Plas Gunter Mansion Trust

Rules governing the Trust

The Trust has rules which govern how it operates which are called Articles of Association. Any changes to the Articles must be voted on by the Trust's membership at a specially convened meeting. You can view the them here PGMT - Articles of Association.

Financial accounts

The Trust's financial year runs from January to December and are independently examined each year. Our latest signed accounts are for 2024 which you can view here Accounts 2024

Trustees

Dr Richard Allen supervises Postgraduate Research in Theology and Religion at Birmingham University and is Schools Liaison Officer at Quaker-based Woodbrooke College. He was formerly a Reader in Early Modern Cultural History at the University of South Wales and a Fulbright Professor of British History at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri. Richard holds a Research Fellowship at Newcastle University, UK, and an Honorary Associate Professorial role at the Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University, Canberra, Australia. He has written or edited 12 books and numerous articles on Welsh and transatlantic history.

Philip Bowyer is an Abergavenny Town Councillor currently Mayor of Abergavenny. He was born in Newport and worked for the Union of Post Office Workers after leaving university. In 1976 he joined Communications International in Geneva. He has conducted training, education and human rights activities in all continents of the world. He was responsible for relations with the European Union. From 1989 he was General Secretary of Communications International, and from 2000 was Deputy General Secretary of UNI Global Union, which covers Communications, Banking, Commerce, Media sectors, having responsibility for organisation and finance.

Owen Davies (Chair) iis a planning, regeneration and local economic development consultant with over 25 years’ experience of regeneration initiatives, economic strategies, development proposals and masterplans including some 40 city centres and towns across the UK. He has been involved with several ‘new uses for old buildings’ projects and heritage regeneration schemes. Owen also founded Gwagle in 2019, a shared workspace and coworking community located in Abergavenny town centre. 

Viv Evans is headteacher at Our Lady and Saint Michael’s RC Primary School in Abergavenny, having been appointed in 2017. He has a long history in education, gaining his teaching qualification from Swansea University in 2000. He was a class teacher at St Helen’s RC Primary in Caerphilly, then deputy head and acting headteacher of St Mary’s RC Primary in Chepstow.

Caitlin Gingell began her career in heritage at Tredegar House in 2007, where she gained a broad knowledge of heritage site management. Since then, she has held numerous jobs ranging from event development and learning, volunteer management and business planning, leading to a role at Shire Hall, Monmouth, where she project-managed a Round 1 development phase for The National Heritage Lottery Fund. This culminated in submission of the Round 2 delivery phase application. Today, she works as a freelance heritage consultant, supporting more organisations in strategic and business planning, audience development and interpretation planning and Heritage Fund grant applications.

Tony Konieczny was a town councillor for seven years and has been Mayor three times. A retired deputy head teacher, he has served as a trustee on the boards of Abergavenny and District Civic Society, Ty’r Morwydd (Mulberry House), Civic Trust Cymru and the Friends of Abergavenny Library Service. As part of a Civic Society venture in partnership with the Civic Trust Cymru, Tony co-led a project involving volunteers to survey the character areas of Abergavenny and Mardy. The undertaking took four years and culminated in the publication of two books Exploring Abergavenny and Take a Look at Abergavenny and Mardy.

Ann Payne has worked in the voluntary sector nearly all her working life. She worked with the Motor Neurone Disease Association for 15 years, supporting people and their families, providing training for professionals, negotiating with providers and training and supporting local volunteers. On a three-year change management contract, she enabled the transition of independent local groups into the central Parkinsons Disease Society to ensure all volunteers were treated equally. For four years she developed and ran training programmes for the staff of Leonard Cheshire homes.

Dr Gill Wakley completed her landscape archaeology qualification at Bristol extramural department. She had previously qualified in medicine and later worked in public health, followed by a switch into academic primary care. After completing her dissertation, she was offered a senior lecturer’s post and then a professor’s post working mainly in distance learning in primary care. In retirement, she has been able to indulge her other interests and is the chairman and an active researcher for Abergavenny Local History Society.

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