HAVERFORDWEST’s VC Gallery has been awarded £12,000, which will allow them to revive a project to connect the people of Pembrokeshire with the natural world around them.

The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park has given the charity the funding over a two year period for their Power of Pembrokeshire project from their sustainable development fund.

For the project, the VC Gallery will work with people from a range of different backgrounds, taking them to different parts of the national park to create art.

The gallery team hopes to work with the youth groups, military veterans, the elderly and housebound, as well as many others, taking them to places including Angle, Dale, and Rosebush.

“We want to try to touch base with everyone with the project really,” said the gallery’s founder Barry John.

“We are working with people to help them find opportunities to improve their own wellbeing.”

The Power of Pembrokeshire combines elements of two projects the VC Gallery has run in the past.

The first of these projects was Pembrokeshire Rediscovered, which similarly took different members of the community out into the county’s wild places.

The second was 12 Windows, a project which worked to help participants with their mental and physical wellbeing.

“We will take people out to areas of Pembrokeshire of natural beauty and historical significance,” said Barry.

“As an added bonus we are hiring one of the world’s top geologists, Sid Howells, and one of Pembrokeshire’s most respected historians, Simon Hancock, to come with us and get a different perspective.”

The Sustainable Development Fund supports projects that provide social, environmental, economic and cultural benefits, to improve the quality of life for communities in the National Park.

The national park authority has allocated £200,000 to the fund for the 2017-18 financial year, with five applicants having applied in the most recent round of funding.