by Contemporancient Theatre currently in rehearsal. You can see it at the Borough Theatre Abergavenny from 21 to 24 June. 

Over the past few months our consultants from Headland Design have being doing extensive research and have had many conversations with local community groups, with the intention of strengthening our application to the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Their work is now in its concluding stages and their proposals concern three main aspects of the project: Use of the building Identification of key stories Interpretive plan for an exhibition Use of the building The proposals are in fact very similar to our existing plans, but with one major difference: The previously proposed residential space on the first floor will now become an adaptable space to be used either commercially or by the Trust for various activities. This will provide far more flexibility for future use. Otherwise, our plans remain the same: A visitor centre and exhibition, starting on the ground floor and taking in the most historically significant parts of the building. Two commercial spaces on the ground and first floors to ensure a steady rental income for the Trust. Identification of key stories Headland have identified several key stories which may be told in the exhibition. These include the history of the building itself, the Gunter family, the chapel and the Catholic priests, and the connection to food, plus others. Some of our volunteers are currently consulting members of the public about which stories inspire the most interest. Interpretive plan for an exhibition It's been a long time coming but we have started looking at how the exhibition might look. The image above is a sneak preview of an initial idea for the Pomegranate Parlour, the first-floor room with the ornate plasterwork ceiling. Next steps Now that we have a good idea of the way forward, we have commissioned Morgan & Horowskyj, the local architects who have already worked on the project, to make some adjustments to their drawings. They will also arrange for the quantity surveyor to update their figures for the cost of renovating the building. This work should be complete in a few weeks and we will then be able to submit an Expression of Interest to the Heritage Fund. This is being prepared at the moment. Thanks  We would like to thank our funders, National Lottery Heritage Fund, Architectural Heritage Fund and Abergavenny Town Council, for believing in this project and the National Lottery players who have made it possible.

Our exhibition space in Cross Street opened on Saturday 4 March, new and transformed. New information boards guide visitors around the exhibition. Boards telling different aspects of the Gunter story have been grouped to make each part of the story easier to understand. You will also be able to see part of the original 17th century fireplace which has been revealed behind an acrylic panel. The dark panelled walls which were inherited from the previous retail unit, and which were quite distracting, have been replaced with a neutral varnished plywood. This was the most cost-effective option with reasonable longevity as we are still unsure how long it will be before we are able to undertake the restoration. The red and cream tiles haven't been dated yet, but it's likely they are Victorian and add another layer to Gunter's history. Visit us at 39a Cross Street, Abergavenny. The exhibition will be open on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays from 10.30am to 4.00pm. Come and let us know what you think of the new space!