HRH The Prince of Wales Opens New Training Centre in Romania
Press release regarding the one year anniversary of the HRH Prince of Wales Foundation in Romania.
British Embassy Bucharest
Bucharest, 30 May
The Prince of Wales will arrive in Bucharest this afternoon for a private visit to which there will be a public element. While in Bucharest His Royal Highness will meet Romanian President Klaus Iohannis and Prime Minister Dacian Ciolos.
His Royal Highness will spend most of his time privately in Transylvania but will travel to Viscri to publicly open ‘The Prince of Wales’s Training Centre’ to mark the first anniversary of his Foundation - Fundatia Printul de Wales.
Launched by the Prince of Wales on 2 June 2015 and based in Viscri, central Romania, ‘The Prince of Wales’s Foundation Romania’ (Fundatia Printul de Wales), PWFR, is an educational charity which supports architectural heritage preservation, farming and sustainable development in Romania. The main goal of the charity is to bring skills and knowledge to rural communities to support local people and help them to become employable. The new training centre is based in Viscri, Brasov County. The old barn has been converted into a training centre while the old house has been extended to accommodate apprentices from across the country. This year, the Foundation will offer 12 courses which will benefit around 150 people from rural areas predominantly from Transylvania and Moldavia.
While visiting Viscri last year, The Prince of Wales said he hoped that his Foundation will be able to use the barn “in particular for educational and training purposes and skills development, which I hope will contribute a little bit to furthering skills and opportunities for employment”.
The Executive Director of The Prince of Wales’s Foundation, Romanian born Aura Woodward, has said: “The new centre is a dream comes true for His Royal Highness who has visited Romania for nearly twenty years and wishes to leave a legacy to our country. We will be able to put The Prince of Wales’s vision on sustainability, farming and heritage preservation into practice here through educational programmes.”
The training centre currently hosts the first traditional fabrics’ course welcoming apprentices from Bucovina, the Maramures, Bucharest and Transylvania.
Note to Editors:
Footage and photographic material from the public element of the visit to Viscri will be provided by the British Embassy to Romanian media, for use in Romania only, courtesy of the Associated Press AP.
British Embassy can be contacted at Press.Bucharest@fco.gov.uk
For more information on the PWFR projects and press visits to the centre, please contact:
Aura Woodward | Executive Director | The Prince of Wales’s Foundation Romania M: +40 (0)799 587 962, aura.woodward@royal.gsx.gov.uk
For further background on the Foundation, please visit:
www.printuldewales.org
www.gov.uk/government/world-location-news/prince-of-wales-launches-foundation-in-romania