When the news about the Brynaman Pool closure broke last week, one of the additional items of news was that a film company had been planning to use the lido as one of its locations this summer.
As far as I can gather the film is called Hunky Dory and the producer of this is Jon Finn, the producer of the film "Billy Elliot"!
Did Carmarthenshire County Council really turn this opportunity down and if so did they realize what it was they were saying "no" to?
If I have got any of my facts wrong here, I would like to know; but I have been researching all afternoon and Hunky Dory is certainly being shot this summer in Wales, with one of the stars being Minnie Driver.
Have just contacted one of the production team of Hunky Dory and it's true. The Council have said 'no' to the lido being used as a film location.
It would therefore appear that in their eagerness to close Brynaman Pool, Carmarthenshire County Council have bypassed the opportunity to showcase local Welsh talent - actors, musicians, singers etc - and to put Brynaman on the map in a highly positive way. This would have been a boost for tourism in the area as people love to visit places that have been used as film locations. Not so hunky-dory. My guess is that the council made up their minds to close the pool months ago and then were not flexible enough to change their plans when the film opportunity came along
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Well done Sally and good research. I have linked to this article through my blog, hopefully giving the campaigners support.
ReplyDeleteSorry, forgot to put the link - http://carmarthenplanning.blogspot.com/2010/07/brynamman-lido-hypocrisy-and-missed.html
ReplyDeleteThanks Caebrwyn - it's taken 12 hours of research and phone calls to establish some of the background to all this, but well worth it.
ReplyDeleteAnother interesting fact is that the Council are claiming that Leisure Consultants Torkildsen Barclay have advised them not to do the repairs on the pool.
It is quite true that Torkildsen Barclay did do some work for Carmarthenshire County Council back in 2000/2001, but not since then. So it is very misleading to bring their name into the current situation.