Find out about the following services by clicking on these links:
- General amenities
- Town Council
- Victoria Hall
- Ysgol Dôlafon
- Community Transport
- Places of worship
- Fire Station
- Local villages
General amenities
Llanwrtyd Wells enjoys a large number of amenities for such a small town. In addition to the facilities listed separately Llanwrtyd has a medical centre and pharmacy, a library, a post office, an ATM, petrol station with shop, a Premier shop and a stationery and toiletries shop.
The Medical Centre is served by Builth Medical Practice and also has a pharmacy. Doctors and nurses attend the Centre in mornings during the week. The Pharmacy is situated in the Medical Centre and is open throughout the day.
The Library is situated at the school and is available to both pupils and the community. It is open to the public on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Times of opening are listed on the back of the town’s monthly Grapevine publication. The library relies on the support of a number of volunteers to help the librarian with her service to the community. New volunteers are always welcome and if this is something that interests you please visit the library on one of these days when the person in charge will be pleased to talk to you.
The Post Office is located in the Petrol Station (referred to as ‘the garage’ by residents although the garage has closed) and is open all week from Monday to Sunday.
An ATM is situated in the centre of town close to the Neuadd Arms; money can be also obtained over the counter at the Post Office.
The Petrol Station and Premier Shop stock large ranges of groceries, vegetables, newspapers and other items. Stationery, toiletries and other items can be obtained from Peter Cook’s. Other shops in the town focusing more on the tourist trade are described under What to do/Shopping.
Town Council
Llanwrtyd Wells Town Council is responsible for the town plus the village of Abergwesyn.
To view the council minutes or other information regarding the town council log on to the following link: www.llanwrtyd-town-council.co.uk
Other villages in the neighborhood are represented by either Treflys or Llangammarch Community Councils.
Llanwrtyd Wells Town Council has eleven councillors including a Mayor and Deputy Mayor who are elected at its Annual General Meeting in May.
The Council meets in the Memorial Institute on the third Wednesday of each month except August. Members of the community are welcome to attend as observers.
Election of councillors takes place every five years. From time to time a vacancy may occur when a councillor resigns from his/her position. Residents are welcome to apply for co-option to fill this vacancy.
The Town Council is a proactive body of independent councillors who have the needs of the town at heart.
Over recent years the Council has fought hard to save the town’s medical centre, post office and library.
Although unsuccessful in resisting the national trend of bank closures the Council nevertheless saved the ATM in the centre of the town.
When Powys County Council decided to close the town’s public toilets the Town Council agreed to take them over and received funding from the Welsh Government in 2016 to improve the facilities.
The Town Council owns the recreational field known as Dolwen Field (See Sports and Recreation/Dolwen Field).
In 2012 the Council received funding to renovate the pavilion. At the same time a group of young mothers in the town obtained a grant to improve and expand the children’s play area.
The Town Council is proud of its twinning links with Mériel in France and Česky Krumlov in the Czech Republic (See Heritage and culture/Twinning Association).
The mayoral chain’s first gold link was presented to the Town Council in 1985 by Czech pupils wishing to express their appreciation for their time spent in Llanwrtyd Wells as evacuated children during the Second World War.
More information about the work of the Town Council can be found in its website.
Victoria Hall
The Victoria Hall was originally built in 1887 and has been serving the community as a village hall ever since.
The premises are licensed for plays, films, live music and so on, and for the sale/supply of alcohol between 10.00 hrs and 01.00 hrs from Monday to Sunday.
It’s also used for meetings, conferences and fundraising events such as coffee mornings.
Activities
Clubs and organisations using the building include the Gardening Club and Merched y Bont, who hold their monthly meetings in the large hall, and the Sewing and Handicraft Group who meet weekly in the small room.
Tap dance and exercise classes are regularly held too.
The Victoria Hall Committee produces the monthly Grapevine bulletin, with reports and news of what’s on in the town and advertisements by local businesses.
Facilities
The building has been recently enlarged to include a small meeting room with serving hatch to a well-fitted kitchen, and a well-equipped gym arranged in two rooms, each with toilet and shower.
The entrance porch leads into the main hall with a fixed stage, pull-down screen and a seating capacity for 200.
Further details can be found on its website.
Ysgol Dôlafon
Ysgol Dôlafon is an English stream primary school based in the heart of Llanwrtyd Wells.
Its goal is to provide the children in our school with the best possible education in an enjoyable environment.
We have realistic, yet challenging expectations, and we seek to foster every child’s academic, sporting, creative and artistic talents.
To achieve this we have a broad and balanced curriculum supported by an extensive programme of extra-curricular activities.
Ysgol Dôlafon has very close links with the local community. We aim to work in partnership with our families to seek ways in which we can further enhance the children’s education, so that every child receives the best possible start to their education.
The school also shares the Bromsgrove Hall and the town’s library with the community.
The hall was built at the same time as the school in 1990 and named after Bromsgrove School, whose pupils were evacuated to Llanwrtyd during the 2nd World War.
Friends Association
Ysgol Dôlafon has a ‘Friends of the School’ Association that provides a vital contribution to the fundraising efforts that enable the school to buy many of the extra resources that it needs.
Some of these fundraising events are: the Real Ale Wobble event – providing refreshments and marshalling: Easter Bingo: School Fete: Man vs. Horse Marathon event – providing a cake stall.
We are always grateful for help from parents and others in the community.
Please contact the school if you wish to offer your help. Tel: 01591 610326; office@dolafon.powys.sch.uk.
Llanwrtyd Wells Community Transport (LWCT) and Events Recycling
We are a voluntary ‘not for profit’ organisation that became operational in 2002, the initial aim was to provide transport for all age groups because public transport is somewhat limited in this area. 
To become self-funding, the company branched out and is now registered as a professional dealer/broker of controlled waste. It has been responsible for providing waste management and recycling at many events, not least The Royal Welsh Showground.
Clearly, Covid-19 restrictions have affected some of our services and they have had to be put on hold for the time being, namely our regular Shoppa Shuttle Bus Service, Social Outings to places of interest, and the LWCT Heart of Wales Coffee Club held twice weekly at Llanwrtyd Station.
We are however continuing with our School Bus Service and with the collection and delivery of shopping, prescriptions, and pre-ordered takeaway food for vulnerable or isolating residents of our local communities thanks to our wonderful Volunteer Drivers. We are also providing a service to residents needing to attend medical appointments both near and far, and currently, some of our journeys can be provided free of charge due to some grants we have received and are extremely grateful for.
We now have a Shopping Bus Service where members email or phone in their order and we can collect several people’s order at the same time, using local supermarkets and local shops.
We would like to thank all our Members and Volunteer for their support and patience at this difficult time and would like to assure people that if we can assist in any way at all they just need to let us know.
For further details or to arrange to use our services, please make contact with Laura Burns, General Manager on 01982 552727 or at office@lwct.org.uk. We also have a new website packed with information, not only about our services but local scam warnings, monthly newsletters, etc. at www.lwct.org.uk.
Places of Worship
Services alternate between Holy Communion and Morning Worship.
Services are also held at 9.30 a.m. every second week in St. Cadmarch Church in Llangammarch Wells.
These three churches belong to the Irfon and Wye Ministry Area, which holds a combined service in one of its 11 churches on the fifth Sunday of a month.
The three churches remain open and can be visited on each day of the week.
Regular social and fund raising events are held during the year to keep our churches alive. New attendees, as well as visitors to the area, are made very welcome.
St. David’s Church
St. David’s Church (see Things to do > Heritage and Culture > St David’s Church), situated about a mile up the road to Abergwesyn, and affectionately known as the ’Old Parish Church’, is a popular visitor attraction.
It has served the community since around the twelfth century. The church is now only occasionally used for services but is a popular venue for weddings and funerals.
The Well
The part of the former Zion Baptist Chapel adjacent to the car park behind the Neuadd Arms that remained following demolition of the rest of the building several years ago is now named ‘The Well’.
It holds contemporary worship and praise at 6 p.m. on the second and fourth Sunday of each month.
The Well’s congregation believes that God has called it to reach out to those without faith or those curious about Christian faith.
Its mission is, through the renewal and revival of a refurbished chapel, to establish The Well as a place for refreshing those in the community in need and who may be lonely or depressed.
Its vision is to provide a caring structure and a spiritual environment for those seeking God through diversity in worship.
Chapels
Of the three former protestant chapels, the Congregational Chapel is now the Heritage and Arts Centre; the Bethesda Methodist Chapel awaits renovation as a future music and concert centre.
Fire Station
Llanwrtyd Wells Fire Station provides a fire and medical response service to the communities of Llanwrtyd Wells, Beulah, Garth, Llanafan Fawr, Llangammarch Wells and the surrounding rural area, which contains large areas of forestry, and averages around 130 calls a year.
The station’s single story two-bay building is situated next to Ysgol Dôlafon and was opened in 1963.
It is not permanently manned but relies on a crew of on-call fire fighters, alerted using pagers, who hold a variety of jobs in the comunity ranging from positions in the building trade to guesthouse proprietors.
We meet at the station on Tuesday evenings from 19.00 – 21.00 hrs to follow a training plan that enables the crew to keep up its operational competency. We also attend risk critical training and assessment courses.
In 2018 the Fire Station’s 12-member crew received the Mid and West Wales Fire and Rescue Service Award for the ‘Best Station of the Year’.
The station owns a Volvo rescue pump for fire and rescue incidents, with the main risk being the A and B road networks around the area, and a Volvo 4×4 suv co-responder vehicle which assists the Welsh Ambulance Service Trust with medical incidents.
The Volvo was purchased in 2018 with major contributions from the very generous local communities in raising money towards the cost of the vehicle.
Are you interested in becoming an on-call fire fighter? We shall be happy to receive a phone call (01591 610731) on a Tuesday evening.
Local villages
There are five villages or hamlets within the vicinity of Llanwrtyd Wells. All have connections with life in the town.
Llangammarch Wells
This village, four miles to the east of Llanwrtyd Wells, is the smallest of the four former spa towns in our Heart of Wales.
Llangammarch hosts a post office and small store and the Alexander Community Hall where regular activities including line dancing, yoga, whist, coffee mornings and meetings of the Llangammarch History Society take place.
The hall was bought by residents in the early 2000s and later reopened in 2010 having obtained a refurbishment grant from the Welsh Government.
A virtual tour of the history of properties in the village researched by the Llangammarch History Society provides a fascinating overview of the layout of the village and its properties.
Llangammarch Wells is a popular venue for fishing with several miles of river containing trout, chub, grayling and late season salmon.
Day and season tickets are available from the Cammarch and Lake Country House hotels. Various artists live in the area and can be found on www.irfonvaa.co.uk.
Beulah
Four miles north east of Llanwrtyd Wells and lying on the Afon Cammarch, this village benefits from a pub (The Trout Inn), a shop and petrol service station.
An annual music festival is held in October with concerts in the beautiful Victorian church of Eglwys Oen Duw (Church of the Lamb of God) and the Reading Room.
The church holds weekly services and the Reading Room hosts the Young Farmers Club, the Thursday Social Club (See Social organisations/Thursday clubs) and the local choir.
Regular fundraising events are held in the Reading Room, and The Trout Inn hosts a popular fortnightly quiz during the winter months.
Cefn Gorwydd
A short distance south east of Llanwrtyd lies the hamlet of Cefn Gorwydd. As the name suggests (cefn) it is situated on a ridge on the old coaching road above the Irfon and Dulas rivers.
There are several old houses dotted amongst more recently built houses. The beautiful Gosen Chapel (1743) is listed amongst buildings cited in zone 9 of Llangammarch History Society’s website.
Tirabad
To the south west of Cefn Gorwydd lies the village of Tirabad (meaning the ‘House of the Abbot’).
A few old houses around the edge of the village were present when the area belonged to Strata Florida Abbey near Tregaron.
The village expanded in the early 1950s with the building of houses, a school, post office and shop for forestry workers.
The church of St David’s (1726) is not accessible at present as the building needs repair.
Hermon Chapel on the outskirts of the village, now converted to a residential dwelling, was built in 1862.
Tirabad was one of the places where William Williams (Pantycelin) preached when he was curate for Theophilus Evans from 1740 to1743.
In the Crychan Forest on the edge of the village there is an outdoor pursuit centre run by three schools in Berkshire.
Abergwesyn
Some six miles north of Llanwrtyd, the hamlet of Abergwesyn lies at the foot of the Cambrian Mountains surrounded by some of the most stunning scenery in Wales.
Situated in the valley where the River Gwesyn meets the River Irfon, it once housed a pub, school and two churches plus a chapel. Now only thirteen dwellings remain, the pub is a farmhouse and the school is the village hall.
This is the centre of the community with a weekly table tennis club and other events throughout the year, including film nights, quiz events and an annual BBQ.
