Pensychnant

ANNUS HORRIBLIS

ANNUS MIRABILIS

 

2026 was destined to be a great year for Pensychnant. In August 2025, the charity had taken ownership of the House and most part of the Estate, and leased the Farm, securing the future of the charity forever – a plan which had been 35 years in the making. Behind the scenes this was less glamorous. Money is a worry; and we have had to change the charity’s constitution with Charity Commission, and transfer to new bank accounts – all very tedious and bureaucratic, so a hard year in the office, but nevertheless for a very positive outcome. This is the best I have ever hoped for for Pensychnant.

The year started well with excellent Wildlife Art Exhibitions, events, and walks, and our mainstay tea & FairTrade cakes on the lawn amidst nature. Spring was exciting with an Adder in the garden, the first record for 25 years; a Yellow Crab Spider was a faithful attraction in the Welsh Poppies; and nesting Redstarts were eagerly seen by many in the farmyard.

Then on the day of our second Open Garden for National Garden Scheme in July we awoke to find Fairy Glen and Pensychnant’s Ffridd on fire. By evening, despite intense effort by about half the North Wales fleet of fire engines, 230 acres of some of Wales’ nationally important heathland was destroyed – former home to Ashworth’s Rustic and Weaver’s Wave, and Cuckoos. Even the soil has burnt. It will take decades to recover. The black dusty moonscape is still depressing.

It couldn’t get worse? The fire destroyed the 33kV electricity pylons so Scottish Power Energy Networks had to reinstate the line. A twenty-ton caterpillar digger cannot tread lightly but the habitat damage SPEN caused was beyond even their work-plan. And they broke Pensychnant’s water pipe. We were surviving the drought but now the house had no water. SPEN did supply bottled water, but living and trying to run a charity and tea & cake stall with no water in the taps, no hot water, no bath, no toilet is stressful and draining. We have now replaced the pipe. SPEN, so far, are denying responsibility. We will seek compensation but their legal department is probably bigger than us.

Some of you may be aware that Julian and Karen are currently facing other challenging circumstances. Julian has had surgery for cancer, and has recovered miraculously, but chemotherapy imposes its own regime. In the light of this the Trustees have taken the decision to restrict access to the Centre over the winter period.

Unfortunately, this meant cancelling the Book Fair and the usual two Christmas Fairs will not take place at Pensychnant as originally planned. However, we are determined that the Fairs will carry on in some form, and are exploring alternative arrangements for them to take place off-site. We will share our emerging plans over the next few days.

The Trustees, and Julian & Karen, would like to express their heartfelt gratitude to everyone who has supported Pensychnant over the years. Your generosity, commitment and enthusiasm, helping us with the tireless work have made Pensychnant what it is today, and that support is needed now more than ever.

Pensychnant is a special place, made so by the community of people who care about it. We will be in touch soon to share more about how friends and volunteers can continue to support our important conservation, education and community work over the coming months.

In the meantime, thank you for all your understanding, kindness and continued support. It is greatly appreciated by us all. We don’t say it enough – THANK YOU. It is because of the manifestation of so much support, that this note, about what could have been a bad, bad year, is headed ‘Annus mirabilis’ - a mirculous year. We are still here.

 

The future is bright.

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