A rundown former railway building on the walkway at Meliden, Prestatyn, is undergoing a £1.2 million revamp, transforming it into a community hub with a café, heritage, bike hire facility, and business start-up units.
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The Grade II listed building – Y Shed – is set to open next year and project leaders, charitable housing association Grŵp Cynefin and Meliden Residents Action Group, are keen to ensure the project reflects Meliden life.
Village artefacts and old photos could be displayed within the building and people are being asked to help unearth hidden historical treasures.
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Mair Edwards, Grŵp Cynefin’s Community Initiatives Manager, said:
“We all keep old photos, snapshots of family and village life that we may have taken ourselves or had passed down to us from parents and grandparents. Lurking in the backs of cupboards or in old albums could be fascinating photographs which show Meliden through the years.
“But it’s not just old photos we are looking for. Squirrelled away might be clothing, artefacts, books or objects that nod to the village’s history. We’d love to see what’s out there and would invite people along to an open morning where we can scan pictures and photograph items with a view to finding them a permanent home in Y Shed once it opens.”
People are being asked to bring any items or photos along to Meliden Community Centre on Tuesday October 30th between 10am and 1pm. Photographs can be scanned and stored, and objects pictured and catalogued.
“It may be that people have things relating to Y Shed’s history – it was a key part of the Dyserth to Prestatyn railway line for many years – or have unusual things connected to the lead mines and limestone quarries. Hundreds of miners once worked in the village and it would be particularly good to see this reflected within Y Shed.
“We’re not asking people to hand over their pictures and artefacts to us at this stage but to allow us to capture and record them so we can see what’s out there and then we can follow up any items of particular interest,” added Mair.
Construction workers on the site have already unearthed Victorian drinking bottles believed to have been used by railway workers and passengers. Some of
the bottles may go on display when Y Shed – the first railway heritage attraction of its kind in Prestatyn – opens.
