Temple Friends: Supporting the Temple of Peace & Health and Wales’ National Peace Garden

 

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Temple Friends

Wales’ Temple of Peace, and the surrounding National Garden of Peace, hold a place in the hearts of many individuals and organisations Wales-wide who share a common vested interest in the Temple’s past, present and future.

Our ‘Temple Friends’ group enables people to get involved in supporting Wales’s historic Temple of Peace and Health.

From practical volunteering help to creative conversations around how local communities can make the most of this incredible public space that we want to be ‘open to all’,  the group supports the work to safeguard this unique building, its heritage and mission for future generations.

Temple Friends advocate both for the Temple’s historical value, and contemporary relevance.

Founded from the building’s 85th Anniversary in 2023, Temple Friends get together monthly for volunteer ‘Gardening Bees‘ sprucing up Wales’ National Garden of Peace, followed by tea and cake and ‘Creative Conversations‘, where attendees can chip in and explore ideas for Temple events and activities, as well as discussing current international issues and ideas for action.

Many of these dates are also preceded by lunchtime Temple Tours and / or Archives & Library Open Days (for volunteers, students and researchers). Some Temple Friends groups also take the initiative to organise evening lectures or public meetings on a range of issues or topics.

Read: ‘A New Mecca: The Story behind Wales’ Temple of Peace‘, by Dr Emma West (Cymru Global ‘Temple Friend’).

How can I / we get involved?

Email croeso@cymru.global (please include: name and contact details, organisation (if relevant), a brief note about your interest / connection to the Temple of Peace and Peace Garden, and any specific aspects of the Friends’ work that you would like to be included in).

Temple Friends hold roughly monthly discussion events, on or offline, usually about an hour in late afternoon / early evenings.

Cherishing a great ‘Gift to the People of Wales’

Wales’ Temple of Peace and Health is a public monument, gifted to the nation and to Wales’ future generations in 1938 by Lord Davies of Llandinam, as the nation’s memorial to the fallen of World War One and successive conflicts. The 999-year Lease on the building (regardless of formal ownership) affords guardianship, office space and income generation to successive bodies leading Wales’ work on Peace and Health – today, the Welsh Centre for International Affairs and Cardiff University. The founding bodies were the Welsh League of Nations Union (WLNU, WCIA’s ‘grandmother’ body) and the Wales National Memorial Association (WNMA, for Eradication of Tuberculosis).

The Temple Friends’ Community

The ‘Temple Friends’ community brings together organisations and individuals – beyond purely the building’s occupants – to work together, coordinate ideas and events, and have a voice in the Temple’s development and role in Welsh public life. Friends of the Temple of Peace is intended as an informal but effective forum, pooling energies and knowledge of individuals and organisations involved: independent of, but supported by WCIA, Academi Heddwch, Cardiff University and others, to:

  • Facilitate contact and cooperation between communities / stakeholders with an interest in the Temple and Peace Garden, including online forum and email list for information / updates.
  • Facilitate joint events and volunteering projects on aspects of the Temple’s heritage that are important to community groups.
  • Monitor maintenance of the Peace Garden, organising volunteer ‘gardening bees’ and litter picks, and raising groundwork or other concerns with Cardiff University’s Estates team.

  • Consider and approve requests for new / refurbished monuments & plants in Wales’ National Garden of Peace, in line with its public purpose.
  • Liaise with WCIA and Cardiff University over any proposed building developments, and ensure that voices of wider Temple stakeholders are heard and taken into account with planning and refurbishment processes.
  • Enable local communities of volunteers to get involved with heritage projects and research initiatives.

The Temple Friends vision

In one of our early meetings we were joined by Graphic Illustrator Nate Barnaby, who captured the Temple Friends vision:

Who are involved in ‘Temple Friends’?

A wide range of organisations and community groups have an active interest in the Temple and Peace Garden. Inclusion (or not) on this list does not reflect or imply any formalised agreements or responsibilities – simply an active history of participation in recent years. Many have dedicated memorials in Wales’ National Garden of Peace; some use the Temple as a venue for major events, festivals or conferences; and some have had longstanding relationships with Temple Peace and / or Health bodies over successive generations.

Become a Friend of Wales' Temple of Peace
About Wales' Temple of Peace
Garden of Peace Memorials
Temple Heritage Volunteers
Archives & Collections Risk Audit, May 2022
Undertaken by archives expert Kevin Bolton, this Risk Audit was commissioned by WCIA to inform future planning and prioritisation of the Temple's limited heritage resources as we look towards the future.