Projects
Llanedi and Tycroes
Crochet and Craft
We ran a pilot project – online crochet and craft group and it has proved popular. It particularly attracts single females but across a wide spectrum of ages. We would like to extend the pilot for a further 8 weeks at a cost of £30 a week.
Benefit – 6 people signed up to the sessions, but attendance was hit and miss. Sessions were recorded so that absent members (and potentially others) could still benefit. It seems that as this project went live, people were starting to go out more, so an online class was less attractive. It did however encourage intergenerational activity (our youngest members was 7 and our oldest was 70+) and alleviated isolation for those who did attend.
Bags of Joy
As Covid volunteers, we helped a number of vulnerable and shielding members of our community during the lockdowns. Now, with the immunisation programme we can see light at the end of the tunnel. We want to help prepare people for going back out into the world and spread a little joy. Therefore, we would like to create and distribute little goodie bags to those who have previously needed our help. Llanedi Friendship Circle are helping us with this project should we be successful.
The bags contained things like:
- A little postcard with an encouraging message
- A hand sanitiser and wipes/soap
- A tasty treat (pack of Welsh cakes /Welsh waffles or similar), and a tea bag for a cuppa on us.
- Some wildflower seeds for a pot or window box – to bring a bit on long-term joy.
Benefit – The project was very successful and resulted in bags of joy being delivered in all 3 communities to over 100 residents.
Handing out bags of Joy at an open-air meeting of the Friendship Circle
Gardening Project
Volunteers in Llanedi asked for
Help in improving our local environments through the provision of planters, soil and plants. We will as volunteers plant them up and maintain them.
The project engaged a range of ages and have helped create community focuses within the respective areas.
Benefits – A group of 8 volunteers worked on the project.
- Has increased skills and knowledge within the community
- Intergenerational activity
- New friendships and relationships locally
- Enhanced community environment both aesthetically and ecologically
Llanedi planters completed
Tycroes Trekkers
To promote well-being, outdoor exercise and encourage others to take regular exercise by exploring the walks within Tycroes and Llanedi. Tycroes Trekkers would like laminated OS maps which show the footpaths within the community as these would encourage more people to walk different routes. Any excess money would be used to buy torches and high vis jackets for the group.
Benefits – 50 + beneficiaries – the walkers can now continue their walks safely on dark winter evenings.
Through my involvement in the group, I, and a deputy leader have completed a Walking for Well Being course and a First Aid Course. This benefits everyone.
Julie Joseph – volunteer.
Friends of Tycroes Park
Based on public request, we want to help establish a new group – the Friends of Tycroes Park. This would be a group of volunteers who would work to help improve and manage the park for the benefit of the community. It will aim to be intergenerational to ensure it represents the needs of as wide a range of people in the village as possible. The group will initially meet on Zoom, but the money will allow them to meet (post Covid) and to provide publicity for the group including badges for ‘Junior Friends’ etc.
Benefits – Since receiving the funding, the group have arranged regular gardening/planting/maintenance sessions and have run some events including bird box making and a talk on the care of herbs. They have also worked with the Brownies (organising a Harry Potter themed event where the children got to plant herbs and make ‘potions’), Tycroes Old Age and other groups to ensure their work is able to benefit the whole community.
“Being out and about, meeting others and taking part in tasks which benefit the community has had a positive impact on all. It definitely improves well-being and has forged new local friendships.
Quote from the evaluation form.
Friends of all ages:
Catch up with the kiddies
We’ve had a number of approaches to start a group for parents with pre-Meithrin children. The idea is to start with a regular subsidized coffee morning in the Reading Room/Community Cafe so that the group can grow an establish itself, with the ultimate aim of it becoming a self-sustaining group that undertake a range of social activities that include adults and children (walks, trips out to family-friendly attractions including the local nature trail, craft sessions etc).
Despite publicity and the amazing support of the local café, the project in Tycroes just didn’t take off. Some people said they would come after their second jabs etc, but this never materialised. This is in contrast to the Hendy project (see later).
Hendy
Hendy Fairy Village
Benefits – So far, 4 volunteers have been actively involved, with more waiting in the wings. The benefit is that it creates another opportunity to get the community engaged. There is a lot of interest in the project and a great deal of the preparation work has been completed, including:
- making the doors ready for decoration
- the Community Council removed Ash tress (ash Dieback) to make the area safe
- Walters Engineering gave time, equipment and manpower to create the basis of the path
The remainder of the project will be undertaken in the spring.
Hendy Nature Trail
The nature trail volunteers want to engage more children and young people at the trail. Based on our experience of a Remembrance Day art project, we would like to use a designated area on the trail as a regular gallery for community pebble art. We would run workshops with children under a gazebo on site. Each session would reflect a different theme – e.g. the seasons on the trail and the corresponding wildlife and plant life. We would like the grant to buy art materials in order for us to undertake this activity.
Whilst aimed at children, we would encourage family and intergenerational participation. If Covid allows, we would also like to roll the project out to the adjacent sheltered housing complex.
Benefits – The project has resulted in a number of seasonal family events at the trail (circa 150 people benefitted) as well as a number of displays at the community gallery:
Catch up with the kiddies
We’ve had a number of approaches to start a group for parents with pre-Meithrin children. The idea is to start with a regular subsidized coffee morning in the Reading Room/Community Cafe so that the group can grow an establish itself, with the ultimate aim of it becoming a self-sustaining group that undertake a range of social activities that include adults and children (walks, trips out to family-friendly attractions including the local nature trail, craft sessions etc).
As a dormitory village with lots of new housing, we have lots of new young families without their traditional support bubble and this project will help to integrate them into our community.
Benefits – We have had attendance from over 30 mums and children at various points (the first meeting attracted 20 which was fantastic but challenging given the space in the Reading Room). The project started in September and has been well received with enquiries still being made about it. Numbers have gone down since the change in the weather and the news about Omicron, but there are signs that some mums will continue to meet after the pilot project is completed (December 15th 2021).
Art project
The asset audit revealed that there was no art-related provision in the ward. Yet a number of individuals have shown an interest in an art club. As such we would like to explore the opportunity of developing a junior and senior art club based in the reading Room in Hendy.
Benefit – Since October 2021 a successful junior and senior art club has been running in Hendy but attracts attendees from across the ward. We have 12 children registered on the junior session and a regular cohort of 9 at the senior sessions. The tutor is a local artist and has allowed both groups to explore a range of media. The group is committed to meeting after the funding has ceased.
Gardening project (Talyclun)
Volunteers in Talyclun wanted to:
Improve our local environments through the provision of planters. We will as volunteers plant them up and maintain them.
Volunteers in Talyclun asked for support in terms of planters, and a local business supplied plants and soil. The project engaged a range of ages and have helped create community focuses within the respective areas.
Benefits: 15 members of the community attended an open-air site meeting to discuss their needs as an estate
- Increased skills and knowledge within the community
- Intergenerational activity
- New friendships and relationships locally
- Enhanced community environment both aesthetically and ecologically
Further Participatory Budgeting Evidence: Applications for each project. Monitoring Forms for each project. Marketing around the process. Letters. Photographs. Presentations.
