After an extraordinary five week campaign Glyncoch, in South Wales, will finally get the community centre it has dreamed of for seven years.
We’ve had everything from a sponsored silence by the town chatterbox, and baths of baked beans, to a donation from a Welsh descendant in Patagonia.
The town’s spirit has inspired everyone from Stephen Fry and Griff Rhys Jones, to the Welsh Rugby heroes, whose captain Sam Warbuton called the campaign “another victory for team Wales”.
Then this week, with just 10 days left before the community’s grants expired, Tesco and the Moondance Foundation – a charitable fund set up by the founder of Admiral Insurance – stepped up with pledges of £10,000 each.
As the picture above suggests, Glyncoch is thrilled. The new centre will be finished this summer, providing a springboard to opportunities at a time when the town is battling unemployment.
But what just happened isn’t just good news for an ex-mining town tucked in the Valleys. Glyncoch has hinted at a better way of doing regeneration: fast, fun and powered by people.
Take a bow: the organisations and companies that backed Glynoch:
