South Wales Echo

Chapel being transforme­d into community asset

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A FORGOTTEN chapel is being transforme­d into a community asset in a bid to breathe new life into a South Wales town.

The Rhondda Resurgent, a not-forprofit group, is adamant it can turn around the fortunes of the Ebenezer Chapel in Tonypandy.

It took on the mammoth task of restoring the building in 2013, after it had lain derelict for more than 20 years.

The ongoing work comes after Tonypandy’s shopkeeper­s recently spoke about their daily battle to survive, and the team behind the chapel is also involved with efforts to get the town back on its feet.

Speaking about how it all started, Andrew Gill, who heads up Rhondda Resurgent with wife Sara and friend Barry Price-Lewis, said the group was inspired by Ferndale’s Arts Factory.

Andrew said: “When we first saw the building, I was doubtful. My partners were telling me ‘we can do this,’ but I was asking them ‘are you sure?.’

“It was absolutely derelict. There were old bibles propping up the beams. Water was running down the walls. There was dry rot and wet rot.”

He said before Rhondda Resurgent moved in, an elderly congregati­on used it, and while it was still operating as a chapel, the group did not have the money for repairs.

Four years on, and the group is trying to make the building self-sufficient, and running the building through an agreement with its owner that if they restore it, they could use it for community purposes.

Currently only using the former school rooms and not the main chapel, it runs events cheaply and asks those attending if they can volunteer any skills in restoratio­n or general maintenanc­e.

Andrew, 42, who juggles tasks with his full-time job as a carer, said: “We haven’t chased any funding. We haven’t looked at any grants, we have just put any funds we got back into the building, and piece by piece put our skills to work.

“The people who come down to our evenings, we say to them ‘it’s only £2.50 to come for the evening, so if there’s any skills you can offer in the regenerati­on of the building, can you help out?.’

“People tend to say ‘I can fix this, I can fix that.’ They get their hands dirty and it keeps the place ticking over.”

While the group can fix smaller jobs, when it comes to the main chapel, Andrew said “major work” was needed.

“Its roof needs to be replaced. Some of the stuff we can do ourselves, but replacing the beams of the roof and getting that right – because it’s been in a bad state for so long, it needs a lot of money, but we have patched up what we can to stop further damage.”

Four years on, and the group is holding regular events including music nights, quizzes, social games evenings, and now the Improving Tonypandy group holds meetings there.

It will also host a Halloween experience inspired by The Wizard of Oz that will see thrill seekers escape from an apocalypti­c Oz.

Andrew said: “We have come such a long way. The experience has been absolutely exhilarati­ng. People have launched themselves into it and now we are in a position where we have rooms being used.

“We want to try and help out in Tonypandy to help stop the decline. It’s been quite a journey.”

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