West Wales businesswoman appointed a patron of Prince's Prime Cymru charity

By Robert Lloyd

West Wales businesswoman Rhiannon Rowley has been appointed a patron of HRH The Prince of Wales’s Prime Cymru initiative.

Ms Rowley, 59, owner of the Abaca organic mattress business in Tycroes, Ammanford, is delighted to be joining the team behind the Prince’s project to boost mature enterprise in Wales.

Prime Cymru is a registered charity and is the only organisation in Wales dedicated to providing practical support for people aged 50 and over who want to become and remain economically active.

“It’s a great privilege to be joining the Prime Cymru team as a patron,”

said Ms Rowley. “I’ve been watching the development of the project and I know the charity is meeting a great need in Wales.

“The Prince has been hugely supportive of our work at Abaca. He’s visited us here at our base in Tycroes and during conversations I have had with him he has always been full of encouragement and praise for what we are trying to do as a business.

“His knowledge and passion about everything from wool to organic materials to sustainability is something which is to be admired.

“His determination to make Prime Cymru a force in Wales is also to be admired. Economic activity among the over 50s is a critical problem in Wales. More than 240,000 people aged 50 to state pension age are not working

– this equates to nearly 38% of the total number of people in this age group with a large number dependent on benefits.

“I will be doing what I can as a patron of Prime Cymru to help and support the work of the charity in many different areas.”

The Prince’s passion for Prime Cymru is reflected on the charity’s website, where he says – “I happen to believe that the experience and skills which people build up over a lifetime are an invaluable resource and it is madness for society not to make use of this. Prime Cymru continues to develop new ideas and approaches to enable older people to become and remain economically active.”

Abaca was set up more than nine years ago as a pioneer of the use of organic textiles.

The company has established an impressive customer base which includes retailers like John Lewis.

All the materials used to make an Abaca mattress are totally natural, produced without the use of chemicals or pesticides. The wool is sourced from organic farms in Wales and licensed by the British Wool Board.

Abaca was the first organic mattress manufacturer in the UK to be certified by the Soil Association. It remains the only one to be certified in Wales.