We issued the following public statement on 22 July following a news release by Powys County Council and the NPTC Group of Colleges.

Work to develop y Gaer, the new cultural hub in Brecon, including the refurbishment of the Brecknock Museum and Art Gallery started in August 2016. The new centre is due to reopen in late 2019. (Read more about the planning and funding of the y Gaer project.) Y Gaer project

On Friday 22 March, Theatr Brycheiniog was the venue for an excellent and very well-attended lecture by Professor Prys Morgan entitled ‘Writing History- the world of Theophilus Jones, our county historian.’ Theophilus Jones (1758 – 1812) published his great book ‘The History of the County of Brecknock’ in two volumes

Although y Gaer, comprising the refurbished Brecknock Museum & Art Gallery and a new Brecon Library, did not open in 2018 as planned at the start of the construction contract, it has been most exciting to see the external features of the building emerge. During 2018, the conservation and construction

In late 2017, the Brecknock Society and Museum Friends (BS&MF), working in conjunction with Museum & Art Gallery Curator Nigel Blackamore and other Powys County Council (PCC) officers, put in an application to the Garfield Weston Foundation. This was for funds for the purchase of computer hardware and software to

The winner of the Roland Mathias Prize 2018 one of the pre-eminent poets in Wales, Robert Minhinnick, for Diary of the Last Man (Carcanet). At the Poetry Evening on Friday 5 October in the Muse, Robert Minhinnick’s reading of his poems was preceded by a film, produced by his son-in-law

During 2018, two visits were arranged. On Saturday 13 October, despite widespread flooding caused by storm Callum, about 20 members had a fascinating visit to Trebarried, near Llandefalle. This is a fine mid-seventeenth-century house, but one that suffered dilapidation and depredation before the present owners, Kenny and Helen Campbell, took

On Saturday 22 September, we held a study-day together with members of the Llangammarch Wells History Society. The day started in the Alexandra Hall with a series of presentations by local society members, Gaynor Williams, Simon Lilly, and Sue Lilly, on a number of village celebrities, most notably Theophilus Jones

In June 2018, there was a visit to the very impressive new Powys Archives in Llandrindod Wells. Members of the Brecknock Society and Museum Friends were able to see some very interesting documents including the remarkable Scrapbook belonging to the Rev. Henry Thomas Payne (the full story of the Scrapbook

Having had two very successful one-day conferences in 2017, held in conjunction with university research groups, 2018 saw the innovation of Brecknock Society and Museum Friends (BS&MF) study-days organised with different local history societies. The first of these was on Saturday 12 May, when the BS&MF combined with the Llangynidr