Over the Easter weekend the Easter Bunny, made a special visit to Cefn Golau, Tredegar, thanks to the Trust’s Cefn Golau Together Coordinator, Chris Walters and Councillor Hayden Trollope. They delivered over 170 Easter eggs to children on the estate. Despite the lock down, Chris wanted to make Easter eggs-tra special and the feedback from families has been amazing! Working in partnership with Aneurin Leisure Trust, fitness diaries were also distributed for young people to record their own, personal fitness journeys. There are further plans to work with nutritionist, Mind Nourishing to develop recipe cards for families to make healthy snacks and to supply and deliver all the ingredients needed.

Since the lockdown commenced Cefn Golau Together supported by a number of dedicated volunteers from the estate, the Cefn Golau Tenants & Residents Association (TARA) and Cymru Creations “Tredegar Taskforce” have been tackling the challenges of COVID19 in their community. They have worked tirelessly to tackle social isolation and provide support for the community. Cefn Golau Together is funded via Invest Local and co-ordinated by the Cefn Golau Together Co-ordinator, Chris Walters who is employed by the Coalfields Regeneration Trust.

They have prepared and distributed food parcels, with donations gratefully received from Wetherspoon, Costa Coffee, Greggs, Aneurin Leisure Trust, Fare Share and other local businesses.

In the first week of lockdown, the Taskforce had delivered over 100 food parcels to over forty households in the community and the list has grown as the lockdown has progressed.

Volunteers from the community are able to use their knowledge of the community and identify households that would be facing real challenges isolating at home. Information cards with contact information have also been delivered by volunteers to each household on the estate to provide self-isolation support, including shopping services, collection of prescriptions or just the time for a friendly chat.

Thanks to the tireless efforts of volunteers and Chris, the Co ordinator, the community is able to access vital support. Volunteers have been doing an amazing job in preparing and delivering hundreds of food parcels and offering much needed support over the past few weeks and without them this support could not be provided.

Councillor Haydn Trollop, representative of Cefn Golau Together and Cefn Golau Tenants and Residents Association (TARA), has been delivering school meals to the estate each day and volunteering with other services.

As donations continue to come in there are plans for a food-share program to support the community and in the next few weeks Cefn Golau Together plans to establish a sustainable approach to supporting the community.