Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport visits Ceredigion

On Thursday, 15 December, 2022, Dawn Bowden MS, Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport visited Ceredigion Museum and Canolfan Alun R. Edwards in Aberystwyth. Mary Ellis, Head of Libraries and Archives at Welsh Government accompanied the Deputy Minister in Ceredigion.

Upon arrival at Aberystwyth, the Deputy Minister was met by Councillor Bryan Davies, Leader of Ceredigion County Council and Councillor Catrin M.S.Davies, Cabinet Member: Culture, Leisure and Customer Services. The Deputy Minister was warmly welcomed to Ceredigion Museum and introduced to Carrie Canham, Museum Curator and Non Davies, Corporate Manager for Culture.

The Deputy Minister was given an introduction to the Perthyn project which is being funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Perthyn, currently in its Development stage is an ambitious project that aims to ensure that every Ceredigion resident can find something in the museum collection that resonates with their sense of identity and values, regardless of their age, gender, ethnicity, beliefs, sexuality, ability or other characteristics that they identify with.

Deputy Minister for Arts and Sport, Dawn Bowden, said: “It’s been a pleasure to visit Aberystwyth today and to see some of the excellent work that’d being carried out by the dedicated staff of Ceredigion County Council – which gives people in the town an opportunity to learn, celebrate and commemorate the area’s history, heritage, culture and language. ”

The visit moved on to Canolfan Alun R.Edwards, Queen’s Square, Aberystwyth, where the Minister was met by Arwyn Morris, Corporate Lead Officer for Customer Contact and Emyr Lloyd, Assistant Librarian. The Deputy Minister was shown around the Library which is located on the ground and first floors of the building. Arwyn and Emyr shared the different ways of working during the pandemic such as the Click and Collect service, and the increase of ebooks during lockdown.

Helen Palmer, County Archivist, Information and Records Manager invited the Minister to view the Archives unit. The Minister saw some of the beautiful coloured maps. The maps are mostly very ancient but including a couple of new maps, created by local people to commemorate their walks during Lockdown, along with viewing some recipes from the Archives nineteenth century cookery book from the Webley Parry family.

Councillor Bryan Davies, Ceredigion County Council Leader said, “It was a pleasure to welcome the Deputy Minister here to Ceredigion and show some of the valuable arts that we have here.”