Hedd Wyn attraction faces cash problems
COVID EFFECT AND SOARING COSTS TO BLAME
A GWYNEDD tourist attraction which opened six years ago is running into financial problems.
A fall in the number of groups visiting Yr Ysgwrn, the former home of poet Hedd Wyn, due in part to the Covid pandemic has severely hit income.
Yr Ysgwrn, near Trawsfynydd, has been transformed into a museum, information centre and cafe by the Snowdonia National Park Authority.
The Grade II* listed farmhouse, which opened in 2017, has proved very popular, but a report to this week’s meeting of the authority highlights concerns about the current situation.
Head of finance Sian Owen says a deficit of £32,000 is expected this year due to a reduction in group visits, adaptations to the heating system and higher energy costs.
She says: “Yr Ysgwrn relies on a higher subsidy from the Authority and/or uses financial reserves which have been saved following previous prosperous years. In the end, this will mean Yr Ysgwrn will not be sustainable.”
Ms Owen says there is “very little room for manoeuvre within the budget” because of the unprecedented costs.
“Maintaining Yr Ysgwrn within budget is an ongoing challenge in the light of the cost of living crisis impairing visitor spend and soaring running costs,” she said.
In the authority’s risk profile, Yr Ysgwrn is given a high priority, and the report says the authority faces “reputational risk” if it is unable to manage the property.
On a brighter note, applications for revenue funding to hold events and activities during the coming 12 months have been successful.
From July, the Lost Words project, in partnership with the Museum of Wales and Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Authority, will take place at Yr Ysgwrn, while a wool exhibition is planned and also a community heritage project based on the centenary of the Hedd Wyn Memorial. All those events will be funded by external grants. Hedd Wyn real name Ellis Humphrey Evans - won numerous eisteddfod chairs but is best known for having won at the Birkenhead National Eisteddfod in 1917. It was awarded posthumously as he was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele.
Known as the “Black Chair”, it is on display in Yr Ysgwrn.