Care group with homes in Caernarfon is up for major award
This is due to their support for the North Wales International Music Festival and the premiere of an opera about the Gresford Colliery disaster.
Pendine Park, which has nine care homes in Wrexham and Caernarfon, has been named a finalist at the annual Arts and Business Cymru Awards.
They are in the running for the Arts, Business and the Community award.
The care group has been the headline sponsor of the festival and last year supported the first performance of the opera Gresford - Up From Underground, which tells the story of the 266 men and boys who died in the 1934 Gresford Colliery disaster.
The care group also launched the Pendine Young Musician of Wales competition at last year's festival, and this will return at the 2025 festival.
Professor Paul Mealor, the festival's artistic director and a royal composer, said: "We're so thrilled at the North Wales International Music Festival that along with our lead sponsors and dear friends Mario and Gill Kreft of Pendine, we have been shortlisted for an Arts and Business Cymru award.
"This is a testament to how arts and business can work together to enrich the community.
"Thank you so much, Mario and Gill!"
Lanterns made by the residents of Pendine Park (Image: Supplied)
The Arts and Business Cymru judges were particularly impressed with the lanterns that Pendine Park's Wrexham care home residents created, which adorned the aisles of St Asaph Cathedral at last year's festival.
Sarah Edwards, Pendine Park's consultant artist in residence, said: "Being recognised in this way is such a boost, not just to our staff including all the enrichment team members, but to the residents who put in so much hard work to produce some remarkable art pieces year after year.
"They deliver such a high level of creativity every time they are called on to contribute to events like the NWMIF and they should all be very proud of themselves."
READ MORE: Former landfill on Anglesey transformed into thriving biodiversity and education hub
Pendine Park owner and director Mario Kreft was delighted and said: "We are thrilled to have been shortlisted for this award.
"Our connection with NWIMF has evolved and grown over the years.
"The premiere of the opera was particularly poignant for all of us at Pendine because we had the very great privilege of caring for Albert Rowlands, the last survivor of the Gresford disaster, who celebrated his 100th birthday with us before he passed away in 2020.
"Social care and the arts go hand in hand in enriching lives across the generations and promoting well-being.
"We are passionate about using the arts, whether visual or musical, to enrich the lives of our residents and staff alike."
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