Saith Seren Saved After Public Donation Drive

Just five weeks after being given notice to quit by its landlord, the Saith Seren Wrexham Welsh Centre has succeeded in raising enough money to keep the doors open.

Tonight (Sunday), organisers of a fund-raising campaign to keep the centre open announced they had hit their £3,000 a month target of pledges from individuals and companies.

Marc Jones, who chairs the community cooperative venture, said: “We have been overwhelmed by the support from people locally, nationally and across the world to this appeal. A further £10,000 in one-off payments has also been received.

“It demonstrates that, whatever anyone else thinks, the people want it to succeed and stay open.

On April 13th it was announced the centre was due to close, after directors of the Welsh Centre were ‘unable to reach an accommodation’ with the landlord Clwyd Alyn Housing Association. With the news tonight around six peoples jobs have been secured, along with the future of the centre.

Marc went on to say: “As a board, we will be meeting on Tuesday to assess our options but – as things stand – we can confidently state that Saith Seren will still be open after next weekend. The axe has been hanging over us for some time and that has made long-term planning very difficult for us, so this now means we can implement some of the changes we’ve been wanting to make.

“We’re confident these will help to attract more people to the centre and make it viable as a going concern. We have ambitions to develop the centre further and make it a more attractive venue for events, meetings and classrooms.

“The cooperative board, which is made up of volunteers, is grateful to everyone who has supported us, not just in the past month, but over the three years we’ve been open so far. We will do our best to repay that trust in the future. In particular we’d like to thank Aran Jones, of SaySomethinginWelsh.com, who initiated this appeal and reached out to learners worldwide.”