Newtown: Laura Ashley to be celebrated at festival

Laura Ashley is well-known for fashion and textile designs - but next weekend her contribution to social change will be celebrated.

She is one of four people taking centre stage at the Powys Pioneers festival.

Ms Ashley, Robert Owen, David Davies Llandinam and Pryce Pryce-Jones were all successful entrepreneurs with links to Newtown or nearby villages.

The focus will be on the impact they had on workers' conditions, education and communities.

Festival organiser Ann Evans hopes celebrating the pioneers will attract more visitors to mid Wales.

Ms Evans said the four deserve more recognition: "There's not many towns that have got [four] significant Welsh pioneers to celebrate their legacies and for everyone to enjoy, and be inspired by these pioneers going forward."

As a way of further raising their profiles, four roundabouts on the Newtown bypass have been renamed after the industrialists.

Ms Evans said she hopes the festival will help improve civic pride, and the understanding of what these pioneers achieved.

She added: "The event is to raise the aspirations of local heritage attractions and events to celebrate and raise awareness of these pioneers in mid Wales."

Robert Owen (1771-1858) was a creative utopian social reformer, who came from a humble farming and textile community in Newtown.

He pioneered infant education, better working and living conditions for all.

He started work as an apprentice draper in London aged 10, by his late 20s he owned a cotton mill in New Lanark, Scotland where he put into practice his belief that the moral values and habits of a population could be changed by education and improved working and living conditions.

David Davies (1818-1890) was born in Llandinam and was responsible for laying 145 miles of railway tracks in Wales. He was a member of parliament and owned coal mines in the Rhondda valleys.

Mr Davies became one of the pioneers of the Industrial Revolution, and is regarded as Wales' first millionaire tycoon.

He became chairman of Cambrian Rail, opening a rail link between Llanidloes and Newtown in 1859.

Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones (1834-1920) was born in Llanllwchaearn near Newtown and worked as an apprentice draper before opening his own shop in 1859.

He pioneered international mail order, and had influential customers including Queen Victoria, who knighted him in 1887.

That year he posted his first flannel garments by penny post to his customers, realising the potential of targeting customers beyond mid Wales.

He built an international reputation, serving royal households around the British empire. He opened a warehouse near Newtown Railway Station, which was considered instrumental in delivering an international mail order home shopping business.

Laura Ashley (1925-1985) believed her success was due to the hard work and dedication of her co-workers in the heart of the Montgomeryshire farming community.

Laura and Bernard Ashley relocated their kitchen table-top business to Machynlleth in 1960.

They bought a terraced house and Laura set up home her office and shop in 1961, Bernard then moved his textile printers from Kent to Tybrith in Carno from where their brand became a global success.

The Powys Pioneers festival will feature exhibitions from the Robert Owen Museum and Newtown Textile Museum, Cambrian Heritage Railways and vintage retailer Laura Absolutely.

A film about the Powys Pioneers will be shown and there will be a talk on David Davies Llandinam and Pryce Pryce-Jones.

The Robert Owen Museum is also in the town, and his grave can be visited at St Mary's church.

Pryce-Jones' huge red-brick Royal Welsh Warehouse is a prominent building in Newtown, and the Laura Ashley factory buildings can still be seen in Carno.

Historian Nia Griffiths, who will be delivering a talk during the festival, believes there are very important figures in Welsh history who are not remembered as they should be, especially those who remained in the area.

"David Davies from Llandinam and Pryce-Jones from Newtown, Robert Owen may be remembered a little more because he moved away from the area to New Lanark, and of course Laura Ashley who had moved in.

"But generally, I think we could tell their stories a lot more," she said.

Ms Griffiths said the four are united by their concern and care for workers and communities, as well as their geographic links.

"David Davies was head of a huge empire but he could still cooperate with others, he was just like one of his men and that earned him a lot of loyalty.

"It's the same with Pryce-Jones, he did a lot for the community, putting on a lot of activities, sports events and Eisteddfods - they didn't just live in their big houses, they were part of the community.

"Laura Ashley built a huge workforce in the area but she was one of them - she understood the workers and they worked as one big family," she said.

The festival will begin at 14:00 BST on Saturday, 14 May, at the Heritage Hub in the Pryce-Jones building in Newtown.