Penymorfa Community Garden Project Trip

On Monday 28 July, Glanymor & Tyisha Communities First held a trip to visit community gardens in the Gwendraeth and Amman Valley. The trip was for residents local to the Penymorfa area of Llanelli, where Communities First, in partnership with Carmarthenshire County Council and and the Carmarthenshire Community Safety Partnership, have secured £50,000 to develop an overgrown and unused area of land.

The money is for the local community to spend on a garden design that will benefit the locality and be enjoyed by residents. The local community will be closely involved in the planning process. The trip was a chance to see good examples of community gardens and to talk to the people behind the projects. From this, residents will be able to take inspiration for designing the Penymorfa Community Garden.

The trip visited three gardens:

• Pontyates Community Garden
• Penygroes Community Garden
• Nant Y Bedol Community Garden

plus a visit to Pontyberem Hall and Menter Cwm Gwendraeth for a buffet lunch.

Carmarthenshire Connect was on the trip with 10 digital cameras for residents to photograph features of the gardens that they liked or disliked. Each photographer was given a card with a happy face on one side and a sad one on the other, to be included within photos, so that features in photographs could later be identified as positive or negative. Many of the photos taken by residents will be displayed on a board at the next project planning meeting, and be used used as part of the planning process.

We have a selection of the 400 photos taken by residents here.

Pontyates Community Garden

Pontyates Community Garden is next to Ponyates Miners Welfare Hall. The garden was the idea of Pontyates Welfare Hall Association, who managed all aspects of the project. The garden has many features - an outdoor performing area, benches, standing stones, pathways, history boards and an aromatic sensory herb garden. There are different materials and surfaces throughout the garden - grass, coloured tarmac, bricks, stone chippings and wood chip. The project cost a total of £40,000 and was funded by the 1Fund. It was officially opened on St David's Day this year with a superb turnout from the Pontyates community.

Some of the group, which included Mal Health from the Carmarthenshire Community Safety Partnership and Dan Snaith from Keep Wales Tidy.

Enjoying the pathways.

Roy with one of the Pontyates history boards.


Pontyates Youth Shelter

Across the road from Pontyates Community Garden is a youth shelter, overlooking the rugby pitch. The shelter is a focal point for young people in the area and offers a space to congregate. It was installed by Llangydern Community Council at a cost of £13,000, some of which was raised by local youths through a litter pick.

The back of the shelter, which comes with a comprehensive guarantee of its indestructibility!

Enjoying the youth shelter - smiley faces all round! The shelter features an inbuilt radio and light that are solar powered.

Penygroes Community Garden

Penygroes Garden has become the heart of the community and is widely used by all ages to sit, relax and have a chat. The garden was designed by Penygroes Gardening Club, who recently won an environmental enhancement award for the level community involvement and hard work put into transforming the area of unused land. The garden, that is just below Penygroes library, was built on a budget of £4,632. Local and Gardening Club members help to maintain the superb selection of plants and flowers.

Reclaimed railway sleepers make solid steps.

Some of the flowers and plants.

Gardening Club member Lynette (left) with Faye Davies, from Glanymor & Tyisha Communities First, who is leading on the Penymorfa Garden Project.


Nant Y Bedol Communty Garden

At a cost of nearly £60,000, the rustic Nant Y Bedol Garden covers a larger area and sits alongside the newly built Nant Y Bedol School. The garden features inventive children's facilities, including a woodland story-telling circle, outdoor chessboard, horseshoe pond and gazebo huts. The garden is a joint project between Cwmaman Town Council and CCC Countryside Recreation Unit. It is used by local walkers as part of the Aman & Loughor Heritage Trail.

Walking down to the story-telling circle.

Everyone seated - nobody to read stories though! The circle is cool on a warm summer's day as it's shaded by trees.


Glyn with the Nant Y Bedol map.

Exploring the gazebo huts.

And sitting inside them.

The horseshoe pond, fenced and gated for safety.

Colette behind the wild grass.
================================

On the coach journey back to Llanelli, Faye kept everyone entertained with a game of bingo. Faye had some great prizes for bingo winners. Mal Heath donated his prize of three teddy bears to Kaitlyn!

Back at Penymorfa - there are lots of decisions to be made on how to develop this area of land.

Residents from the area surrounding Penymorfa are welcome to get involved with the Garden Project - call Faye Davies at Glanymor & Tyisha Communities First on 01554 777850 for more information. See the organisation's website at http://www.gandtcf.org.uk/.