Dylan Thomas park in Wales set for centenary refit

The park where Welsh poet Dylan Thomas spent much of his childhood is being given a 820,000-pound (965,000 euros, 127 million dollars) revamp, the local government said on Sunday.

Authorities in Swansea, the town in south Wales where Thomas grew up, hope to have the redevelopment of Cwmdonkin Park ready for celebrations marking the centenary of his birth in October 2014.

Thomas was born at 5 Cwmdonkin Drive, a stone's throw from the park which would become a favourite schoolboy haunt and would inspire much of his work, including the poem "The Hunchback in the Park".

"Dylan Thomas is Swansea's most famous son and Cwmdonkin Park is one of the locations in the city that's synonymous with the poet," said Swansea Council member Graham Thomas.

"It's therefore very fitting that plans are in place to revamp the park in time for the 100th anniversary of his birth."

The money is being provided by the Heritage Lottery Fund, one of the organisations which distributes money raised on the National Lottery.

Opened in 1874, Cwmdonkin Park is one of the oldest in Wales and attracts thousands of tourists every year. The redevelopment will include work on the bowls pavilion, the cockleshell path and other historic features.

Thomas, who died in 1953, wrote poems such as "Do not go gentle into that good night" as well as the radio play "Under Milk Wood".