Work on Cwmgorse Heritage Garden Begins

Cwmgorse Village Forum met with Upper Amman Valley Communities First, WREN, Groundwork and children from Cwmgorse Primary School yesterday to mark the start of work on the new Cwmgorse Community Heritage Garden.

This is the Forum's press release:
A number of volunteers from the village of Cwmgorse have recently been successful in securing grant funding to renovate a disused piece of land at the heart of the village, into a Community Heritage Garden.

With the support of Groundwork and Upper Amman Valley Communities First, the volunteers have been able to secure monies from WREN (Waste Recycling Environmental Ltd), Neath and Port Talbot's Community Key Fund, Groundwork Bridgend & Neath Port Talbot and Communities First Trust Fund in order to transform the area of land situated on Heol Y Gors into a garden which the whole community can enjoy.

Meleri Jones from WREN said "We are looking for more groups in the area to submit applications as funding requests are currently low". Please contact WREN on 01953 714112 or visit their website at http://www.wren.org.uk/ for more information.

Children from Cwmgorse Primary School will be invited to contribute art work depicting local heritage. This work will be incorporated into the design of the garden. In addition to this, the school will be able to use the park as an open classroom in future.

Sylvan Contractors were awarded the tender, and begun work during the cold snap of last week. Members of the Forum would like to wish them luck.

The group have made enormous strides, and have worked extremely hard in reaching this point. The next few months will allow the group to witness their hard work come to fruition.

===========================

Here are some of photos of the site and a video that that Forum Treasurer Jackie Domingo and Volunteer Kath Moore took using Carmarthenshire Connect's mobile phone camera:

Adrian Herdman, Chairman of Cwmgorse Village Forum

Could You Give Others the 'Confidence to Cook'?

A fantastic opportunity from Upper Amman Valley Communities First:

Following the success of last year’s “Confidence to Cook” course, we want to train local people to train others.

“Confidence to Cook” aims to increase people’s skills and confidence in creating simple, healthy dishes for the family, that won’t break the bank! So, to provide more local people with these skills, we are looking for 6 local people to be trained to run community cookery courses within the Upper Amman Valley.

The course starts on 11th February, at St. Catherine’s Church Hall, Brynamman, and will run from 10am to 1pm every Wednesday morning, for 10 weeks.

The course is accredited at OCN level 2, and will provide you with the skills needed to run and manage cooking groups, and teach practical cooking skills.

If you are interested in training the community to cook, or would like a chat to find out more, please contact Amanda at the Communities First office on 01269 824653.

We can also provide free childcare.

Click on the image below to read a larger version of the Confidence to Cook poster

BASE Facilitate Upper Amman Valley Partnership Meeting

Young people were on the agenda at Thursday's meeting of the Upper Amman Valley Communities First Partnership. In fact, the whole evening was given over to young people's concerns in a session facilitated by the BASE (BrynAman Street Elite) youth group.

Peter, Owain and Alex from BASE facilitate the evening (taken by Ffion)

The evening was a chance for members of the community to discover what young people's groups in the area are doing and for them to offer help where they could.

Peter from BASE explains what his hopes are for the evening, filmed by Nicola

In the first half of the evening, presentations were made by representatives of Organised Kaos, Valley Teen Club, Mess Up The Mess, Presents... Events and BASE themselves.

Nicola with news of Organised Kaos' transformation into a social enterprise, filmed by Peter

India from Mess Up The Mess explains what she hopes will happen as a result of the evening, filmed by Laura

Diane Davies from Valley Teen Club with her hopes for the evening

Speed Dating - Kath and Adrian from Cwm Gors meet Peter and Gwen from Presents... Events (taken by Ffion)

The second half of the evening was given over to a 'speed dating' session. Chairs were arranged in a circle and every member of the audience got a chance to talk to representatives from each youth group. After five minutes, your time was up and you had to move on to the next group. It was a chance to find out more about what the groups were doing, to exchange information and offer help where possible.


The Partnership meeting offered a fresh perspective on young people's activities in the Upper Amman Valley. Peter, from BASE, recorded the reactions of some of those who attended.

Kath from Cwm Gors Village Forum, filmed by Peter

Adrian from Cwm Gors Village Forum, filmed by Peter

Higher Uchela Music Video Launch

The launch of the Higher Uchela music video last Thursday was a huge success - over 100 people from local groups and organisations attended the glitzy event at Brynaman Rugby Club.

All the young people involved in the project received an award and a certificate, presented by the High Sheriff of Dyfed, Claire Mansel Lewis.

Haddy recieves her award and certificate from Claire Mansel Lewis

Peter recieves his award and certificate

After the award presentations, everyone got to see the premier of the music video created for local artist Tom Hamer's song Higher. The music video was planned, filmed and edited with support from television production company Tinopolis.

And the Higher Uchela music video is launched! Claire cuts the ribbon wrapping the DVD held by India, who played the lead role in the video

The premier was followed with Tom Hamer playing a live acoustic version of Higher. Then it was celebration time with a music from local DJ Tom Smith, a buffet and more live music from other local bands.

The music video idea, produced in both Welsh and English versions, was created over a seven month period by young people of BASE and Mess Up The Mess Youth Theatre and also included members of ASBO (All Skate Boarding Outcasts) and other young individuals. Set in a house party, the film addressed issues of underage binge drinking and the effects and consequences of such behaviour.

This innovative youth led bilingual project was run in partnership by Upper Amman Valley Communities First, Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company, Menter Bro Dinefwr, Tinopolis Production Studios and Carmarthenshire Connect. The project was kindly supported by Carmarthenshire Community Safety Partnership, Amman and Gwendraeth Young People’s Partnership and Amman Youth Forum.

Young people from throughout the Amman Valley participated in the project from Llandybie to Brynaman and due to the support of UNA Exchange’s environmental project in Glanaman the film even includes young people from as far as Italy and even Vietnam taking part in the film making!

Peri Thomas, Youth Arts Manager of Mess Up The Mess Theatre remarked “The process of making the video was a huge success and involved numerous enthusiastic and dedicated young people between the ages of 13 and 19. However, we are now working together to increase the profile of the music video in order to use it as a discussion tool in schools and youth clubs to raise awareness and understanding of safer partying approaches.”

Just before the launch, members of Project Higher Uchela recorded some 'red carpet' style interviews using Carmarthenshire Connect's Busbi camcorders. Here a couple of them:

India on playing the lead role

Louisa interviews Sophie and Tashy

Following the launch, group members then catured some audience feedback with these videos:

High Sheriff of Dyfed Claire Mansel Lewis, Andrew Williams (PCSO for Quarter Bach) and Charles Gabe (father of Project Higher member Laura)

Tom Williams, Upper Amman Valley Communities First Co-ordinator (yn Gymraeg/In Welsh)

Adele Dumas, Project Manager for Brynaman Community Centre

Lynsey Harries, Funding Officer for Brynaman Community Centre

Adrian Herdman, representing the Cwmgors Village Forum

Sarah Powell, Youth Participation Officer for Carmarthenshire County Council

In addition to assisting in the delivery of filming and editing workshops, Carmarthenshire Connect has been working with the young people participating in Higher Uchela to document the progress of the project through photos and videos. These have been uploaded to the Carmarthenshire Connect blog and a specially created Higher Uchela blog, which all members of the group have been able to contribute to.

The blog can be found at higheruchela.blogspot.com where there are more photos and videos from whole project, including the launch event.

Upper Amman Valley Christmas Fayre

Today was a very festive day in the Upper Amman Valley, with the Communities Firsts annual Christmas Fayre!

The day long event was held in the GCG Community Hall to kick start the Christmas season which included an extended wintry warm welcome to the whole community.

The event was well attended and gave an opportunity for local residents to get together for a cup of tea (or coffee), some cakes and even some hots dogs to help fund raise for their local community.

(The Hot Dog Lads!)

A number of local stalls were present selling all sorts from home made cakes and mince pies, local produce, second hand goods (always good to find that Christmas bargain) to jewelery and of course Christmas cards.

(Original gifts & Accessories by Anna & Nigel Smith)

(Home made Jewelery)

(GCG Happy Wanderers with their fund raising stall)

(A range of precious crystals, a perfect gift)

(Christmas cards from Adele at CAVS)

Community organisations also had stands promoting their good causes and providing advise to the people of the Upper Amman Valley. This included the Warm Wales initiative funded by the Welsh Assembly Government and Neath Port Talbot to help people keep warm this winter by providing sound advise on energy tariffs and free loft and cavity insulation, Safer Neath Port Talbot (community safety partnership), Keep Wales Tidy, the local Credit Union, Care & Repair Neath Port Talbot and the Welsh Language Board.

(The ladies from Warm Wales)

(Safer Neath Port Talbot)

Entertainment was provide by the brilliant children's choir of Tair Gwaith Primary School who sang a number of traditional Christmas songs as well as some unusual ones!

CTR Enterprise were also on hand with a second hand stall and to promote their various ventures in the area including the CTR Fruit & Veg shop.

Upper Amman Valley Young People Launch Music Video

Upper Amman Valley Communities First launch the pop video produced during their Higher Music Video Project at Brynaman Rugby Club on Thursday 27th November at 7pm.

Over the summer, young people from across the Upper Amman Valley Communities First area devised, produced and starred in a music video illustrating a song by local young musician, Tom Hamer. They were provided with assistance and support from Llanelli based production company Tinopolis (producers of Wedi 3 and Wedi 7.)

Filming in the kitchen

Filming the party scene

One of the final scenes in the video

You can follow the story of the project from start to finish here on the Carmarthenshire Connect blog: Higher Uchela.

The video will be launched at Brynaman Rugby Club on 27th November 2008 at 7pm. The event will be a chance to congratulate all the young people involved and will include live performances by Tom Hamer and local DJs.

Schools Health Event

Upper Amman Valley Communities First held a Schools Health Event on Friday. Pupils from all seven of the primary schools in the Communities First area met at Pontardawe Leisure Centre. The schools were Brynaman, Cefnbrynbrain, Ystradowen, Tairgwaith, Gwaun Cau Gurwen, Ysgol Y Glyn and Cwmgors.

The Schools Health Event was arranged in order to evaluate the Schools Health Programme that Upper Amman Valley Communities First implemented in June and July of this year. During the summer, school pupils participated in workshops on fitness, the environment, nutrition, drama, playground games and sun safety.

In Friday's event, the 125 pupils were tested on how much they remembered from the summer by participating in a series of workshops covering the themes of the original workshops. The workshops were facilitated by Groundworks, Mess Up The Mess, Playworks, Pontardawe Leisure Centre and the Neath Port Talbot Communities First Central Support Team.

Teachers from the schools were also asked questions as part of the evaluation. Communities First staff recorded teachers' responses using Carmarthenshire Connect's Busbi camcorders. Here are some of the videos:

Mr Edwards from Ysgol Cmwgors (yn Gymraeg/in Welsh)

Mrs Lewis from Tairgwaith School

Mrs James from Ysgol Y Glyn and Mrs Higgins from Ysgol Gwaun Cae Gurwen (yn Gymraeg/in Welsh)

New Credit Union Branch Launched

A new credit union branch has launched in Gwaun Cae Gurwen (GCG). The branch is a part of Neath Port Talbot Credit Union. GCG is not far from the Carmarthenshire/Neath Port Talbot border and sits inside the Upper Amman Valley Communities First ward.

The launch, held at GCG Community Hall, comes after at least a year of endeavour by local residents. This branch will be operated by a small team of local volunteers.

The launch event was supported by Communities First and there was a variety of organisations present with information stands, including the Citizens Advice Bureau and Age Concern.

At the launch: (left to right) Les Hughes (Neath Port Talbot Credit Union); Tracey Ervine (GCG branch volunteer); Ffion Davies (Communities First Development Officer); David Jones (GCG branch volunteer)

Volunteers Tracey Ervine and David Jones explain more about the credit union and the launch event.

For more information on credit unions, see the website of the Association of British Credit Unions at http://www.abcul.org/

Lesley Shannon from Confident Nutrition was at the event with tasters of carrot and coriander soup and apricot oaty bars. These yummy dishes demonstrated that good, healthy food can be cooked quickly and easily at home and without needing to spend lots of money.

Upper Amman Valley Communities Coordinator Tom Williams talks to Lesley in 'Confident Nutrition TV'! Filmed by Ffion Davies

For more information on Confident Nutrition, visit http://www.confidentnutrition.co.uk/

Project Higher Editing Workshop

An editing workshop on Monday evening provided members of Project Higher with the opportunity to edit the footage that they recorded in their filming workshop in October.

Group members used Apple's iMovie, a piece of editing software that comes with Macs, to put together the spoof chat show interview with 'Tom Hamer' that they staged.

Thanks to Carmarthenshire County Council's Youth Service, Peri at Mess Up The Mess and Chris at Carmarthenshire Connect, we managed to get together five Macs for use for by the group, meaning that there was a Mac between every two participants.

The workshop was facilitated by freelance TV professional Dylan Tucker, Mess Up The Mess, Upper Amman Valley Communities First and Carmarthenshire Connect.

We're pleased to say that by end of the two hour session, five fully edited chat shows were created and played back to fellow group members.

Editing: just wicked!

Using iMovie

Dylan Tucker demonstrates some of iMovie's features

Watching each other's completed videos at the end

Louisa tells us what she thought of the session, and what she did

Owain tells us about the session (in Gymraeg/in Welsh)

Finally, nothing to do with editing, but a great bit of choreography!

Presents... Events' Halloween Party

In July we reported on the Upper Amman Valley Communities First Young Enterprise Day. Some of the participants at that day-long workshop got together to form the Presents... young enterprise group.

Presents... aim to specialise in a variety of community activities and events, to which the Presents... brand can be applied to. The group has started with Presents... Events and has been working hard over the last couple months, with support from Upper Amman Valley Communities First, to organise a Halloween Party in Tai'rgwaith Community Centre. This event, held on Halloween last Friday, was very successful, with a big turnout.

The children at the event had a great time at the disco. There was also a tuck shop, face-painting, a best-dressed competition and a raffle.

Sky lanterns were on sale during the evening for a grand sky lantern set-off at the local park, after the disco. Purchasers were able to write on the paper lantern structures before the burners were set alight and the lanterns set-off into the sky.

Given the success of the evening, I'm sure we'll be seeing more community events and activities in the future from the Presents... group.

Here are some photos of the super-scary costumes worn to the party and some of the activities during the evening.

Laura and Peri, from Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company

Upper Amman Valley Communities First Development Officers Ffion Davies and Juliana Hughes

Tom, DJ for the night

Alex and Gwen run the tuck shop

Alex paints Juliana's face

Laura has her face painted

Writing on the sky lanterns...

... and setting them off into the dark (and thankfully dry) skies of the Upper Amman Valley

Project Higher Filming Workshop

Members of Project Higher met with Dylan Tucker, an Australian born freelance TV professional now based in South Wales, earlier this week. During an evening in the Aelwyd Hall in Brynaman, the young people participating in the music video project had the chance to ask Dylan questions about getting into the TV industry and to learn new skills in filming.

The evening kicked-off with some team games led by Juliana Hughes, from Upper Amman Valley Communities First. Then group members had their chance to put their questions to Dylan in a Q&A session. Following this, the group took part in a practical workshop in lighting, sound and camera techniques using Carmarthenshire Connect's newly acquired camcorder, microphone and lighting set.

Group members then put the theory to test when they filmed a spoof chat show, interviewing 'Tom Hamer' (an excellent impersonation there Jacob!) on his new song Higher, for which the project's music video has been created. Then we went to an 'outside broadcast' (the other side of the room!) to meet some of Tom's fans.

The evening was a good chance for group members to get behind the technicalities of filming, sound and lighting as the packed filming schedule for creating the Higher music video with production company Tinopolis allowed little time for Q&As and hands-on practical experience.

One of the team games - 'Bunnies'

The Q&A session with Dylan

The workshop with Dylan

Demonstrating camera techniques on the projector

Checking out the camera

India took charge of the clapper board

Filming the chat show - nearly ready for action

Peter with the mic

Tom's fans

The evening was a special one - it was Katie's birthday!

The Bunnies habit - a hard one to kick

Project Higher - Sunday's Filming

After successfully filming all the party shots on Saturday, members of Project Higher met up with Tinopolis again on Sunday, this time to film the hospital scenes. The surgery at Brynaman Community Centre was used as the filming location.

Sunday was the quieter and shorter of the two filming days and unlike Saturday's filming session, which involved a large cast, only 5 actors were required.

For everyone other than India, filming the hospital scenes was a great chance to dress up in Doctor costumes!

Project Higher's cast of Doctors

India rehearses being ill!

"Dr Haddy" explains to "Dr Louisa" what the filming session is all about

Filming the hospital scenes

A brush made an excellent implement for focusing India's eyes!

Haddy tells India what she did in the hospital scenes, how it went and reflects on the weekend's filming

Haddy working with Owen from Tinopolis to record the "lights shining into eyes" shot

Louisa tells Tashy what she did and her likes and dislikes

India tells Haddy how the filming went and her likes and dislikes

To see more videos and to read blog posts by members of Project Higher, see the Project Higher blog at http://higheruchela.blogspot.com/

Project Higher Fiming Weekend Videos

Those involved in the Project Higher filming sessions recorded many videos during the sessions using Carmarthenshire Connect's 'Busbi' video recorders.

The videos capture the filming experience from project participants' perspective and aim to act as a record of the project's progress.

Here are a selection of the videos from Saturday's filming session:

Costumes

The Higher music video is in 1980s style. Group members tell us about their costumes and where they got their ideas from

Owain interviews Katie and India

Jacob interviews Sophie

Thoughts on filming a music video

What was fun? What wasn't so great?

Haddy

India

Tom from ASBO

UNA Exchange volunteers

International UNA Exchange volunteers staying in the Upper Amman Valley contributed to the video by being extras - a task they probably weren't expecting!

UNA Exchange volunteers introduce themselves to India

India interviews Livia and Anais, who are from France.

Anais speaks in French - thanks for the translation India!

Cyfweliad gyda criw Tinopolis yn Gymreag

(An interview with the Tinopolis crew in Welsh)

Cyfweliad gan Tom Hamer a Laura Evans

(Interview by Tom Hamer and Laura Evans)

See more videos by group members on the Project Higher blog at http://higheruchela.blogspot.com/

Project Higher Filming Weekend

A major phase of Project Higher was completed during a recent weekend when all the filming for the project music video was completed. The majority of the music video is a house party. There are also hospital scenes after one of the party-goers has to be admitted.

The house party shots were filmed on the Saturday and the hospital shots were filmed on Sunday. Upper Amman Valley Communities First Development Officer Juliana Hughes provided her house as the party filming location. Brynaman Community Centre Surgery was used for the hospital shots.

The filming was led and directed by a crew from Tinopolis. A host of local young people were actors and extras in the video. Along with the core members of Project Higher were young people from ASBO and BASE. International volunteers with the UNA Exchange also got involved.

Here are some photos from Saturday's filming session, which took most of the day:

Owain from Tinopolis briefs the team on the plans

Filming a party scene

Owain takes notes

Reviewing the footage

UNA Exchange volunteers

The less glamorous side of acting: pretending to be sick in a bidet!

India plays the leading character who collapses before a hospital visit

India awaits instructions

Tom Hamer's kept everyone entertained with music through the day - this is his Welsh flag covered guitar case

Project Higher Production Meeting

Project Higher recently held a production meeting at Tinopolis in Llanelli - watch the video interviews below to see project members explain what the meeting was for, how it all went and what they expect to get out of the project.

Peter, interviewed by Owain.

Owain (yn Gymraeg), interviewed by Peter.

Louisa, interviewed by Alex.

Alex, interviewed by Louisa.

Project Higher's New Blog

Project Higher/Uchela has a new blog! Member's of Higher's marketing team designed a project logo and set up the blog at the library in Brynaman Community Centre on Tuesday evening.

Members of Project Higher at the library.

Members of the team will be able (and have already started) to share ideas and upload photos and videos of project news on the blog.

See the blog at http://higheruchela.blogspot.com/

Upper Amman Valley Music Video Project

Tom Hamer has won the competition to have a music video created by a group of around 15 young people from the Amman Valley. You can hear samples of Tom's music at http://indiestore.7digital.com/tvh11/.

The Music Video Project is now called Higher, or Uchela in Welsh. The project is named after Tom Hamer's song that the music video will be made for.

The project is led by Upper Amman Valley Communities First, in partnership with Mess Up The Mess, BASE, Amman Youth Forum, Menter Bro Dinefwr and Carmarthenshire Youth Service.

Llanelli based television production company Tinpolis will be supporting the group to produce and film the video. You can see photos from the group's first visit to the Tinopolis studios, in May, by clicking on the 'Higher' category.

The group has brainstormed some ideas for the video and will be holding a production meeting with Tinopolis this Friday.

Carmarthenshire Connect will be supporting the project by helping the group to set up a blog. The blog will document the progress of the Higher project. Most members of the Higher project have camera equipped mobile phones, so the young people involved will be able to upload photos and videos throughout the course of the project.

We'll also be bringing our digital camera set and Busbi videos recorders along at various stages of the project for group members to capture photos and interviews/diary style videos. Some photos and videos will be posted to this blog. Photos will also be collected for a 'the making of' display board that will feature at the Celebratory Launch Event, where the completed music video will be previewed to the public.

Upper Amman Valley Health & Well-being Event

A Health and Well-being Event was held on Saturday at Gwaun Cae Gurwen Community Centre. This was the last of a three day programme of events that were The Summer Experience, organised by Upper Amman Valley Communities First.

Juliana, Ffion and Laura from Communities First welcomed event attendees.

There were a variety of organisations at the event with information for attendees on how to lead a healthy lifestyle.

Some of Gwaun Cae Gurwen Happy Wanderers promoting their walking group. The group meet twice a week. Click on the GCG Happy Wanders label in the category menu to see photos from some of the group's walks.

Neath Port Talbot Youth Service with plenty of goodies.

Safer Neath Port Talbot Community Safety Partnership.

Neath Port Talbot Carers Service, part of Neath Port Talbot Council for Voluntary Service (http://www.nptcvs.org.uk/)

Kathryn from Keep Wales Tidy (http://www.keepwalestidy.org/) demonstrates a poop scoop as part of the campaign to encourage dog owners to clear up after their pets, so children can play safely and healthily in public spaces.

Keep Wales Tidy has also launched the Red Elastic Band Challenge. The challenge invites young people from across Wales to collect and record the red elastic bands that are discarded by postal workers. Beaver Scouts in Port Talbot recently collected 1000 in two weeks. Winners of the challenge will receive £50 in Premium Bonds. Read this KWT press release to find out more.

Shaw Trust (http://www.shaw-trust.org.uk/)

Diabetes UK (http://www.diabetes.org.uk/)

St John Ambulance (http://www.sja.org.uk/)

Carmarthenshire Connect Field Officer Ran having his blood pressure checked, courtesy of St John Ambulance.

Organised Kaos was at the event, holding circus workshops.

Dorothy from GCG Happy Wanders tries out kangaroo stilts with the help of Nicola.

Martyn from Organised Kaos and Peri from Mess Up The Mess using diablos.

Playing with the hula hoops

Laura from Communities First on the kangaroo stilts.

A video of Ffion, from Communities First, learning how to walk on (and fall from!) the kangaroo stilts.

Brynaman Swimming Pool Association was promoting the Brynaman open air swimming pool and painting face and body art.

Cllr. Lynda Williams having her arm painted by Tracy Davies from Brynaman Swimming Pool Association.

Dorothy and Georgina from GCG Happy Wanderers with their painted arms. Dorothy (left) has a butterfly and Georgina (right) has a dolphin.

Peri Thomas from Mess Up The Mess ran physical theatre workshops at the event. The games played were called 'Zip Zap Boing', 'Splat', and 'Look Down, Look Up'.

Playing 'Splat'. Martyn (in the middle) is the Splat Master!

Congratulations to Pearce (middle right) on winning Splat and Look Down, Look Up.

At the event, there was also free complementary therapy workshops, including Indian head massage, a buffet lunch with plenty of healthy fruit and a raffle.

Upper Amman Valley Young Enterprise Day

As previously advertised on the Carmarthenshire Connect website. Upper Amman Valley Communities First held a youth Enterprise Day today to help local young people from the ages of 11-19 understand and learn new skills about business.

16 young people (including members from local groups BASE and MESS UP THE MESS)attended the day to participate in some very interesting workshops aimed at teaching young people various business skills.

The day long workshop had three main stages followed by each group pitching a 5 minute business idea to three individuals from local businesses.

The three stage where:

Stage 1 : Their business Idea

Stage 2 : Business Finances

Stage 3 : Marketing and Design

(above - One of the groups marketing and design plans)

The day also included team building exercises (bridge building) as well as an awards presentation to all participating young people.

Carmarthenshire Connect were on hand in the afternoon to capture their experience through photos and videos and to consult on day long event.

The first group's idea (age 11-13) was to open a local tuck shop called 'SNAX ON TRAX' that would sell fruit, cakes, sweets, crisps and lollipops at local carnivals, schools, events and to the community.

The second group, ages 13-19 (Happy Birthday Alex, 19 today) came up with a brilliant idea of starting a public relations and event management company called 'Presents Events Ltd' that would be take the stress and strain out of organising any community event, carnival, summer fares and so on.

Both groups thoroughly thought out their plans and learnt lots of new skills about business through support from Communities First, local volunteers, Enterprise Learning through Doing and Dove workshops from Cwmavon.

(above - The winning group with there awards and prizes)

The judges for the afternoon business pitches (something similar to Dragon's Den) were Adele Dumas from Brynamman Community Centre, Dai Cressy from Cressy's Cafe and Carl Launchbury from a local building firm.

Please view the video below to find out the reactions from the judges on the groups pitches:

Communities First Summer Experience

Building on the success of the Christmas Experience held on the 21st of December the Upper Amman Valley Communities First team are organising a series of events that will be know as the Communities First Summer Experience. The Summer Experience will take place over three days between the 24th-26th July and will cover a variety of topics.

On Thursday the 24th July between 2pm and 8pm in St. Catherine’s Church Hall, Brynamman, the team will be holding its very own Community Development Day! This day will consist of a Participatory Appraisal workshop that has been designed and will be run by Project Development Officers Amanda and Juliana. The workshop will be followed by a series of presentations given by community groups and a networking session, where people will be able to learn from each other.

On Friday the 25th July between 10.30am and 3.30pm in the Gwaun Cae Gurwen Community Centre there will be a Young Entrepreneurs Day. This day will invite young people between the ages of 11 and 25 from across the Amman Valley to test their business knowledge through a series of fun challenges and games. Free T-shirts will be given to the first 30 young people who register for the event!

The experience will culminate with a Health and Well-being Event in the Gwaun Cae Gurwen Community Hall Saturday the 26th July between 11am-2.30pm followed by a sponsored walk organised by Amman Valley Trotting Club at the trotting track in Tai’rgwaith. The event will have a number of information stands providing advice and information on health and well-being. There will be free workshops on alternative therapy, physical theatre and for the little ones Jimmy Juggles will be providing entertainment. You will also be able to sample for free some alternative therapy by the two therapists that will be in attendance. If you get a little hungry a healthy buffet will be provided at the event along with refreshments.

For more information please do not hesitate to contact Laura Telleri Stafford on 01269 824653 or email on l.t.stafford@npt.gov.uk

Music Video Makers Visit Tinopolis

A new music video competition has been launched in the Amman Valley. Local bands will be invited to pitch for the prize of having a music video made for them. The video will be made by young people from the Amman Valley. This project builds on the success of the BASE 'Choices' DVD.

The competition is a collaborative project between Upper Amman Valley Communities First, Mess Up The Mess, BASE, Amman Youth Forum, Menter Bro Dinefwr and Carmarthenshire Youth Service.

To kick off the project, a visit to Tinopolis' studios in Llanelli was organised. Tinopolis produce many programmes, including Wedi 3 and Wedi 7 on S4C. Tinopolis kindly agreed to show a group around the studios in order to give those who may go on to make the music video a behind the scenes insight into television production.

The tour started with an introduction by Production Manager Huw Williams. Then the group went on to meet the make up artist before getting the Director's perspective in the Gallery. Then everyone had a chance to view some sets and watch Wedi 7 rehersals.

The group of 8 were the first group to try out Carmarthenshire Connect's newly acquired digital camera set. We now have 10 cameras for community groups to use - below are some of the 200 photos taken.

In make-up

Looking at the wigs...

...and trying them on

New eyebrows

Oh no, Martyn's hand fell off!

On some sets

Time for a break

On the Wedi 7 set

BASE Celebrates Santes Dwynwen Day

Brynaman Street Elite (BASE) had a good time celebrating Santes Dwynwen Day on Friday 25 January - they held a disco, with a buffet and karaoke at Brynaman RFC.

The event was supported by Upper Amman Valley Communities First and Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company.

Juliana from Communities First, Alex, Peri of Mess Up The Mess and Peter

Upper Amman Valley Christmas Experience

On December 20^th, Upper Amman Valley Communities First Partnership hosted a Christmas Experience at Cwm Gors Rugby Club. This was a chance for the community to look back at the history of Communities First in the area, look forward to developments in the future and celebrate all the good work community groups are doing in the area.

Tom Williams, Communities First Co-Ordinator, told the crowd about his personal highlights from working with Communities First from the very beginning. Adele Evans, Voluntary Sector Communities First Liaison Officer explained the future development of the Communities First programme.

Alex, Peter and Peri of Mess Up The Mess Theatre Company

The evening was also an opportunity for many of the community groups of Upper Amman Valley to meet up and let each other know about what they are doing for their communities. There were presentations from the Gwaun Cae Gurwen Happy Wanderers walking group, BASE (Brynamman Street Elite) and the Amman Valley Trotting Club. Mess Up The Mess Youth Theatre Company spoke about their recent Play In A Day project and their forthcoming production, Strangers, a collaboration with groups in Slough and New Zealand. ABSO (All Skateboarding Outcasts), explained how they had adopted the Ynys Dawela Nature Reserve as a project and were committed to carrying out 3 jobs a year to enhance the environment. Cwm Gors Village Forum presented an update on their plans to restore a local park as a community heritage garden.

Other local groups brought along displays and were happy to discuss their work over a seasonal mince pie and glass of mulled wine.