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The History of the Woodlands Field Project

The Woodlands Field project started from the resident's despair at seeing children playing on the streets, causing problems from boredom, this came from the fact that for many years the local authority failed to provide any play equipment for the area of Penygarn. Although the children were able to travel a short distance to Pontypool Park, this did not find favour with the parents of young children due to innate dangers surrounding such a large park.

Newly elected Councillor Mike Davies found a solution to the puzzle as to how we could tackle the need and to make the Woodlands Field a place of safety for children to play. This solution came by the way of LDS money given to all Torfaen councillors, which over 3 years he had amassed £16,500 to purchase and to erect the fence for the safe play area for the children. During the time that it took to amass this money the Penygarn resident association applied and was granted a long lease from Torfaen County Borough Council for recreational use of the land. The land had been for many years an area of dumping and the burning out of cars. It had proved a very expensive piece of land to the local council who was almost constantly having to clear up the debris. In addition the grass proved very difficult and costly to cut, due to metal hazards that would break the blades of the grass cutting machinery. The then local area estate manager Marion Coop was as keen to get rid of the land out of her budget as we were in obtaining it. The local residents association led by Steve Smith has to be thanked for their commitment to taking into trust this piece of land. Without the association there would be no field or the improvement that we now have.

Much was hoped from the United Estates Group in securing the charitable capital to put play equipment in the field, this did not come to fruition as the UECP seemed to lack the will and the direction to tackle this kind of project. What came to the rescue was the formation of Communities 1st, a project set up by the Welsh Assembly Government to tackle the deprivation in the coal mining valleys of Wales. Penygarn and St Cadoc's ward being the 47th most deprived ward along with Trevethin the 15th most deprived ward in Wales both wards receiving the status of a Communities First area.

Tentative steps were taken to test the resolution of the Communities 1st organisation. A committee was set up as an offshoot of the Penygarn & St Cadoc's residents association, to be known as the Woodlands Field Group. The first executive of this committee laid the groundwork for the constitution and some funding bids, the first bid to the Community 1st trust fund (CFTF) for £740.00 for a feast in the field to launch the official opening of the field arrived on 3rd of august 2004.

For unknown reasons the then committee resigned from the position and the field group came to a halt. Things languished for a while until the present committee were elected and started to put together with communities 1st an overall plan. Neil Mason the duly elected chairman and Trevor Shankland alongside Karen Mason formed the executive committee. From the outset of this new committee the chair proved to be a real inspiration to all that he came into contact with, resorting to gentle pushing, coaxing, cajoling, sweet talking, and downright bullying to achieve the goal, that had been set by the group. The feast in the field proved to be a small step on the road but a huge stride in bringing about the connection with the peoples of the estates.

What this new group wanted was the installation of play equipment inside the field, to tackle the boredom and mischief that children caused to the local residents.  During the term of the previous committee bids had been made with the help of Pat Powell of communities 1st to both the CFTF and to Barclays Site Savers (BSS) with the help of Steve Dixon of British Conservation Trust (BCT). CFTC contributed £5,000; BSS money amounted to £3,500, with Councillor Mike Davies scraping the last of his LDS money £5,000 the three funds came together on the 3rd December 04. At this stage Helen Jenkins a new community's first development worker arrived on the scene to work alongside Pat Powell. It was to be an interesting time between Neil and Helen. On one side Helen was eager to engage in the work needed to be done but a little naive, on the other hand Neil who did not know how to tackle the work but had the dogged determination to drive the project forward at a speed that suited him. Once the new committee gained control of the finances they set about commissioning wooden play equipment from Play Wales to be installed in the field to the tune of the whole £13,500.
It has to be said that at this point Play Wales offered the best value for money, and the group engaged Play Wales to build the equipment.
Due to the inexperience of the group, after all what was in reality a group of beginners, the wooden play equipment although up to a good quality standard, the fitting left a lot to be desired. This led to an error in the final installment of the cost being paid to Play Wales before they had put right the errors. This ultimately led to the closure of the Field until this matter had been set right. With a cooperate effort by the field committee, Communities 1st, Councilor Mike Davies and Paul Matthews of TCBC along with other officers of the TCBC the field was eventually opened. Paul Matthews offered the very good services of Lyn Williams to help manage the project.

Even when the field was closed this did not deter the group from applying for funding to source other needs and events. In June/2/04 we received a funding cheque from CFTF for £1,421 towards a secure storage unit, this in addition to a cheque for £1,800 for a mower to cut the grass. The storage unit was needed to garage the mower and other equipment that would eventually arrive. In the Autumn of 04 we received a grant from CFTF for £4,000 for equipment to hold events on the field, consisting of a generator to supply electricity, tables, chairs water boiling urn, litter pickers, etc

A start up grant from Torfaen Voluntary Alliance (TVA) of £998.00 for a computer and digital camera was applied for and granted along with £333.00 for an event in the field. The camera and computer allowed a pictorial record of progress improvements to the field.

The late end of 2004 saw TCBC showing more awareness of the aims and aspirations of the Woodlands Field Group. Neil asked Councillor Mike Davies to set up a meeting with Bill Hill the officer of Lifelong learning for TCBC to try and sell an idea of a youth facility in the field. Although Bill was the wrong person for this idea, what transpired from the meeting was the need for an adult learning centre. Again this sparked off the group to pursue this as a new project for the field. The early meetings concentrated on the size and type of building that the field could accommodate. There have been subsequent meetings with Bill Hill to design the building and meet with the company and architects.

The Group then decided that although the younger element had been partially catered for by the play area this did not address the matter of the older children and youths. It was decided to seek funding for a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA). In January/ 05 we received a Communities first preparatory fund sum of £57,665 for the cost and installation of the MUGA.
This posed somewhat of a problem due to the field being susceptible to small scale flooding and the building of the MUGA and a learning centre would overstrain the meager drainage system.
Once again with deep thinking and cooperation from all concerned and somewhat of a new lifeline bought about by the Key Fund, and the Local authority the necessary capital of £70,000 came to hand and plans laid to put in place substantial drainage for the field.

Not even pausing to rest upon their laurels the group then embarked upon what will be the most exciting project that the field will provide. The group looked at the possibility of providing an outreach facility to tackle that proportion of our youth who will not conform to the regular youth facilities such as youth clubs, boys brigade or army cadets etc.
It has always been known that this section of our youth has always proved the most challenging due to their non-conformity.  When these youths grow up they generally turn into decent adults once the responsibility of adulthood is placed upon them. The way forward that the group see is to allow them the use of this outreach centre and to place on them the control and the running of this centre, thereby making them take responsibility for their actions. Through the offices of all the providers of services to youth, the group hope to guide the youth through the forming of their own constitution and rules and to bring in various bodies to advise and to guide them. It is hoped that by taking this course and allowing these young people to make the decisions that will control their own section of society, they will then gain an insight into what is expected of them. It is anticipated that this project will cause some difficulties in the initial setup and the bedding in period that always follow a challenging project. If society is to get to grips with this thorny problem then we have to embrace new ideas, we have to look for the answer. It is in this building that we place our hopes of tackling this problem. We obtained £25,000.00 from the Key Fund for this project

Bill Hills building will be a much needed facility for the peoples of the area in which to extend their learning. The IT bus visits once a week to teach computer skills. This bus is over subscribed to the extent that the adult pupils have to sometime sit on the engine cowl with a laptop, such is the demand for learning. We believe that Bill Hill's building will meet a need on a more substantial plane than we have at present. It is hoped that it will bring a greater awareness of the educational classes and the vocational skills that at this moment seem beyond the expectations of our most deprived peoples. As well as serving the estates as a learning centre it is expected that after the normal educational day the people will use the building for recreational purposes. A building of this kind is important to the people as a gathering point to exchange their ideas and expectations. The Estate of Penygarn has never had a facility of any kind in which the above options could take place.

A huge vote of thanks for the present success must go to the following contributors. These are not in any  order of importance, as we believe that each donor has played an equally huge part in bringing to life a much needed programme of  self belief in our peoples.

1/ Barclays Site Savers/BCTV who have contributed so much in the way of charitable money and their Agent Steve Dixon who placed so much faith in us to succeed.

2/ TVA/Communities 1st who through its officers have engineered charitable bids and supported us through all the hard times.

3/ TCBC who loaned us their expertise in the way of officer time when things sometimes fell to pieces,  especially  the housing department officers, for nothing would have been possible had they not allowed us the land at a very low lease cost, in addition to them smoothing the way forward when planning and easement was needed

4/ The community 1st key fund from which the base monies were granted to bring about the drainage and the Youth Facility.

5/ Those businesses who contributed in goods when the begging bowl was taken around to launch the feast in the field. All those businesses played a huge part to bring about a successful day.

6/ The National Lottery

7/ Children in Need

8/ A huge vote of thanks must go to the local people for their donations and the effort that they put into events that have been held on the field. I am sure they realise how important that this project is to the estates in this area         
   
In 2008 the Woodlands Field Group changed into a limited company with charitable status , under the title of Woodlands Field Ltd. In the spring of 2009 the New learning Centre was handed over to Woodlands Field Ltd
Apologies to the organizations and the people that have been overlooked in this brief history

The Woodlands FIeld before work commenced