Scarlets seek to inspire new generations with major new heritage project

The Scarlets have revealed plans for a new heritage trail that will celebrate Llanelli and its rugby club’s great history with the aim of inspiring young people to find out more about the rich culture and legacy of the region.

The Scarlets are being supported in their plans and bid to the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) in a joint collaboration with Llanelli RFC, the former players association and Crys16, the Scarlets’ Supporters Trust.

The focus of the new heritage trail project based at Parc y Scarlets is to inspire, safeguard and promote the great heritage and history of Scarlets rugby and its intrinsic links with Llanelli and people across the county.

The trail will promote awareness of the link between local history and Llanelli Rugby Club in the form of a timeline spanning 140 years of rugby, industrial, local and national history.

The ‘walk through’ centre at Parc y Scarlets will provide a range of learning opportunities and experiences from 1872 onwards using audio, visual and interactive software and methods to tell the story of Llanelli and its world-famous rugby club.

The Scarlets say they have wealth of inspiring stories and memorabilia they currently are unable to share fully with the public. The HLF bid is part of a vision to create a dedicated centre that will promote the full range of Scarelts history and culture right to the present day values and successes of the region.

The club, with the backing of Carmarthenshire County Council has appointed a full-time grants officer, Nia Lloyd to oversee the Scarlets submission for funding to the Heritage Lottery Fund as well as looking at other opportunities to help fund future projects to promote education and culture via Scarlets sport.

Nia has undertaken an extensive consultation with the local community in recent months to help define the scope and scale of projects to be involved in the heritage project. She has hosted workshops with 23 local schools and consulted with museums, community groups, colleges, historical societies and individuals involved in education, culture and history.

If successful, the project will also provide opportunities for volunteers, offering training on conservation and research, cataloguing historical items and learning about the history of local people involved in the rugby club and local area.

Jon Daniels, General Manager of Operations at Parc y Scarlets said: “Our rugby club has one of the richest and most colourful histories in the world. We have an unrivalled and extensive array of thought-provoking archives and treasured artifacts that would inspire and evoke the emotions of our supporters, rugby fans and visitors across the generations.

“It’s so important to us and to our community to display our joint heritage and tell the story of the region to our many visitors to Parc y Scarlets including our supporters, families, tourists, schools, higher education students and business and community groups.

“Who we are and where we have come from including our sporting, social and industrial history helps defines us today. Sport is such an inspiring medium from which to learn history and culture as well as values and can really connect with people.

“There are so many benefits for our community if we are successful with our bid to provide a real focal point that we can celebrate as a community and use to inspire young people.”

Interactive educational exhibition would include videos of famous matches, behind the scenes footage, audio including match commentary, stories, team-talks, interactive games for the younger generation, sports education including training and diets of a modern day player and the way the Academy works.

The centre will be a base for education, with the ability and space to deliver lesson plans and themed school projects linked to history, culture and heritage.

The Scarlets submission has already been submitted into the Heritage Lottery Fund and it is expected that a decision will be made at the end of October. The decision may coincide with the celebration of the Scarlets 40th anniversary celebrity dinner of their 9-3 victory over the All Blacks in 1972; at which more than 1,200 guests are expected at Parc y Scarlets.

Using money raised through the National Lottery, the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) gives grants to sustain and transform heritage in the UK. Heritage includes many different things from the past that society values and wants to pass on to future generations.

The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) sustains and transforms a wide range of heritage through innovative investment in projects with a lasting impact on people and places. As the largest dedicated funder of the UK’s heritage, with around £375million a year to invest in new projects and a considerable body of knowledge, HLF is also a leading advocate for the value of heritage to modern life. Since 1994, HLF has supported over 33,000 projects allocating £4.97billion across the UK.

Bids can be applied for with funds ranging from £1,000’s to grants of up to £2m for some of the most significant and wide-ranging projects in the UK.