A vital community leisure facility has been awarded with £300,000 worth of funding from Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund.
Afan Valley Swimming Pool in Cymmer has become a vital community hub, providing group and one-to-one swimming lessons, family swims, and lane swimming seven days a week, with 36,000 visits recorded annually.
The pool is also home to Afan Valley Swimming Club, Welsh Diving, Flying Start, a weekly youth club and Communities For Work. The £300,000 Vision Fund award will finance the pool’s operation for five years, continuing the employment of 13 staff with support from volunteers.
Formerly Cymmer Swimming Pool, the centre was saved when Afan Valley Community Leisure, working with Llandarcy Park Ltd, stepped in to raise funds following its closure in December 2015.
Kate Breeze, Executive Director of the Pen y Cymoedd Community Fund, said: “The importance of this swimming pool cannot be understated. It is the only swimming pool in the Afan Valley, with similar facilities in other towns being impractical to access for many in the community. Support from the Pen y Cymoedd Community Fund will significantly ease financial pressures. Afan Valley Community Leisure will continue to fundraise towards its running costs, but we hope this award will help support the sustainability of the pool into the future.”
Hayley Phillips, Trustee said: “Afan Valley Community Leisure are absolutely delighted to have been awarded funding from Pen y Cymoedd. This funding is vital for our group to be able to continue to engage with Llandarcy Park Ltd, our chosen partner who successfully and safely operate the pool on our behalf. The pool provides so many employment, health, and educational benefits for our community. The pool has strong links with local schools, clubs, and many organisations.
It is home to the ever growing and successful Afan Valley Swimming Club. The success of the pool is not only due to grants raised by Afan Valley Community Leisure and the organisations and individuals that utilise the facility but is also testimony to the fantastic staff who work at the pool – Darren, Tom Janet and Wyn to name but a few. They are so passionate about their roles and the community in which they live, and this, no doubt, helps foster the successful environment.
Pen y Cymoedd CIC have understood the strengths and struggles that communities such as the Afan Valley face when dealing with threatened closure of vital community assets, and we’d like to thank them for their support.”