Tredegar House - Newport Visitor Attendance : 2012-2020

Tredegar House Visitor Attendance and The National Trust

 Under the Freedom of Information Act, Newport Council has revealed  attendance figures at Tredegar House for the past 7 years.

 2013/14 57,280

2014/15 78,984

2015/16 90,285

2016/17 94,850

2017/18 88,309

2018/19 81,377

2019/20 89,234

The Trust began well but failed to pursue an agenda with successful attractions to secure increased  public support. There is a repeated failure to capture increases to attendance in ANY of the last 3 years compared with the best year, 4 years ago.

 The rot was there before the pandemic which saw the House close. 

 The Lease Agreement  of the Council and Trust ( £10m payable between 2012 and 2062) provided  for the sum of £150,000 per annum to be paid to the Trust as long as visitor numbers at Tredegar House fell below 120,000 per annum, to run to 2025.

 Since it was unlikely the 120,000 visitor target would ever be reached the Council and Trust subsequently agreed a settlement of £750k, cashed by the Trust 9 April 2020, to end the Lease commitment. 

 A  pay-out  when Newport was locked down & facing life-death issues that continue. How does Newport benefit from this?

 Freedom of Information  REQ08381 REQ08448 REQ08496 refer.

 More Sketches of Evan, Viscount Tredegar

Lord of the Lies

As seen by friends, foes and lovers

A NEW BOOK FROM WILLIAM CROSS, FSA Scot

INFORMATION RELEASE : NEW BOOK

 

“More Sketches of Evan, Viscount Tredegar : ‘Lord of the Lies’

As seen by friends, foes and lovers ”

 

Book Midden Publishing  : ISBN 9781905914470

 

·        A new book about Evan Morgan, the last Viscount Tredegar was  published on 9  November 2020.

 

·        The book is from  Newport  writer  William Cross,  Evan Morgan’s  biographer, and author of 8 other books featuring the notably eccentric Welsh peer.

 

·        The book  is a compilation of  reminiscences of how  the last Viscount Tredegar is recalled by friends, foes and lovers.

 

Some points to note about the Book :

 

·        Veteran Newport historian Jim Dyer  provides a nostalgic introduction. 

 

·        There is an article  entitled  “The Worst of Times” highlighting how COVID 19 has closed Tredegar House but  that the National Trust  were staring at failure on visitor attendances before and during the  March 2020 pandemic lockdown.

 

The  article “The Worst of Times” (by William Cross) highlights :

 

·        A ‘Freedom of Information Enquiry’ (FOI)  under the Freedom of Information Act, to Newport Council  that  gives details of  visitor attendance figures at Tredegar House for the past 7 years and other information.  REQ08381 REQ08448 REQ08496 refers.

 

Other Aspects of the book:

 

·        Several important Morgan artefacts offered for public sale in the last few years, including some remarkable Chinese and Oriental items ( at Bonhams) once owned by Courtenay and Evan Morgan  have been lost to Newport, as  the National Trust  expressed no interest in acquiring them for the Tredegar House Collections. 

 

·        The score of personal  testimonies in the book includes John,  Duke of Bedford,  travel writer  Robin Bryans, journalist Cecil Roberts,  Irish Catholic author, Seymour  Leslie, Evan’s Carnegie cousins,  Writer Aldous Huxley, Zoologist, Julian Huxley,  Rafaelle, Duchess of Leinster ( a guest of Evan’s at Honeywood House, his last home, in Surrey), Charles Austin Sherman ( an American who stayed at Tredegar House as a young boy with his Dodge parents),  and the French bohemian writer/illustrator, Phillipe Jullian.

 

William Cross adds  “ This is the second in a series of books “ Lord of the Lies”  using  unpublished  or little known sources to aim to establish more accuracy, and  truth about Evan Morgan. Evan’s notoriety is misinterpreted, he continues to fascinate, but  too many fictitious tales linger about  his life and legacy.  

 

The  book  reveals how  others saw Evan Morgan. Now more than  70 years after Evan’s death readers have the chance to discover  what  his contemporaries actually had to  say about  him .”    

 

Cross adds “ The book is 100 pages long, with 134 End Notes and contains over  50 images, with several unusual  pictures of Evan Morgan’s life and times that have never been seen before”.

 

 

*  Further Enquiries about the book  etc  please contact

 

 William Cross

 

58 Sutton Newport, Newport, NP 19 7JF

 

Telephone : 01633 779731

[ Note e-mail preferred contact ]

 

FOR EDITORS

 

“More Sketches of  Evan, Viscount Tredegar ‘Lord of the Lies’  As  seen  by  friends, foes and  lovers” by William Cross, Book Midden Publishing  ( 2020)  ISBN 9781905914470

 

Copies of the book printed are for Legal Deposit and private circulation only.  

 

Printed Copies may be available in due course

Via Print on Demand terms ( 8-10 days for printing)

 

Enquiries please e-mail  williecross@aol.com

 

9 November 2020

 

ENDS