Residents fear for the future as community centre under threat

THERE are fears elderly people could be left alone and isolated if a community centre in a small Valleys village were to close.

- ELLIE GOSLEY

For some within the small community of Cwmparc in the Rhondda, the community centre is their “lifeline”. It may be the place they go to escape the isolation of their home, or where they go for a warm meal each day.

It is not just the older generation that benefit from the services at Cwmparc Community Association, often known locally as Parc Hall, because there are play sessions and provisions for the very youngest in society, as well as support groups for parents and carers. It's a place that looks after their own from cradle to grave.

However there are concerns the building, which has been at the heart of the small community for more than 100 years, and the community group that runs from it may be forced to close its doors if important funding is not secured.

Joanne Jones, 49, from Cwmparc, is manager at the association. She says there is ever-increasing pressure on her and the small body of staff to try to keep the centre open. In April, four members of staff were made redundant and staff numbers have gone from 13 to just seven in the space of a year.

The centre, which is open from around 8am until 8pm most days, provides a “non-judgemental, welcoming and safe space for people of all ages throughout the community to join in social activity”.

There are concerns if the funding needed to employ staff and keep the centre open can’t be secured, this “vital” safe space will be lost.

Barbara Chislett, 75, is just one of around 250 people who use the community centre every week.

She attends the centre at least twice a week for the Cwmparc Community Crafters group which helps her to get out of the house.

On a Friday morning, Barbara had begun her next project of knitting a Welsh lady doll while the other women around her did their own crafts.

Marlene visits the centre on Thursdays for free warm soup and bingo.