During his royal tour to launch Project Start – which promotes sustainable living – HRH, The Prince of Wales accepted the community’s invitation to become patron of Llandovery’s first ever Sheep Festival – a celebration of the local love of all things sheep. HRH, The Prince of Wales showed his support for the new event by sporting a Love Llandovery Sheep Festival badge on his lapel as he gave his key note speech at the opening of Project Start at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales. As HRH, The Prince of Wales welcomed the crowd to Project Start he spoke of his pleasure in seeing sustainable development initiatives so close to his Welsh home, especially those being championed by local communities and individuals.
The Sheep Festival is the first initiative for the new Love Llandovery brand. The brand has been developed and supported by the Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority’s Collabor8 project working in partnership with Llandovery and District Chamber of Commerce. The full programme is available here Llandovery Sheep Festival 2010
HRH, The Prince of Wales said: “I am delighted to endorse a festival which celebrates the cultural heritage of Llandovery and shares it with visitors, whilst raising awareness of Welsh sheep farming and Welsh wool products.”
Llandovery Sheep Festival will run from Friday 24th to Sunday 26th September 2010 and coincides with National Wool Week; part of the Campaign for Wool which is also championed by His Royal Highness. As well as receiving support and guidance from the National Park Authority the Sheep Festival has received funding of £10,210 through the Rural Development Plan for Wales 2007/13, which is funded by Welsh Assembly Government and the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development. Barclays Bank and Lloyds TSB have also come on board as sponsors for the festival.
Fiona Walker, Chairman of Llandovery and District Chamber of Commerce said: “We are honoured that HRH, The Prince of Wales has accepted our invitation and we are really excited that this will help us to raise the profile of event and support what we have set out to achieve here.”
Nick Stewart the National Park’s Collabor8 Project Officer said: “HRH, The Prince of Wales’ endorsement is a real boost for the community-based approach to sustainable development that Llandovery has developed.”
Huw Morgan – a Member of Bannau Brycheiniog National Park Authority and a local farmer in the area echoed his assessment adding, “This is just the first event for Love Llandovery and the community already have a Royal supporter – Llandovery goes from strength to strength”.
If you would like to find out more about the Sheep Festival in Llandovery please contact Fiona Walker, Chairman of the Llandovery and District Chamber of Commerce on 07974 434 991.
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Pictures: Copyright of Carmarthenshire County Council
HRH, The Prince of Wales talking to Gill Wright and Fiona Walker, who were both representing the Llandovery Partnership at the National Botanic Gardens of Wales ‘Project Start’ launch last week.
For copies of the photographs please contact me directly or visit our website.
NOTES TO EDITORS
• The COLLABOR8 Project is 50% funded by the ERDF Interreg IVB North West Europe Programme. This partnership project involves nine different partners from Ireland, Wales, England, Netherlands and Belgium. It aims to actively involve clusters of small businesses in developing quality, sustainability and services that promote local ‘sense of place’. In this way each tourism cluster will be able to capitalise on the uniqueness of their regions to compete better in the EU and global markets.