South Wales charity, Cefn Fforest Miners’ Welfare Hall (CIO) is celebrating after being awarded £92,700 in National Lottery funding to support its work restore the Institute building, which has been empty for a number of years.
The group, based in Cefn Fforest in the Caerphilly Borough, will use the money to restore the ‘stute’ function room and re-open it as a community facility.
Cefn Fforest Miners’ Welfare Hall (CIO) achieved charity status in 2020 and is run by nine trustees along with numerus volunteers from throughout South Wales. It was founded following a BBC documentary looking at life in the village, which highlighted the fact that this once proud community resource, funded by contributions from miners in the 1920s, had recently been left empty and in a poor state of repair.
The charity will now use this money towards the first phase of refurbishment, opening up the old function room for community activities and social events. This will help raise funds to refurbish the rest of the building and demonstrate to funders that there is a need to the building in the village.
Ron Stoate, Chair of Trustees and former miner, says: “This building was originally paid for out of the wages of miners and provided many educational and social resources; from a library and reading room, to sports clubs, functions and day trips for locals. We hope that we can live up to the aspirations of the miners who built it originally.”
Peredur Owen Griffiths MS / AS wrote: I am extremely pleased to hear that this well-deserved award will create a community hub by refurbishing the existing hall, making the facility accessible to the community. This will be a huge benefit to the area, providing a local focal point, offering space for education, wellbeing and community classes, and youth provision.
Ian Thomas, trustee says: “We’re delighted that The National Lottery Community Fund has recognised our work in this way. Now, thanks to National Lottery Players we will be able to bring this building, which was once the pride of the village, back into public use. This is important because, once open, we can provide facilities for the community which will help improve the wellbeing of people in the village and become a focal point which has been missing for many years.”
This money will not cover the full of the costs of the refurbishment, but will be a major boost for the project. Several other funders have been very helpful and we have raised money through social events and things like sponsored walks and parachute jumps.
The charity will be holding a public meeting, followed by its Trustees AGM on Tuesday 6th February at 6:30pm in St Thomas’ Church Hall, Cefn Fforest. Locals who are interested in getting involved will be most welcome to attend.
The new funding is from The National Lottery Community Fund, which distributes money raised by National Lottery Players for good causes and is the largest community funder in the UK. It will be a giant step towards the eventual refurbishment of the entire building.
The National Lottery Community Fund recently launched its new strategy, ‘It starts with community’, which will underpin its efforts to distribute at least £4 billion of National Lottery funding by 2030.
As part of this, the funder has four key missions, which are to support communities to come together, be environmentally sustainable, help children and young people thrive and enable people to live healthier lives.
National Lottery Players raise over £30 million a week for good causes across the UK. Thanks to them, last year The National Lottery Community Fund was able to distribute over half a billion pounds (£615.4 million) of life-changing funding to communities.
To find out more visit www.TNLCommunityFund.org.uk
About the Institute
The Institute opened its doors to the public in 1932 for the benefit of the community, providing facilities for self-education, social welfare and recreation. Paid for out of miners’ wages, it was one of many institutes that served the then thriving coal industry in the South Wales valleys.
In 1988 it became the club house for Cefn Fforest RFC but has now been closed for seven years.
Since the demise of the coal industry there are now only 48 out of 200 miners institute buildings left in the whole of Wales.
Our charity was set up in 2020 and we have been working ever since to bring the building back into public use.
About The National Lottery Community Fund
We are the largest non-statutory community funder in the UK – community is at the heart of our purpose, vision and name.
We support activities that create resilient communities that are more inclusive and environmentally sustainable and that will strengthen society and improve lives across the UK.
We’re proud to award money raised by National Lottery Players to communities across England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, and to work closely with government to distribute vital grants and funding from key government programmes and initiatives.
As well as responding to what communities tell us is important to them, our funding is focused on four key missions, supporting communities to:
1. Come together
2. Be environmentally sustainable
3. Help children and young people thrive
4. Enable people to live healthier lives.
Thanks to the support of National Lottery players, we distribute around £500 million a year through 10,000+ grants and plan to invest over £4 billion of funding into communities by 2030. We’re privileged to be able to work with the smallest of local groups right up to UK-wide charities, enabling people and communities to bring their ambitions to life.
National Lottery Players raise over £30 million each week for good causes throughout the UK. Since The National Lottery began in 1994, £47 billion has been raised and more than 670,000 individual grants have been made across the UK – the equivalent of around 240 National Lottery grants in every UK postcode district.
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