Over £4.3m for community projects in Wales

A church in Swansea, a football club in Denbighshire and volunteer centre in Powys are among the 38 projects to receive a share of more than £4.3m support from the Welsh Government.

Cabinet Secretary for Culture and Social Justice, Jane Hutt visited the Parish of Casllwchwr and Gorseinon in Swansea recently where £300,000 funding will be vital in redesigning and repurposing the historic church building to create a multi-purpose community space. The facility already hosts over 50 community groups and plans are in place to increase this number once renovations are complete. The improvements will include space for gardening and biodiversity groups, youth clubs, school holiday activities, a larger foodbank provision, ICT support skills and financial support groups.

The funding is being provided through the Community Facilities Programme, a capital grant scheme which helps voluntary sector organisations make improvements to community facilities such as sports clubs and community halls for the benefit of the people they serve.

Other projects which have also received funding include £300,000 toward the development of a Homeless Hub on Anglesey, £95,000 for refurbishment works at Denbigh Town Football Club, and £100,000 toward a new building in Caerphilly for Community Volunteers Wales.

Jane Hutt, the Cabinet Secretary for Culture, Social Justice said: “The Community Facilities Programme is important in helping organisations improve facilities so local people can benefit from them in their day to day lives.

“I was pleased to recently visit Gorseinon to hear the exciting plans they have to create more community facilities within the Church space.

“Each recipient of support from the programme provides a crucial service to the people they serve and it is great the Welsh Government is able to help them do even more.”

Rev Dr Adrian Morgan, Vicar of St Catherine's in Gorseinon said: “The space is used by many community groups for a wide range of weekly activities, but the limited functionality of its internal design has constrained the community's use of the Hall. However, with Welsh Government support we are now going to transform this space so that it can house many more community group activity groups on an ongoing basis. 

"I'm delighted that Government can see the benefit of centres like these to support community based intergenerational activities, reduce loneliness and isolation for both young and old alike, and help communities strengthen their sense of place and be a welcoming place for all." 

Notes to editors

Photos must be credited to Bradley Lever, The Content Creators

Full list of projects which received funding:

• Digartref Cyf, Holyhead, Anglesey received £300,000 for redeveloping the Holyhead Enterprise Centre into the Lighthouse Homeless Hub. Renovations will include laundry & bathing facilities, fully equipped kitchen, communal dining area providing warm space, interview rooms, IT suite, information centre, relaxation area and outside recreational garden.
• Community Volunteers Wales (formerly RCV), Risca, Caerphilly received £100,000 towards purchasing a building which they presently lease. The purchase would provide a larger area for a community pantry and meeting room.
• Capel Seion Congregational Church, Llanelli, Carmarthenshire has received £300,000 towards costs to redevelop the vestry building to a multi-functional resource centre for the community to include a new roof, kitchen, community café, meeting rooms, podcast studio and accessible toilets.
• Denbigh Town Football Club, Denbigh, Denbighshire received £95,000 towards demolishing and rebuild changing rooms. The ground floor will house new changing rooms and the upper floor will be used by the wider community.
• Byw'n Lach Cyf, Bangor, Gwynedd received £159,670 towards creating a brand-new health, wellbeing and fitness space for people with limited mobility.
• Rogiet Community Junction, Rogiet, Monmouthshire received £300,000 towards building a new community shop and café, with teaching kitchen and community garden, in the centre of the village where the local shop and post office recently shut.
• The Parish of Casllwchwr and Gorseinon, Gorseinon, Swansea received £300,000 towards redesigning and repurpose the church building to create a multi-purpose community space.
• Goleudy Housing and Support Ltd, Swansea received £300,000 towards creating a community hub on the ground floor of the building. This will provide multi-purpose space, create a fit for purpose space for the Connect Project (activity-based day service for people with mental health, learning difficulties and sensory impairment), and create a community garden/growing space.
• Brymbo Heritage Trust, Brymbo, Wrexham received £300,000 towards restoring and refurbishing the former iron & steel works machine shop for community use.
• Malltraeth Ymlaen, Anglesey received £212,000 towards the purchase and refurbishment of Canolfan Hen Ysgol Bordorgan. This will include installing new kitchen and accessible toilets with baby changing facilities, heating, lighting and insultation, and the development of a community garden.
• Oasis Community Church, Penywaun, RCT received £256,445 towards developing a food pantry supporting around 50 families per week. The facility also offers a furniture and household goods bank and hosts counselling for drug addiction.
• Menai Bridge Cricket Club, Anglesey received £250,000 toward extending and improving their current pavilion. This will include a room big enough to seat 100 people, installing a kitchen, accessible toilets and extending the bar area.
• Media Academy Cymru, Cardiff received £300,000 towards purchasing and improving a currently rented building. The group work closely with Cardiff and the Vale College and take on young people who are not suited to learning in a traditional way. They offer BTECs in game design, filmmaking and animation. They also involve young people using activities like podcasting, DJing and music. The Centre also hosts lots of other groups and activities ranging from a Breast Cancer group to a support group for families dealing with violent children.
• Clwb Rygbi Tregaron, Ceredigion received £225,000 towards replacing their current portacabin with a permanent building. They already run a successful community facility, the new multipurpose room with toilets will allow them to increase the numbers of activities on offer.
• St Cadoc's Church, Caerleon, Newport received £300,000 towards reordering the church building to enable better accessibility and use by more community groups. The project will replace the pews with chairs creating a much more flexible space. They will also install a mezzanine area to create extra space. The project will create a welcoming, warm space with smaller private areas.
• GISDA, Pwllheli, Gwynedd received £292,000 towards the purchase and refurbishment of a new base on the Llyn Peninsula. They will create a new centre for vulnerable and homeless young people. It will include emergency and temporary accommodation with support to help them progress to independent living.
• Ystradowen Community and Sports Association, Vale of Glamorgan received £94,059 towards securing the energy sustainability of the village hall for the next 30 years. This will include roof insulation, air or ground source heat pump, solar panels and storage batteries.
• St John's Ambulance, Tredegar, Blaenau Gwent received £25,000 towards refurbishing Tredegar Division Hall to increase capacity for community engagement and offer more volunteering opportunities. Work will include toilets and kitchen, outside lighting and fire alarms.
• Crosskeys Methodist Church, Caerphilly received £21,792 towards refurbishment of the Community Hall including fire doors, repointing, guttering and repairs to the side wall.
• Deri Regeneration Group, Caerphilly received £8,000 towards replacing faulty brickwork to the exterior of their Community Centre building.
• Mathern and District Village Hall, Monmouthshire received £14,000 towards installing a new kitchen and cavity wall insulation.
• Libanus Lifestyle (Wales) CIC, Caerphilly received £25,000 towards the cost of creating a multi-functional space in the attic of their facilities. This will include a kitchen and toilets.
• Crickhowell Rugby Ltd, Powys received £5,000 towards refitting a food trailer to provide a permanent kitchen at the club.
• MENFA Mentoring for All, Cardiff received £25,000 towards key improvements to the safety and accessibility of their garden to encourage nature.
• Megan's Starr Foundation, Pembrokeshire received £20,000 towards creating a warm, welcoming coffee house, also offering essential mental health support to young people and the wider community.
• NoFit State Circus, Cardiff received £25,000 towards installing a wheelchair lift and solar panels on the roof of their building in Four Elms Road.
• Liswerry Baptist Church, Newport received £25,000 towards making improvements to their existing sound system and visual technology.
• River Church Wales, Caerphilly received £20,000 creating a community garden including a wet pour play area to accommodate toddler groups.
• Ystradgynlais Volunteer Centre, Powys received £10,000 towards setting up a small pottery studio catering for groups of up to eight.
• Double Click Design and Print CIC, Flintshire received £7,500 towards refurbishing the current community design studio including redecoration and refitting the kitchen.
• St Clears RFC, Carmarthenshire received £25,077 toward improving current facilities including pitch side fencing and new flooring for their marquee.
• Kidz R Us, Blaenau Gwent received £12,000 towards repairing a leak to the roof of their youth facility.
• Prestatyn Men's Shed, Denbighshire received £7,500 towards the cost of an extension to their current facility to create more space for community groups.
• With Music in Mind, Vale of Glamorgan received £25,000 towards the cost of making changes to the layout of their building to improve accessibility and ensure energy efficiency.
• Coytrahen Community Association, Bridgend received an extra £33,153 towards converting redundant sports rooms into training and activity areas allowing more people to use the facility.
• Canolfan Ucheldre Centre, Holyhead, Anglesey received an extra £19,334 towards refurbishing and adding additional community areas to the centre to provide more space for community use including disabled access and a changing places facility.
• Ponthir Sports and Community Club, Ponthir, Torfaen received an extra £10,000 towards building a facility alongside the clubhouse to create toilets, catering facilities, meeting and indoor leisure pursuit rooms.
• Krishna Cymru, Cardiff received an extra £50,000 towards refurbishing and extending a Grade II listed building to be a cultural heritage site and wellbeing community centre for Butetown, Cardiff and South Wales, promoting physical and mental well-being through accessible training in yoga, meditation, lifestyle and wellness and through the ample distribution of affordable, nutritious, plant-based meals.