FRIENDS OF CRAIG GWLADUS

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£3,750 – MICRO FUND – FEB 2017

Craig Gwladus is a woodland and country park, planted ancient woodland site, providing a haven for wildlife, birds and flora and it’s well-used by local people and visitors. It is a significant public green space at the southern end of the Neath Valley and has the active Friends group working to secure its future. This community green space application had the potential to benefit many people and deliver a range of well-being and skills development benefits.

They applied for 5 benches, a secure container and artist sessions with schoolchildren to design and develop a mural for the park and met the following prospectus points:

  • Making the area more visually attractive and useful
  • Restoring and recreating historic, native habitats
  • Natural assets valued and developed across the area
  • Create a sense of community ownership of their environment as an asset place to go for recreation, learning and enjoyment

“The project has helped to kick start a revival of the park’s fortunes, reviving energy and interest in the park from local schools, the Friends and wider community. Regular volunteer days are now held in the park, made a lot easier with container for storing tools and materials. Involvement with the schools through this funded project has helped to ignite interest for other future projects including development of a school’s education pack and trail. We were able to deliver more than expected with community arts workshops due to generosity of artist’s time. The mural makes a real statement from main car park and has been much admired.” Quote from Ian Davies – Friends of Craig Gwladus

What has happened:

  • Secure storage container purchased benefitting voluntary work of the Friends of Group
  • Artis workshops with schools leading to design of mural
  • 5 new benches made from reclaimed timber in the park built and installed around the park.
  • Due to enthusiasm of schools and artist and with extra funding from Local Authrity the group have been able to involve Comprehensive school pupils also to develop a larger mural that will wrap around the whole container
  • The Friends of Group were able to use own funds to purchase shelving for container
  • The Friends of Group have now been awarded a total of £76,000 from HLF and NRW for a special project in the park that aims to engage local people in managing and planning the future of the park.

Pen y Cymoedd “The project went really well and we are really pleased that a small Micro Fund grant helped the group to revive interest and energy, made real improvemnets to park and involved local school children in engaging with the park. A huge congratulations on the new grant funding and we wish them all the best with their next venture.”