Spring 2014
St Mellons Together
Issue 15
Hafod, Wales & West and Linc-Cymru Housing Associations and residents working together to make St. Mellons the place you are proud to live in.
Get your free bags of fruit or veg! Do you want to eat more healthily but think you can’t afford to? Here’s how you can get your 5-a-day at prices you can afford. Your coupon (on the back page) gets you up to two free bags of fruit or veg - worth £3 each - from the new Food Co-op at Rainbow House, 1 Newent Rd. You order your bags a week in advance (see coupon for details) and collect them from the Food Coop 10.30am -12pm on Tuesdays. Food Co-ops aren’t food banks they are able to sell you fruit and veg at cost price because they’re run by volunteers who get the produce direct from local suppliers. We still need more volunteers to help run the co-op, so if you can spare an hour or two please get in touch with Karen Jeffreys (see back page for contact details)
St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
Partnership working gets the Reen Clean Members of St Mellons Compact (Wales & West, Hafod and Linc Cymru Housing Associations), local Cath Cobb Environmental Group, Cardiff Community Rangers and Cleansing Dept and Cardiff Rivers Group have done a major clean up of Faendre Reen. St Mellons is built around a reen (drainage ditch) system to prevent the area from flooding. Faendre Reen flows through Cath Cobb Woods, behind the Library, under the road at the entrance of Rogerstone Close, through the Linear Park, past Caerleon Close and the old Kwik Save site. 7 tonnes of rubbish was collected from the Reen. Unfortunately people had dumped everything from household waste, pushchairs, a children’s slide and a kitchen sink ! The clean up was funded by Cardiff East Neighbourhood Partnership Group and St Mellons Compact Sue Sheppard of Cath Cobb Environmental Group said: “I’d like to say thank you to all the organisations who helped with the clean-up. Local residents also thanked us on the day. We’ve made the area cleaner and safer for the public.” If you see anyone dumping rubbish please report it through the 101 help line. The more calls received the greater the resources channelled into the area to address particular issues raised. Lets all help keep St Mellons a green and pleasant area to live .
Cath Cobb Environmental Group forthcoming event: Annual Spring Walk: Saturday 26th April 2014 (2 pm till 4 pm) (Meet at the entrance in Tesco car park).
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St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
Two reasons to Bee happy Two St Mellons gardening groups been awarded grants of £100 each to grow plants which encourage pollinators such as bees and butterflies into their communal gardens. Oakmeadow Court, Ashdown Close and St Mellons Community Garden, Newent Road were awarded the grants as part of Keep Wales Tidy’s ‘Have a Wild Weekend in Wales’ campaign, which is funded by Welsh Government and supported by Natural Resources Wales. Oakmeadow Court scheme manager, Bill Ford (pictured doing his David Bellamy impression), said: “We’ve got a beautiful array of plants and flowers that will hopefully bring lots of bees and butterflies to the garden”. If you’d like to start a gardening project in your area speak to your local Housing Officer or come along to the St Mellons Community Garden at Newent Road – see page 7.
Get your pet a health check
We are working with the Dogs Trust to promote the Protect your Pets scheme they are running alongside PDSA, RSPCA and Cats Protection. Pop along to the Community Education Centre, Crickhowell Road between 10am to 3pm on Thursday 22nd May to take part in the Protect Your Pet event. And it’s not just for dogs —any pet, of any size can be checked - cats, rabbits, guinea pigs etc. For further information please contact Alison Chaplin on 0800 052 2526 / 07929201429 or alison.chaplin@wwha.co.uk 3
St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
St Mel lons Community Cre che
Do you want to retrain or learn new skills but are worried about who will look after your child? We have the solution! The St Mellons Community Crèche is set up to provide good quality, free childcare to enable parents to access local learning and training. The crèche is sessional and you will only be able to access the service if you’re signed up on a training course— see the next page for the wide range of exciting courses offered. The St Mellons Community Crèche has also received funding from the Families First Programme early years package. This enables us to provide free childcare to support local learning and training; in particular child related classes, ESOL Classes and Essential skills, along with a wide range of neighbourhood learning opportunities. We also offer Parents 1st - a 12 week course for those who have been away from learning and are looking for a first step to raising confidence and self-esteem and re-engaging with lifelong learning.
For more information: Call: 02920 79 8422 Email: enquiries@stmellonscreche.org.uk 4
St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
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St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
And a fond farewell to: Alison Hayes, Wales & West Housing, who has worked as a St Mellons Housing Officer since 2010. Alison, who’s moving to the Bridgend team, said: “I’ll be very sad to be leaving my patch in St Mellons as well as the Cardiff-based Housing Team. I’d like to wish the local community in St Mellons all the best for the future.” Lee Thomas, of Meadowlane Primary School, who was Deputy Head from 2003 and Head since 2008. Lee, who is off to become Head of a larger school said: “I’ve had a fantastic eleven years and enjoyed every single day with the wonderful staff, children and community of St Mellons that I am leaving behind.”
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And a big welcome to Sarah Bolton and Amanda Mills who are taking over from Alison (above). Both Sarah (left) and Amanda are experienced Housing Officers having previously worked in Cardiff and Bridgend.
St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
St Mellons Community Garden The St Mellons Community garden is a friendly local garden on Newent Road (off Coleford Drive a few doors to the right of Rainbow House). A small group of local residents run the project with support from The St Mellons Compact. We grow fruit, vegetables, herbs and flowers. WWH has employed Isla Horton (pictured right with some of the volunteers) to support the garden every Friday from 1 to 4pm to deliver workshops and coordinate the work taking place on site. Dedicated volunteers can become key holders so you can garden throughout the week. Isla is a Community Outreach worker for the Riverside Community and a keen gardener. She’s been working with community groups to establish small community gardens around the city. Isla says, ‘Come down and join us – no experience necessary. It’s a fun way to meet new people and get out in the fresh air. At the moment we’re planting seeds ready for spring and summer, digging beds, making bird feeders and giving away seeds and pots for people to have a go at growing at home. Children are most welcome too if they come with a responsible adult.’ So if you’re looking for something fun to do on a Friday afternoon this is the place to be. Everyone is welcome to pop in a have a go. There are free refreshments and Isla’s cakes are delicious! Find us on Facebook St Mellons Community Garden, phone Isla on 07403 583705 or just pop in – we’re there every Friday afternoon.
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St Mellons Together | Spring 2014
Star FC February half term Sports programme What budding sport STARS we have in St Mellons! 45 children, aged 7 to 11, gave spring a kick start at the half-term STAR multi-sports programme. They took part in a range of different sporting activities from football to relay racing baseball and much more. STAR FC is supported by Hafod and Linc-Cymru Housing Associations and has been running in St Mellons for 8 years now. The Easter STAR FC sessions will be taking place from Monday 14 April to Wednesday 16 April. For more information on how to take part please call Pearl Hale Hafod Housing on 07765 406252
FREE coupon for your free fruit or veg bag
To get your 2 free bags of fruit or veg from your Food Co-op: Call Karen Jeffreys at Linc-Cymru on 0800 072 0966 or e:mail karen.jeffreys@linc-cymru.co.uk to place your 1st order. Tell us which bag you want— fruit, veg, stir fry or salad. We also need your contact details. Collect your free 1st bag from the Community Food Co-op at Rainbow House, 1 Newent Road between 10.30am to 12pm on Tuesday 29th April. When you collect your first bag, bring £3 so you can pay for and place your order for your 2nd bag. You then collect your 2nd bag the following week (Tuesday 6th May). When you collect your 2nd bag, order and pay your £3 for your 3rd bag (collect Tuesday 13th May) and your 4th bag (collect on Tuesday 20th May) will be free! After this, if you like the bags (we’re sure you will!) you pay £3 a bag and order them a week in advance.
The food co-op runs 10.30am to 12pm on Tuesdays (starting from 29th April) at Rainbow House, 1 Newent Road. 8