A new funding campaign is being launched to mark the 25th anniversary of a writing centre.

The Tŷ Newydd Writing Centre in Llanystumdwy near Criccieth opened with its first poetry course in April 1990.

Since that all-important inaugural course tutored by poets Gillian Clarke and Robert Minhinnick, hundreds of adults and young people have visited Tŷ Newydd each year to take part in residential creative writing courses and retreats.

Literature Wales is celebrating this important landmark in Tŷ Newydd’s history with a series of events, a new fundraising campaign and online activity taking place throughout 2015.

The Celebrating 25 Years fundraising campaign, entitled £25/25, will be officially launched by Literature Wales today.

It asks people to donate £25 – £1 for each year the centre has been open – to fund: educational and extra-curricular activity for schools and youth groups; community outreach work; bursaries for people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds to attend courses at Tŷ Newydd.

Funds raised will also be used to safeguard the future of this historical and culturally significant Grade II listed property.

Tŷ Newydd has a long and rich history.

Built in the sixteenth century with significant Georgian additions, it was the last home of Prime Minister David Lloyd George, who commissioned the famous architect of Portmeirion, Clough Williams-Ellis, to adapt it to his tastes.

Literature Wales chief executive Lleucu Siencyn said: “It is the people who make Tŷ Newydd what it is; the writers, readers, tutors and school groups who have visited over the last 25 years. Your support will help to secure the future of this remarkable place and continue to allow people of all ages and abilities to benefit from the unique experience of visiting Tŷ Newydd, the home of literature in Wales.”

Literature Wales has also announced this week that a new Poetry Masterclass tutored by National Poet of Wales Gillian Clarke and Poet Laureate Carol Ann Duffy will take place this autumn.

Carol Ann Duffy said: “Tŷ Newydd is very close to my heart; a house of poetry, good fellowship, laughter and contemplation to which I always return.”

Reflecting on the first course Gillian Clarke said: “We were putting the final touches to the house, decking the great oak table with flowers and candles, as the first poets came up the drive.

“It was my dream to open a house of words, somewhere which belonged to all writers, experienced or not. That week, and all weeks since, we have made magic.”

Other activities taking place to mark the 25th anniversary include: a summer garden party; a new programme of Welsh-language evening events and day courses and sessions at the National Eisteddfod as part of the Lolfa Lên programme. Also on the list is Gŵyl Ddrama Wil Sam (a Welsh-language drama festival) and the launch of a new Tŷ Newydd website.

More details about the campaign online