£20,000 GRANT TO LLANELLI WANDERERS

Carmarthenshire County Council has awarded a £20,000 grant to Llanelli Wanderers Rugby Club to develop a sports and community venue facility.

Executive board member for regeneration and leisure Cllr Meryl Gravell has approved the grant under the council’s Targeted Finance Fund. The Wanderers have already secured funding of £192,000 from other sources.

The project is to develop a new-build recreation, social and education hub for the local community at Hengoed. Extending on the upgraded downstairs changing rooms, the project will provide a new purpose built upstairs community facility available to the public and organisations on weekdays.

The community facility will work in partnership with the Family Housing Association, Communities First, Welsh Rugby Union, local schools, and further education partners to deliver courses, workshops, financial inclusion awareness, and practical sports coaching qualifications. The facility will further host a local running and bowls club for meetings.

Communities First has said it will be a potential venue to deliver poverty agenda workshops and training, and Digital Communities Wales is backing it to provide a free wi-fi hub for people to log on and pay bills, search for jobs and use it for education.

The Scarlets said the Wanderers have been selected as the regional hub for female rugby and the development of the facility will benefit the health and wellbeing of members and potentially increase participation.

Cllr Meryl Gravell said: “We are happy to support the development of a sports and community facility. We are working in Carmarthenshire to get people healthier and to look after their own health for much longer.

“Carmarthenshire will hopefully be a Wellness County where there are sufficient opportunities for both young and older people to be active for as long as possible.”