Centre handed over to charity
THE running of a Bryncynon Community Centre has been handed over by the council to a charity to provide community services for children and families.
THE running of a Rhondda Cynon Taf community centre has officially been handed over by the council to a charity to provide community services for children and families.
A community asset transfer has handed control of Bryncynon Community Centre in Abercynon to Bryncynon Community Revival Strategy Limited on a 25year lease to run breakfast clubs, after-school clubs, lunch clubs, parent and toddler activities, and family activities among other things.
The group will now be fully responsible for management, repair, maintenance and national nondomestic rates.
The building has not been used since 2016 and has been targeted by vandalism, but the council took back ownership of it in February 2017.
The asset transfer will allow the charity to get funding to develop and refurbish the building and deliver community engagement opportunities.
A community centre action group has also been set up to judge how to best use and promote the facility.
The transfer is part of the council’s RCT Together approach towards community asset transfers which was agreed in October 2014.
Set up in 1996, Bryncynon Community Revival Strategy aims to provide education and social welfare opportunities to improve the quality of life for residents of Bryncynon, which includes Tynetown, Ynysboeth, Nant y Fedw, Maes y Ffynon and Pontycynon.
It provides a range of services including their Growing Together Centre in Avondale Street and a range of community facilities at their flagship building The Feel Good Factory, which houses Taffy’s Cafe.
A council report says the charity is aware of the challenges of deprivation in the area, which impact negatively on people’s income, health, employment and educational opportunities.
It adds that the community centre was previously a well-used community resource and there is now strong support for the reopening of the facility.
The activities they are likely to run at the centre include:
■ Activities that support young people such as breakfast clubs, afterschool clubs, parent and toddler activities and youth activities;
■ Pre- and postnatal support in partnership with Cwm Taf Health Board;
■ Family learning and support activities;
■ Play schemes;
■ Lunch clubs for the elderly;
■ Community-led activities (private hire by local groups);
■ Advice services including debt advice and universal credit;
■ Youth career guidance and mentoring.