Doodles Events
Fresh from the success of the Royal Wedding party, the Doodles team are busy planning what fun the Sketty Park community can have this summer. We think it is safe to say that the Wedding Party was a massive success with tickets selling faster than we could print them.
The party started at 11am with most people crowded around the television inside the Sports and Social club hoping for the first glimpse of Catherine’s dress, and it didn’t disappoint. Luckily, Mother Nature was on our side and while the children played outside on the many free activities offered, the parents relaxed in the sunshine. Thank you to all who came and joined in the fun!
Three free community picnic and play days to be held in Parry’s Park. We are also trial running a free play morning on the first Saturday of each month (10am-12pm, Community Centre) the next one will be held on August 6th.
Forest Schools have kindly offered us 2 days of their time for some den building fun down the woods. Unfortunately, places are limited so keep an eye out on Facebook for details of how to register.
Don’t forget to ‘like’ us on Facebook to be kept up to date with all the latest news as well as being able to browse through all the photos.
THANK YOU for your continued support!
Sketty Resident Association
The Sketty Residents Association was formed in 1989 to give local people a forum to support the community and area.
The Committee meets regularly with this ward’s councilors. We let them know about matters of local interest and get their help in addressing such issues. We write to Swansea Council, or other organizations to raise your concerns with them.
We have paid for flowers for Sketty Park for the last 2 years and encouraged local businesses to continue these. We have a stall at the Local Produce Market in Bishop Gore School (first Saturday of each month, 9.30am to 12.30pm) where you can get information, let us know if there is something in the area you are worried about or pick up some pink or green recycling bags.
Our Councillors are very supportive and we try to help them. We aim to support our community and environment – and all for an annual sub of £2 per year!
We can be contacted at sketty.residents@gmail.com.
Clyne Court Resident Association
The CCRA was first assembled on August 12th 2009. The topics that were discussed by the tenants who attended included the ongoing anti-social behaviour and police raids within the three blocks, the litter problem and the disrepair of the flats and the surrounding areas.
In 2010 an official residents’ committee was elected which comprises of a Chairperson, Secretary and Treasurer. Monthly meetings are now held in the Community Centre. Various times of the meetings have been tried to make it easier for the residents to attend, but although trying morning, afternoon and evening meetings over time, just a handful of residents turn up. Posters are displayed and leaflets are posted through residents’ doors informing them of the meetings but we need more support.
The committee need you to help them create a safe and liveable environment within Sketty Park area and Clyne Court.
We are working with other committees, the Police, Councillor Cheryl Philpott and her colleagues, Communities First and the Council in different ways, to try and fulfil our requests and ideas to make it a better and safer place to live.
Anyone interested in getting involved in planting, weeding or litter picking etc., or if you have any suggestions or ideas please do not hesitate in contacting either Nigel Drean the Blocks Manager or Communities First on 284740 or go into their office which is situated on the ground floor of Block 3; or simply come to our get togethers and meet us for a cup of tea, coffee and biscuits (Bourbon included).
Our achievements so far have been:
1. Recycling areas rebuilt and new recycling bins supplied.
2. Rubbish bins outside each block and others to be installed by the benches.
3. No tolerance policy for unruly residents.
4. New signs outside each block.
5. CCTV cameras installed on each floor, outside blocks and within lifts.
6. Maintenance and ongoing prevention of damp and mould within the flats. We have succeeded in bringing the repair and cladding work of the outside walls date forward as we conveyed to the council who attended our meetings how urgent this work is and couldn’t wait. This work is now scheduled to commence next year instead of 2015.
7. Weeding and planting of flowers around the Blocks to brighten up the area and we have received a grant organised by Keep Wales Tidy to turn the spare ground between Block 1 and 2 into a green place and also the spare ground behind Block 3 into a communal garden incorporating benches, raised flower beds and greenery for the tenants to relax and enjoy.
Sketty Park Older Person Forum
There have been two Older Person Forums held in the Sketty Park and District Community Centre, which were a great success with an average of over 70 people aged over 50 and resident in Sketty Park attending.
They are a chance for older people from across the community to get together and have their say in what happens in our area.
The main concerns raised at the first forum were access to services, public seating and pavements at the shops (which has thankfully been
improved), information about activities for older people (which this newsletter and the forums help address) and community safety. The upcoming ‘Safer Sketty Park’ initiative will be a part of addressing the latter concern.
The launch of the forum was a great success with Dunvant Male Voice Choir entertaining, followed by some fun with Line Dancing, as well as delicious cakes and tea served to the tables.
The second forum, on Tuesday 26th July, featured refreshments again, entertainment from the local Hazel Court Choir, a fun interactive quiz, raffle prizes and some sample sessions on information technology with the new IT Tutor Kevin Hedges.
If you would like to know more about this forum, please get in touch with Communities First on 284740.
I Love Sketty Park
The I Love Sketty Park Committee has been working hard since last summer holding events that encourage the Sketty Park community to get together. They held a big event on Valentine’s weekend in February this year which was attended by over 1500 people. It was lovely to bring everyone together to.
There was a series of classes on various activities leading up to the event, Indian dancing, African drumming, Ballroom Dancing and art classes. The event was very successful with lots of local clubs and activities showing their work and achievements and a series of performances of Scottish dancing, Indian dancing, Ballroom Dance, Street Dance, African Drumming and a Guitar concert. We also had Theeeko Breeelo the
clown and a children’s singing session in addition to displays from many community groups and an outside funfair.
The success of the event, which was enjoyed by so many residents of the Sketty Park area, has set the I Love Sketty Park Committee a challenge. What do we do next?
The Committee held an auction night on the 15th July in Hazel Court auctioning off all sorts of goodies. We were very lucky to have been given
some donations by local shops and we are very grateful to them for their support. With wine and a delicious buffet from Hazel Court Bistro it was a fun night when some committee members went the extra mile to entertain the audience and raise money by auctioning off their services. The group raised over £400 with this event and are now applying to the Community Cohesion Fund for help to put on the next I Love Sketty Park Day. This event was also held to encourage new members for the I Love Sketty Park Committee. With lots more plans up their sleeves and exciting times ahead, the more helpers the better for small jobs and for more involved roles. Every little helps.
Next year we are looking to do a similar event to this year which we hope you will all attend.
There are new plans afoot though to have a carnival parade leading to the event I Love Sketty Park Day event 2012 making it more fun than ever. Classes will also hopefully be held before the event to encourage people old and young to join and have a go at trying something new.
This is currently being planned along with other events such as a community Twm Path aiming to introduce a new Community Spirit into our area as we exchange hellos with our neighbours and generate as much positive reasons to smile as we can in this time of cutbacks and ecession. The most positive thing we can all give each other is interest, understanding and enjoyment as a community and individually – getting together and sharing hobbies, interests and culture is a very good start. You joined us in February 2011 and we hope to see you again.
If you want to get involved now and with the events in the meantime contact Orla at the Communities First office on 284740.
Sketty Park Environmental Action Group
On a rainy morning in late June the new Sketty Park Environmental Group was launched. This launch brought together nine residents of Sketty Park who were interested in improving their local environment.
To do some research on what activities they could get involved in the group headed off on a trip to Penlan Communities First where the development worker there, Julie Hitchcock, gave a presentation to the group on what work has gone on in Penlan.
This was followed by a site visit to a church ‘peace garden’, a residents’ community garden and an inter-generational roundabout improvement
scheme. With that the sun came out and the group headed over to Swansea Community Farm in Fforestfach for lunch and another look at an
exciting and successful community project. Full of ideas the group came back to Sketty Park for a meeting to come up with suggestions
for developing projects in our community.
We looked at the Photography Group’s environmental audit of the area and there was a lot of discussion about what the group could do to improve Sketty Park. The key priorities that emerged from this were as follows:
1. community clean up and litter pick days
2. dressing up the entrances to Sketty Park
3. promote grow your own food and recycling
4. develop Parry’s Field into a community park with play facilities for older children
If you are interested in getting involved with this group and their activities please give Orla in Communities First a call on 284740.
Sketty Rovers AFC
We are a group of year 10 boys from Olchfa School. We had been playing football together as mates weekly for fun for a while and decided we would like to form a proper football team and play in the football league. We approached the Evening Post to help us find a coach and to help us get the club up and running.
We were lucky and found someone willing to help us, we are now part of the football league and all pay weekly to help us cover the costs of running the team and training costs. We train weekly in Olchfa on a Tuesday 8-9pm and have started playing on a Saturday against other teams in the League.
We would like to ask if anyone is willing to help in anyway with our team, we need an Assistant Coach and equipment to help us train, we have saved money ourselves and bought some training vests and balls and we are at present playing in borrowed kit. We are in the process of receiving help from the Sports Council for Wales and Sketty Park Communities First Team who have been really supportive.
We are all aware of the tag that sometimes follows boys of our age around and feel we would like to make a stand and prove to the community that we are not out causing trouble but trying hard to make the teamwork. If you could give us any help with sponsorship, raffles prizes, help with training we would be grateful if you could contact our coach David Jenkins – 01792299677 / 07809005615.
Article submitted by:
Sketty Rovers
Holy Trinity Church
Holy Trinity Church is a dual purpose building which was built in 1969 to be a place of Christian worship for the people of the then new estate of Sketty Park. Over the last 40 years it has developed and adapted with the community to serve its spiritual needs.
It’s members value especially the mid – week Eucharist, (Wednesdays at 10a.m.), followed by coffee. Sunday service is usually either 11am or 6.30pm – check on the Parish Website (which has lots of information): http://www.parishofsketty.org.uk/index.html
There is a Playgroup in Holy Trinity, which meets on Thursday mornings under the leadership of Pam Treseder . Guild (a women’s meeting, often with a speaker or activity) meets about fortnightly on Monday afternoons.
Many of its members are also involved in the nearby Community Centre.
Andrew Knight
Vicar of Holy Trinity (and St Paul’s Sketty, together the Parish of Sketty)
Parkway & Aneurin Close Shelter Housing Residents
Our tenants are all kicking off the Christmas activities with lunch on 2nd December. Our bingo section has a full house on Tuesday afternoon and Thursday evening. Monday club is open to guests, call in from 2pm for tea and chat in our resident lounge, variety of board games are available or you can join in to play scrabble. Beware the competition is fierce; we also hold weekly Coffee Morning from 10-11am on Thursday in resident lounge.
Some of us are looking forward to New Year when we are joining Laugharne court, for 4 days tinsel and turkey break to Torquay.
Article submitted by:
Parkway & Aneurin Close Sheltered Housing Resident
Good Companions
We are a group of local ladies who call ourselves the ‘Good Companions’. We meet every Friday at Sketty Park Community Centre between 10.30 – 12noon for a giggle, cuppa and chat together. Each member pays £1.50 per week, 50p of which goes towards the cost of biscuits and tea for the group to enjoy weekly and Centre funds. The remaining £1 per person goes towards our fund raising monies. When the group has collected a £100 we then give it to a charity of the member’s choice.
So far the group has donated a total of £3,250 to some very worthy causes. Some of these include, the Air Ambulance, Diabetics Society and Singleton Hospital Baby Unit. Many of the charities and good causes that funds are donated to often like to attend our group to give us talks about their work and how our money benefits others. If you would like to join us on Friday mornings, you would be made very welcome.
Article submitted by:
Good Companions
Hanover Parklands
Hanover Parklands has lots of activities that are open for all community members to join in with. They range from gentle exercises and movie afternoons to bingo and afternoon tea. Full details including times and small charges are available by contacing Maggie Woods for more information.
Article Submitted by:
Hanover Parklands
Parklands Church
Parklands church is a thriving community church based in Maes y Gollen, Sketty Park. We are an all age church with a jam packed programme for children, youth, and students as well as for the “born earlies”. We also have two regular Sunday morning services at 9.15am and 11am. We are passionate about support for the poor and needy in our local community and overseas – in particular, Kenya, Belarus and India.
Events during the week include Tuesday’s Ladies Fellowship @ 2.30pm. On a Wednesday our luncheon club for “born Earlies” meet at 12noon and we have a toddler group that meets every Thursday afternoon at 1pm. We also have Café Church (which is church but café style) every fortnight on a Sunday evening at 6pm. On top of that we have our weekly Sunday morning Kids Church, Blaze, for children aged 5-11 during the 11am service and our youth group 11+ meet on Wednesdays and Sundays at 7.30pm.
Why don’t you come along and find out more about us or call Mandy in the church office on: 01792 204767
Hazel Court
There are lots of activities and events going on at Hazel Court and everybody is welcome to join in.
On the first Monday of every month there is a film show in the Community Hall at 2.00 pm. The next show is on 4 January 2010 when the film will be Mrs Caldicot’s Cabbage War, which is comedy starring Pauline Collins and John Alderton.
Every week there are exercise classes that include: Tai Chi, Pilates and Gentle Chair Exercises. Or maybe you would like to try Creative Writing, join a Book Group or learn about Digital Photography.
We hope to start Welsh classes in January 2010 if enough people are interested. To put your name down contact our Reception Desk on the number below.
For more information visit our website: www.hazelcourt.org.uk and click on the Weekly Events Newsheet link or give us a ring on 01792 285900
Parkland Primary School
One of the highlights of the term so far was our orchestra’s performance at The Millennium Centre, Cardiff. We were invited to put on a lunchtime concert in the foyer of the Centre and we were delighted with the comments we received about the children’s behaviour and the quality of their performance.
At the time of writing our Christmas preparations are in full swing. Our Christmas Fayre was very well supported and raised approximately £3,400. Following our request for members of the local community to vote for your favourite songs and carols, we received hundreds of responses. Thank you for your support.
English classes for Speakers of Other Languages will continue at our school next term. Classes take place between 9.15 and 10.30 on Tuesday mornings. Please contact Michelle Blease for further details on 01792 467940.
Olchfa School
ECO NEWS
Eco-committee will be holding another Christmas Card Recycling scheme. There will be a Christmas card drop off point in reception again, after Christmas, during the first three weeks of term. Pupils will be rewarded with merits when they bring in cards to be recycled.
Olchfa Eco-Committee held a Swap Shop on Friday 27th November, during break and lunchtime. Pupils donated items such as DVDs, Books, CDs, Computer Games and Accessories, in order to receive swap vouchers to buy new items that other pupils had donated.
PUPIL ACHIEVEMENTS
The Royal Society of Chemistry inter school Chemistry Olympiad competition
Our team of Alex Pavlou and Fiona Shuttleworth of Year 9, Oliver Feng of Year 10 and Ian Coates of Year 11 did well to progress to the final rounds of this prestigious competition held at the Taliesin in November. With a Year 9 class giving excellent support, the Olchfa team locked horns once again with our nemesis team from Ffynnone. After a tense few rounds when the lead was swopped, the Olchfa team faded, while Ffynnone ended up winning the Welsh finals.
Urdd Swimming
21 pupils from Olchfa competed in the West Glamorgan heats of the Urdd swimming gala, in Neath Sports Centre in November. All swimmers gave a good account of themselves, especially those who were swimming against pupils from an older year group. This will stand them in good stead for next year’s competition. Congratulations to three boys who made it through to the National finals to be held in Cardiff in January 2010. Jonathan Davies Yr 13, Oliver Tennant Yr 11 and Joe Tucker Yr 10. Good luck to you all!
Children In Need
This year, Olchfa School raised in the region of £3100 for Children in Need. Pupils raised the money by holding a non-school uniform day on the 20th November 2009, they held a CIN Cake Sale which raised a further £100, they held sponsored silences and form 8AC held a “sweetie guess game”, which raised a further £20.
3 x £500 will be donated to local children’s charities Maggie’s, Ty Hafan and CICS, and the remaining £1700 will be donated to Children In Need.
Kiddos Choice!
Year 7 pupils were involved in a workshop called ‘Kiddos Choice’ during November, as part of the Assembly funded ‘All Wales Core Programme’. It was delivered by our Schools Community Police Officer, Steve Maddox, alongside other partnership organisations such as the Magistrates, Youth Offenders, Anti Social Behavioural Unit and Healthy Schools Initiative Team. ‘Kiddos Choice’ follows a young man who makes certain choices in his life when out and about with his friends. However, these friends soon desert him when an act of bad behaviour turns out horribly wrong. The film and five workshops are designed for pupils to follow ‘Kiddo’ as he enters the criminal justice system.
