PLANS to refurbish the medieval walls of Pembroke have taken a step closer.

At a well attended meeting held in Foundry House Community Centre on October 8, the Pembroke Town Walls Trust (PTWT) took on the status of a Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO).

Janet Drogan, Chair of the Trust, said: “We have come a long way since the first meeting in 2012. We have formed partnerships, learned the benefit of working together and established a pilot project.”

The meeting passed two resolutions, one to close down the existing unincorporated trust and one to establish the new CIO. The new PTWT will be run by a board of eleven community based trustees.

Janet then gave a presentation on the work that the Trust has done so far and spoke about the pilot project that is being established in partnership with the Tabernacle URC and Pembroke 21C Community Association.

A partnership agreement was signed in September 2013 and since then all three partners have worked to seek funding to create a community church linked to a heritage garden and the refurbished walls and lime kiln at the back of the Tabernacle Church.

“The project, A Journey Through Time, will reinstate a historic link between the Commons and the Main Street through the walls, garden and the Church”, said Melissa Howells, a member of the Pilot Project Group who chaired the transition part of the meeting.

Chris Atherton, a fundraiser working for the Tabernacle, gave his thoughts on how the partners should work to raise funding together in order to achieve the project.

Pembroke 21C’s Pembroke Story heritage project set out a display of the pilot project and the town walls.

“This is a long term venture”, said Janet Drogan, “which will probably take twenty years to achieve and we don’t underestimate the work that will be needed by us and future generations and tonight we have taken another step in the journey.”