Pen y Cymoedd Wind Farm Community Fund has supported businesses across the Neath, Afan, Rhondda and Cynon Valleys with loans totalling £341,727 since October 2019.

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We have introduced a Community Fund Loan Programme to enhance our funding offer to companies trading within the Fund area. Loans can be used for any purpose including growth and expansion, investment in assets or project cashflow requirements provided your activity delivers against the Fund’s overall objectives as set out in the Community Prospectus.

Loan offers and repayment terms (period and interest charged) will be flexible and tailored to your individual needs. Your financing needs will be discussed at the outset so that you can plan accordingly. Although loans are our priority funding option for trading companies, depending on the nature of your proposal a combination of loan and grant may be provided.

Emily Kate has been offering fashion clothing and accessories in Treorchy, within the Rhondda Valley since 2015. In this time, the business has grown tremendously, attracting customers from all over South Wales, with over 9000 followers on social media. Following this success and over 12 months of planning Emily Kate Bridal Ltd was born, planning to compete with the bridal shops in the big cities of Swansea, Cardiff and Bristol, but with a local more personal service.

The expansion of the business, with the support of a combination of grant and loan of £22,926 from Pen y Cymoedd, will see up to five new jobs created for people in the local area over the first two years, whilst complimenting the existing businesses within Treorchy. Treorchy High Street has been named as the UKs Best High Street in 2020 and with Emily Kate Bridal ready to open in late 2020, Pen y Cymoedd Community Fund are excited to see the high street flourish even more going into 2021.

Soar Chapel in Penderyn dates back to 1912 and is at the heart of the Penderyn community. In 2015, the Chapel was purchased by Leigh and Daniel at Penderyn Furniture Company Ltd with some big ideas to bring old Welsh furniture back to life, whist celebrating moving away from throwing away the old and bringing in the new and breathing life back into these old Welsh treasures! Penderyn Furniture Company are now in their 5th year of trading having expanded their vision further into the community, offering a café, promoting local crafters and supporting Penderyn to become a major tourist destination. In 2018, they approached Pen y Cymoedd for support in transforming to exterior of the 100 year old building to reflect the Welsh treasures offered inside. They argued that this would not only provide additional employment to local tradespeople, but further ongoing employment and more community engagement from local crafters. Pen y Cymoedd were excited to support this renovation in the form of a flexible loan for £41,420. Working with Leigh and Daniel, Pen y Cymoedd set out favourable terms of repayment to really support the success of this project.

 

Sgwd Gwladys are based in Pontneathvaughn and have been a driving force for local tourism since 2017. Starting with just two members of staff offering guided walks around the beautiful surroundings, they have expanded their operations to employ 10 full time members of staff, a tourist information centre with café/ bistro, which has seen not only tourist number rocket over recent years, but seeing more of the local community enjoying what they are offering.

Following an unusually hot summer in 2018 and the installation of an outside seating area, it became apparent that Sgwd Gwladys current kitchen facilities needed improving. They were offering up to 250 meals a day during this time and still turning locals and tourists away! Sgwd Gwladys applied to Pen y Cymoedd for financial support to improve their kitchen facilities, allowing them to double their offering up to 500 meals a day, supporting additional tourism to the local area whilst employing up to a further 7 members of staff. Pen y Cymoedd could see the benefit of such improvements and supported Sgwd Gwladys with a flexible loan of £17,000 for this work to be undertaken in Spring of 2019.

SRCC Stores in Cwmgwrach are more than just a convenience store in the village of Cwmgwrach. In 2015 they set up a not-for-profit community group was set up to bring the community together. Using the convenience store as the central hub within the community, Cwmgwrach Moving Forward have organised community cinema events, free family fun days and music events for all ages within the community. With unused space at the back of the shop, Cwmgwrach Moving Forward, wanted to offer a place for people to come together, enjoy healthy and good quality food whilst promoting tourism in the area and creating local jobs for local people. SRCC Stores wanted to adapt unused space at the back of the shop to bring people together even more. The Mine bistro would be based on Welsh coal mine theme from the local area, run a number of social activities, provide a space for local crafters to showcase their work and promote local walks and trails within the community. Being conveniently located between the Cwmgwrach recreational park and the convenience store, outside seating area would make this is a welcoming bistro for local residents and tourists to the area. Pen y Cymoedd were happy to support The Mine with a flexible loan for £24,000 to expand their current business, offering repayment holidays to suit the needs of the business.

The Vision Fund to us has been a lifeline to get a dream off the ground”