Ceredigion Preseli MP Ben Lake is set to officially open Aberystwyth’s new community mushroom growing unit – Tŷ Cynan Pendinas – on the grounds of Penparcau Community Hub.
The initiative – part of a partnership between Tetrim Teas, Madarch Cymru and Cleobury – has already contributed to local employment, Welsh language opportunities, and community profit-sharing.
The 20ft x8ft unit has been adapted by startup Tetrim Teas to grow mushrooms – specifically current trend-setter the Lion’s Mane Mushroom – famed for its health-promoting properties, along with Wood Oyster and Shiitake.
Producing up to 150kg of mushrooms a week, the unit will sell its produce – both fresh and dried – to local restaurants and cafes, health food shops, as well as becoming the key ingredient in Tetrim Teas’ Lion’s Mane Mushroom Tea, which has recently won a Great Taste Award.
Ahead of the official launch, Ben Lake MP said:
“It is great to see more and more initiatives like this rooting themselves here in Ceredigion.
“The initiative not only boosts the economy by serving as an inspiration to other businesses, but it also plays an important role in the community. I am extremely pleased to see that Tetrim Teas, Madarch Cymru and Cleobury have been working in partnership with ARFOR to secure employment for local people and providing them with greater opportunities to stay, work and live in their communities.
“I congratulate everyone who has been a part of this initiative, and I am very much looking forward to officially opening the unit that highlights the growing number of opportunities that are available for the wider food and drink sector in Wales.”
Mushrooms are now being growing on site in the expert hands of two local growers: Aled Prichard and Anthony Taylor, ahead of the grand opening.
Ilan Jones from Mentera, who has overseen the funding of this project through the ARFOR Challenge Fund, said:
“We were keen to support this project as growing mushrooms is the vehicle from which a range of wider benefits can be unlocked, for health and wellbeing, local employment and volunteering, embedding skills and knowledge in the community and strengthening the local economy through profit share and investment.
“We were also impressed with the partnership approach, where Madarch Cymru’s industry knowledge, Tetrim Teas’s commercial opportunities, and Cleobury’s academic research would be able to take the project beyond simply growing mushrooms, and ensure that the venture grows from strength to strength following the grant intervention period.”
Mari Arthur, founding owner of Tetrim Teas, the not-for-profit company behind the project, said:
“Tetrim Teas is taking the knowledge and expertise amassed over 20 years by North Wales mushroom expert, Cynan Jones, and training local growers and volunteers to retain the knowledge within our communities.
“Cynan himself established Madarch Cymru, selling to high-end clients all over the UK. I love the fact that Cynan wants to share his knowledge with others, and that Tetrim Teas gets to play a small role in facilitating this, which wouldn’t have been possible without the support of ARFOR.
“We’re proud that we can continue Cynan’s work and believe it is fitting that we express our gratitude to him by naming each unit after him. We will have a Tŷ Cynan here in Pendinas, Aberystwyth; Tŷ Cynan Eryri in Bethesda, Gwynedd; and Tŷ Cynan Trimsaran (home of Tetrim Teas) in Carmarthenshire.
Cynan Jones, mushroom expert at Madarch Cymru, said:
“I’m really pleased to be sharing what I know with these communities. I’m particularly excited by the prospect of showing young adults and pupils in Welsh-language education the job opportunities available to them, in their own community and in their mother tongue.
“And it will be a thrill if this model of work is able to inspire more people to embed this ethos into their own businesses.”
The unit officially opens on September 20, with local people and community groups invited to visit the unit and to find out more about growing mushrooms and what the business has to offer.
