CAMPAIGNERS who battled for more than a year to save a day centre from closure have held their first meeting inside the building since taking it over.

The Tudor Centre in Abergavenny has been closed since the outset of the Covid pandemic, in March 2020, and looked set for demolition in November 2022 when Monmouthshire County Council declared it wasn’t required and intended to use the site for affordable housing.

That decision, which was put on hold before being partially reversed, sprung a campaign group into action which at first sought to persuade the council to change its mind.

Campaigners then formed The Gathering as group with the intention of taking on the former Victorian school building, that has been used as a day centre since 1979, and restoring it as a centre of activities for a wide range of people with vulnerabilities and or disabilities.

The Gathering, which has been meeting at the Well Being Centre, in the former tourist information centre at Abergavenny bus station, for two days a week since December 2023 held its annual general meeting in the Tudor Street building it was formed to save on Monday, January 20, a week after receiving the keys from the county council.

Among those to attend was Sarah Griffiths who until the pandemic would meet at Tudor Street as part of the council’s My Day, My Life service for adults with learning disabilities.

When the council said the service no longer required a base – prompting the permanent closure of the Tudor Centre – she joined the campaign, speaking at council meetings and attending protests. The council also agreed My Day, My Life should still have a base and it will in future run from the Melville Centre.

The Abergavenny resident said she was taken aback at returning to the building following negotiations with the council: “I didn’t know what to think, it’s actually strange like a magical moment.

“When we first started to campaign at the bottom of my mind I didn’t think it would reopen, with the cutbacks and we didn’t have any money but going now, and having gone through all this, I thought let’s get on with it.”

Owen Lewis, who previously worked at the centre and organised the campaign, described getting back into the building as a “great big step forward”.

Following the formal meeting, some 30 members of the public were able to have tours of the building and also heard from trustees on plans to open a café, run various activities including arts and crafts, singing lessons and a radio project as well as plans to provide a one day a week counselling drop in service.

It is initially intended to open the centre for two days a week with the possibility of moving to five day opening as well as at evenings and weekends with rooms also to be rented out at affordable rates.

Mr Lewis said: “There is still a long way to go but is really nice that a lot of people in the community came to listen and show support.”

Volunteers are also needed to help with repairs and decoration and the group’s chair Jenny Powell said: “I would like for us to move in within the next month to six weeks. It sounds ambitious but I think with enough volunteer help we can get this done, it is not as bad as people might think.”