Royal Visit to Laugharne

THE Prince of Wales has launched Carmarthenshire County Council’s new Dylan Thomas website during a visit to Laugharne with the Duchess of Cornwall.

Their Royal Highnesses visited Dylan Thomas’s writing shed where the Prince pressed the button to launch the Dylan Thomas Boathouse website.

As Patron of the Dylan Thomas 100 Festival – marking a century since his birth – the Prince also had an opportunity to visit the Boathouse as well as experiencing Dylan’s Walk.

Council principal arts officer Eleri Retallick said: “The Prince asked about the writings on the desk at the Writing Shed and how Dylan Thomas actually worked. The Duchess was inspired by the views and asked about the books on the shelves and whether Dylan Thomas used them.”

The original Boathouse website was set up when web design was in its infancy, though at the time it appeared very innovative with the virtual tour of the Boathouse and specially commissioned pieces such as John Goodby’s timeline on Dylan Thomas. Its stated aim at the time was to provide an educational, cultural, heritage and literary resource on Dylan Thomas.

However, with the advent of the centenary, it was felt it was time for a new and fresh approach to bring it into the 21st Century and enhance its appeal to those brought up in a digital age. The elements of education, culture, heritage and literature would remain, just be given a more modern look.

The council’s senior cultural services manager Jane Davies said: “Staff who worked at the Boathouse were asked for their ideas, as they represented a good cross section of society in terms of ages and web-usage.

“One of the first things agreed was that it must be ‘user friendly’ and that it must contain some amazing images-a brief that a local photographer was easily able to make into reality given the beauty of the setting and the views!”

A brief introduction to Dylan Thomas, together with some stunning photos, a new logo and details of where to find the Boathouse and what makes it so special with links to the Wales Coast Path site which it is on, and DT100, make up the Home Page.

Dylan and the Boathouse expands on Dylan’s fascination with Laugharne and also gives a potted history of the house itself. During 2014, a replica of this shed will be touring the country, bringing Dylan’s work to an even wider audience, as well as inspiring others to write.

Three pages cover the Tearoom, Art Gallery and Shop, while Education is the largest area on the website. There is something for all ages and tastes in this section, from a children’s quiz to serious academic essays. Importantly, there are ideas for teaching Dylan Thomas at Key Stages 3-5 which have been revised and tested. It is the hope of DT100 to leave a literary legacy, and this is a small part of it.

The Events page has a list of events in 2013 – which is also the 60th anniversary of Dylan’s death.

Finally, the Laugharne page gives an historical and social context to the Boathouse which is now leased by Carmarthenshire County Council to run as a heritage site.

Dylan Thomas’s granddaughter Hannah Ellis, who was at the Boathouse to meet the Prince and Duchess, welcomed the new website.

She said: “I think it’s great that the county council has a new fresh website because it is the first port of call and with the centenary coming up more people will want to visit the boathouse.”

The new website can be found at www.dylanthomasboathouse.com

Caption: HRH the Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall are pictured at the Writing Shed with, from left, Carmarthenshire County Council senior cultural services manager Jane Davies and principal arts officer Eleri Retallick.

Pic Jeff Connell