Blooming’ marvellous – Cwmdare community celebrate St. David’s Day
The Cwmdare community has come together to celebrate St. David’s Day in the village’s flourishing garden.
Pupils and teachers from Cwmdar Primary gathered alongside Cwmdare for Cwmdare (C4C) members in the village’s community garden to sing welsh hymns, whilst enjoying seeing the first glimpse of spring.
The garden, which has been open to locals since June 2018, has recently benefitted after further funding from local energy company, Pennant Walters, allowed a partnership project between C4C and Cwmdar Primary to come to life and bulbs planted – allowing flowers to bloom for the first time.
Through the partnership more than 25 year 3 pupils spent time researching the most appropriate flowers to grow and the best way to care for them. They have been nurturing the garden for the past four months and are delighted to see the flowers now bloom – in time for the St. David’s Day celebrations.
Lloyd Williams, age 7, was involved in the project and said:
“The bulb planting was such great fun. All of my class are so proud to have made our local area look so beautiful, especially because daffodils are a symbol of Wales.’
The funding from Pennant Walters is linked to Pennant Walters’ 9 turbine 22 MW Mynydd Bwllfa windfarm near Aberdare in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which became operational in summer 2015. It builds on previous donations which have seen the company provide money to support various community groups and
the local school.Councillor for Aberdare West and Llwydcoed, Ann Crimmings, is heavily i C4C and brought the project to life. She said:
“We are a strong community group which comes together to help Cwmdare flourish. Relying on the goodwill of local people we are delighted to bring the garden to fruition so that the entire community can enjoy it.
“We are delighted that by securing this funding we have been able to further improve the area, whist also enhancing the learning of many of the pupils at the school.
“It is wonderful that the garden is in bloom and we are thrilled to celebrate such an important occasion with everyone involved.”
Dale Hart, managing director of Pennant Walters added:
“We are so happy to spend St. David’s Day celebrating with the local community in this fantastic garden.
“Hearing from the children involved in the project, it is clear to see that they took a lot of learning from it and we hope that through their ongoing involvement local people can enjoy the garden all year round and for years to come.
“Our wind energy projects come with community funds that we use to invest in projects such as this and our aim is to bring very real benefits to the communities in the vicinity of our projects, providing financial assistance and expertise where we can.”
Cwmdare for Cwmdare was established approximately 15 years ago and has since been working with one vision – to regenerate the community. It is run on a volunteer basis and hosts regular events including children’s discos, Easter egg hunts, summer fetes, Christmas shopping trips and Carols on the Square.
