Godre'r Graig Park - Update

We have permission to go public!

Its taken a little while, but finally we can present our idea for Godre'r Graig Park to everyone. There will be a public meeting at Godre'r Graig Primary School, Graig Road Monday 15th September at 6.30pm. The meeting is open to everyone, especially children, so we have even arranged some fun activities to keep the younger ones entertained.

The meeting will be to present the idea to you all and find out what you think, get your ideas too. If everyone likes the idea of a woodland park, then we can start to move things forward, but only if you want it. Therefore the more people who come to the meeting the better. Refreshments will also be available and we expect the meeting should be finished by 8pm. For more details please contact us.

Godre'r Graig Park

For quite a while the Trust has been aware that the residents of Godre'r Graig are unhappy with their local facilties. In particular the state of the park has been mentioned to us on a regular basis. As a result we have drawn up a proposal for the renovation of Godre'r Graig Park to create a woodland park. Once we have been granted permission by the landowners, we will be holding a series of public meetings to present the proposal to the community and give you a chance to have your views and ideas incorporated into the plan.

We are suggesting a community park

'made by the community, for the community.'

It would incorporate new paths, community sculptures, greenwood benches, woodland shelters, picnic area, some replanting and has the capacity to involve the whole community in its development.

Here is just an example of what could be achieved:

Youth Activities

The recent community survey shouted out loud and clear with 25% of the people who returned the survey saying that there should be more facilties and activties for young people. As a result we are exploring a range of opportunties for projects to develop with youth in mind. We are working in partnership with Neath Port Talbot Youth Service to identify how the Trust can enhance the current provision and so avoid duplicating what's already available. We have already responded by co-ordinating a series of activities during the Easter Holiday at the Community Sports Centre. This proved to be such a success that we will be running another 2 day event during the Whitsun holiday and are seeking to find a way to offer the same service right through the summer holidays. We will keep you updated as things progress. In the meantime it's probably also worth noting that:

• Youth Club runs at Ystalyfera Development Trust every Tuesday evening during term times from 6pm - 8pm

Young Enterprise - Learning by Doing

Set up in September 2006, Enterprise Learning by Doing is about helping young people in the Valleys areas of Neath Port Talbot  in South Wales to be more enterprising.

The programme is led by the Lifelong Learning Service of Neath Port Talbot County Borough Council and funded by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust. Groups of young people aged 14-25 are able to set up and run their own companies for a period of time under the Young Enterprise initiative.

Ystalyfera Development Trust has just joined this programme as part of our ongoing commitment to provide opportunties for local youth. We are currently looking to identify a group of young people who would like to take part. We are also seeking adults to take on the roles of mentors and tutors for the group. If you would like to know more about being a facilitator or tutor go to the vacancies page or click here.

More information about the scheme is available from www.enterprisenpt.co.uk

Current projects:

The Cellars Project - The Development Trust has always been stuck for space and with ever increasing numbers of the community coming to use the centre, we needed to find a way to expand the facilities at the Local Resource Centre.

The Obvious solution was to renovate the 3 cellars that date back to when the building was a pub called the Railway Inn. The Trust was successful in securing a grant from the Capital Key Fund to carry out work including sealing and damp proofing the cellar, decorating, a central heating system, purchase of new computers and networking to create a new IT suite and improvements to the parking area to the rear of the building. A further grant from the Communities First Trust Fund has enabled the project to be completed with the purchase of furnishings and technical equipment.

Cellar 2 - Before                                                                    Cellar 2 - After

The final result of the middle cellar can be seen above. The middle cellar will be used as an informal social lounge for centre users to relax and chat over a cup of coffee but in addition provides an informal and private space for a range of different uses. In addition, the cellar project has provided a brand new computer suite with an additional 8 computers and an audio visual lounge that can be used for classes, presentations and we hope it will be possible to set up a film club as well.

Come and see for yourself at our official opening on 3rd June. Click here for more details.

Community Sports Hall

Noir James, the Community Champion, is currently working to improve the provision of physical activities for the local community. When we say physical activity this doesn't just mean sport!

The Community Sports hall and swimming pool is the perfect venue for lots of activities but we have heard that some of you have had trouble accessing the facilties. Part of the problem is that the Sports Centre and Pool are not staffed and therefore for safety reasons, can only be used by organised groups to ensure there is someone responsible for keeping people safe.

Noir is therefore working to get 2 new people qualified to act as lifeguards for the swimming pool and get new organised groups together and booked in for regular sessions. As part of this the following are now available and open to anyone who wants to come:

Aqua Aerobics - every Thursday 6.30pm-8.00pm  (£2 per person)

Swimming - every Wednesday 6.30pm-8pm (£2 per person)

Walking Club (low impact) Monday 10.30am to 12pm (meet at Ynys Cu Bridge - Free)

Other things are in the pipeline so if you'd like to request a particular activity or want to know more about what's available, call Noir James on (01639) 843965 or 07748207576 

Byte Back ICT Club

Development of a community blogsite

Local Resource Centre