Community Changemakers Fund Spring 2023

About the Fund

We’re delighted to have been able to run the Community Changemakers Fund for the third year running! We’ve helped to support a variety of different projects, all making change happen in their local communities.

Any group of local residents, community organisation, charity, community interest company or micro-SME that is based within 10km/6miles of a train station in South West Wales were able to apply. The assessment panel included members of the South West Wales Connected Steering Group and staff from Carmarthenshire Association of Voluntary Services. Click here to see the funders that helped make these projects possible.

This round of the Community Changemakers Fund has closed. Congratulations to all of the awarded projects!

Thank you to our Project Funders

Neath Port Talbot

Children’s Rights Unit Yo-Vo were awarded £800 to get involved in activities that help to improve their emotional health and well-being, such as mindfulness; yoga; outdoor pursuits. All activities will be in the local area and will be chosen by the young people.

5th Port Talbot Beaver Scout Group were awarded £700 to purchase arts and crafts supplies, as well as hi-vis vests for the children and leaders to wear. The Scout Group will also use the money to purchase equipment for obstacle courses (needed to gain their Health & Fitness badge).

Raw Performance CIC were awarded £500 towards placing their qualified nutritionist and teacher on a Level 4 Obesity and Diabetes Specialist Instructor course. The information from the course will provide him with the foundation to run an engaging, life-changing workshop for participants of all ages and genders. The workshop and resources developed from this project will then be rolled out to other areas of their work including Swansea.

Afan Ales Fine Wines / Drunk Poets Society were awarded £1000 to host more grassroots performance events. The poetry night is very popular with the arts community in Port Talbot and has a very positive impact on the community in creating a safe place where people from all aspects of life are able to talk and express themselves whilst sharing their own personal stories with passion. They hope by giving these young musicians a place to show their work that we can really help put Port Talbot’s thriving art, culture and grassroots music scene on the map.

Surf School Wales were awarded £750 to create a beach community library open for their club members (over 500 aged between 8 – 16) as well as members of the community. Surf School Wales would like to purchase books highlighting surfing, blue therapy, the history of Port Talbot and a sample of books recommended by the Reading Well Programme, which are assessed against National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) clinical guidelines.

In It Together Festival were awarded £400 towards room hire for their sessions, art and craft supplies, refreshments, insurance, guest speaker costs and travelling expenses for volunteers.

Ty Santes Fair Church Community Centre were awarded £750 to construct a green space in the form of a sensory garden for use by the attendees at Ty Santes Fair and the wider community.

Port Talbot Community Street Art Project were awarded £900 towards the Street Art Project with San Portablo. The funding will go towards art supplies for local street artists and youths to create art around the train station. Two children each from five local high schools will have some friendly competition creating street art within their community. This project will be over a three-day period, 2 days creating and learning about street art and 1 day will be a community event where they will display the art around the train station. The funding will also go towards PPE for those involved to keep them clean and safe throughout the project.

Fuse Community Arts were awarded £800 to hire a hall for a block of free sessions to the public, arts and crafts materials to create visual storytelling, and to create a digital film on the connections made in South Wales due to travelling and communication.

Carmarthenshire

Llanboidy Market Hall were awarded £1000 to continue with funding their Warm Hub every Thursday, where they provide crafts activities, tea and coffee and cake and homemade soup and bread and cheese for lunch and games, etc. for the after-school period. The funding will also support additional activities, taster sessions, workshops and volunteer expenses.

Llanfallteg Memorial Playing Field were awarded £900 to build a covered shelter in the children’s play area to house a new children’s wooden picnic table and benches (gift donation from a local family) a wooden sand pit with attached benches and a donated wooden children’s kitchen unit. The funds will also go towards guttering with downpipe into a closed water butt to collect rainwater for the children to water the raised beds and wildflower area, as well as decorating a metal storage shed with the children’s input.

Llwynhendy Craft Group were awarded £400 to go towards ‘yarn bombing’ in celebration of the ongoing regeneration and development of part of the Tyisha ward which includes Station Road. A craft group will be set up to involve the community, local primary school and family centre. This project will be an excellent chance for informal learning to take place, with the pupils being able to listen to stories and memories of how this part of Llanelli would have looked and functioned.

Pembrokeshire

Parc Helyg Community Gardens were awarded £500 to place an entrance track to the community gardens to make it much more accessible for everyone all year round.

Pembroke Town Wall Trust were awarded £1000 to train four local people as guides to deliver in-person guided walking tours of our incredible Medieval town walls. The tour can start from Pembroke railway station, is approximately a mile circular route, takes approximately 1.5 hours – 2 hours and is accessible to wheelchair users. The Trust aims to offer 8 tour dates in 2023, scheduled in line with town events. The fund will also go towards producing 500 copies of bilingual printed tour pamphlets, for tour participants and for sales and marketing opportunities, as well as an audio/visual tour and promotional “taster” videos with local youth media company OWOW.

The Trust will offer an inclusive scheduled programme of informative and engaging heritage talks and events, to create a positive impact on the social life and well-being of the local community and an improved sense of place, offering 4 events over the year, including demonstrations of traditional construction techniques.

Megan’s Starr Foundation were awarded £700 to fund the continuation of their services for health & well-being amongst young people, parents, and carers, to fund professional counselling, training, and to fill the gaps in statutory services for people managing and recovering from mental health problems that have significantly disrupted their everyday lives especially post covid/isolation.

This support will lead to improved mental health of young people in the community, by having better access to services and support networks for issues that arise from the negative impacts of isolation and issues as a result of Covid and the current cost of living crisis.

Swansea

Will’s Petting Farm were awarded £941 to buy a customised pop-up gazebo, so they can go out into the community with the animals, ensuring that they are protected from all weather conditions, as well as a portaloo, so members of the general public can use the restroom while visiting the farm in Three Crosses.

The Shared Garden were awarded £964 to buy seeds and compost, art materials and food for lunches.

Manselton Youth Club were awarded £500 to purchase cookery equipment to continue providing meals on a weekly basis, currently they are using our volunteers saucepans, roasting trays, etc. Having their own equipment will allow them to expand on the meals made.

Friends of Coed Gwilym Park were awarded £728 to purchase 2 kids picnic benches with an umbrella, 2 adult picnic benches, 200 daffodil bulbs and 200 dwarf daffodil bulbs to improve the park for the community.

Friends of Parc Melin Mynach were awarded £1000 to purchase an additional shipping container, due to out-growing the first container. The containers will be used as a community litter picking hub and to store equipment for use in the park and wider community. They hope that the Park Rangers programme will encourage more people to volunteer locally by providing the flexibility to volunteer when they can rather than at pre-planned events.

Llansamlet Graveyard Community Garden were awarded £768 to buy 3 picnic benches for their community garden area so that volunteers, who are mainly from Shine Cymru, can sit outside in good weather to eat their lunch with their carers while working on the garden.

Gendros Primary School were awarded £1000 to build planters with a wooden gazebo, which will cover produce such as carrots, potatoes, strawberries, green beans and more. The area will become a pick-what-you-need area for parents and carers of children. This would support the school community with healthy eating, bring the community together, and may help with the cost of living crisis.

Felindre Welfare Hall were awarded £999 to support community nature learning days. This project will mean the community green space can be used to improve social inclusion. The funds will purchase equipment for activities such as den building, fire -cooking activities, tools for family-friendly woodwork, such as wood cookies, bird box/bug hotel making, clay for nature art. Older community members will be encouraged to share family recipes with children and build a community cookbook.

Swansea Pride were awarded £1000 towards the large yearly event, which is run by a small number of volunteer trustees who work hard to fundraise. Pride is about much more than a day of the year. It is about celebrating who we are, and how our city is welcoming. This project will ensure that people are able to be who they are/went to be.