Tea’s up in Townhill, a cheerful community
The Townhill area of Swansea has not enjoyed the best reputation in recent years, but when Megan Griffiths visited to find out what life is like in the neighbourhood she was delighted to find the stigma largely undeserved...
When you type Townhill, Swansea, into Google, the first thing that pops up are the words “rough area”.
My only previous experience of the area known as “the Hill” was when I was working on a documentary about Swansea. Townhill is the prime location to film a sunrise or sunset over the city. Facing the camera towards the city we were approached by a bloke screaming: “Stop filming my ******* horse”. It wasn’t that type of documentary.
I didn’t want to let that one small experience tarnish Townhill. I’ve had worse abuse hurled at me in much posher locations. Cameras are intimidating.
Townhill residents make up 3.4% of the Swansea population. Back in 1996 the EU classed the area as the third most deprived out of all 908 Welsh wards.
As a result, the community was awarded €5.61m to “revitalise the community” and “build on the strengths of Townhill”.
Townhill was built more than a century ago, in 1914, to help alleviate cramped conditions in the city. The idea was the new housing was meant to be “comfortable and affordable” for residents.
Turning away from arguably one of the most breathtaking views of Swansea, you are faced with houses that seem to be stacked on top of one another.
I started the day with Sian Lloyd, a PCSO on the Townhill patch. She admits that when she heard she was being posted to Townhill there was a niggling worry because of how some people see it.
Walking the beat with Sian is like walking down Sesame Street, everyone is waving to one another from windows and passing cars, she knows everyone’s name and them likewise.
“I don’t think the way people see Townhill is really fair,” she said. “From what I’m told years ago there was a lot of joyriding in the area. I was wary about starting work here.
“It’s totally different from what people make it out to be. Everyone looks out for everyone else.”
Sian thinks the local community will benefit even further from the doctor’s surgery and family centre that is due to be built nearby.
The surgery is set to be Wales’ first integrated GP and family centre. The £2m purpose-built hub will technically be in Mayhill, the next area over, but it’s a stone’s throw away and the residents of Townhill will still reap the rewards.
Some stats do stack up against the neighbourhood. According to the 2011 census 51.4% of all households had no adults in employment that were of working age.
Comparing the crime statistics for December 2016 to the rest of Swansea, the figures seem in proportion to the population size.
However, if you compare the 74 crimes that took place in Townhill in December to the same period but in Cowbridge, it doesn’t look as great. Cowbridge was recently named as the best place to live in Wales, according to a Sunday Times Guide. The area only had 17 recorded crimes.
As a journalist, you can look at and analyse the stats until the cows come home, but the only real way to get to know a place is to get to know the people who make it.
Apparently you can’t get a feel for Townhill without paying a visit to the oldest resident, Selina Coulter, 99.
Lina, as she is known, is originally from Scotland, but has lived in Townhill for the last 63 years. She is due to get her telegram from the Queen in May.
Lina moved down south in January 1954, and she has lived in sheltered accommodation for the past 22 years
She said when she first saw Townhill from Swansea she thought: “Look at the fog up there, look at the mist. I wouldn’t like to live up there.”
But she added: “I like it very much. I’ve always liked it since I moved up here.”
When asked what she thought of the negative opinions of Townhill she said: “Not very much. It’s up to you what you think of it. But I’ve always been happy here. Always.”
I then went and met Leanne Dower, the manager of the Phoenix Centre, right in the heart of the estate. Heart being the operative word. Leanne used to attend the Phoenix when it was a youth centre and has transformed it into the lifeblood of the community. There’s a nursery, playing-fields, a park and a café.
Only three years ago we reported that Leanne and her community centre were responsible for pulling Townhill out of the top 10 most deprived areas in Wales. Leanne has been a manager at the centre for more than 16 years and has witnessed the change first hand.
“It’s got a terrible reputation. There’s been massive improvements over the years,” she said.
“Things are not as bad now. Being part of such a strong community is what keeps people living on Townhill.”
Townhill is a tight-knit community. While I was chatting to Leanne at the community centre, my next interviewee, Christine, went past walking her dog, Cleo. Christine used to work at the sheltered accommodation where Lina lives. Townhill quite a small place.
PCSO Sian told me that one of her colleagues holds the record for cups of tea in one day. She was invited in for a total of 26 cups in one day. Now that is a statistic that speaks volumes.
Christine has lived her entire life in Townhill, 68 years. Her late husband proposed to her on her 16th birthday in the suburb and she’s raised two children there, so has many happy memories.
Christine has the same attitude as her neighbours; she is sick of the stigma attached to the place, saying: “A lot of it is the media. Years ago the families were bigger in the same size houses as now, but we still have the community. You’ll never have a community like Townhill, not in a million years.”
Christine feels that Townhill’s downfall may have come from the stigma attached to the area: ”We’ve got such a bad name, people are not requesting to live here, which is so sad.”
Christine is right, the stigma does seem to do the neighbourhood an injustice. The houses that have such a view should be worth a fortune, but the average house price in Townhill for 2016 was £91,678. I didn’t feel scared or worried being a lone female with a camera. When I walked out the park was brimming with children, screaming in delight, whereas I was expecting a stereotypical group of teenagers, loitering and intimidating, to make me walk swiftly to my car. I couldn’t have moved too fast anyway, I was so full of tea. is