Jan Mark, pictured, who died in January, was a keen supporter of Ty Newydd, the National Writing Centre for Wales near Cricieth, Gwynedd. In 2004, when the residential centre was facing closure, she spearheaded a plan for fundraising with a season of courses. Her name will stay in the Ty Newydd programme every year thanks to the Jan Mark Memorial Bursary Fund, which will pay for a writer to attend the Writing for Children course every August.
The centre hopes to raise pound;10,000 to invest in the bursary fund, to make a donation download a form at www.tynewydd.org. With pound;2.5 million for refurbishment successfully raised, the centre launches its new season next week, and has also just announced a pound;40,000 grant from the W H Smith Trust to develop its schools programme. This will be spent on covering the fees for school groups in Wales which cannot afford the pound;230 per pupil. Groups of 16 children spend four days at the centre working with two professional writers. More details on the website.
