Spring into the Community Spirit

After the dreary days of January and February — both total washouts — and with Welsh Rugby still struggling to find its rhythm on the pitch, we can at least take comfort in one thing: spring is finally on the horizon! We may even hold the honour of being the only town in the UK that didn’t see a single snowflake this winter, but brighter days are ahead, and local events are beginning to bloom once more.

Kicking things off is the St David’s Day Fun Day at Pontyclun Athletic Club on Sunday 1st March. Running from 12pm – 4pm, the event promises something for everyone — from craft and food stalls to children’s games and family-friendly activities. Two local choirs will also take to the stage to provide some wonderful entertainment throughout the day.

Later in the month, Urban Markets returns on Saturday 28th March with their Easter Market on Heol Yr Orsaf. Expect plenty of treats, gifts, and local makers — more details will be announced soon on our social media pages, so keep an eye out!

In more fantastic local news, Café 50 recently announced they’ve won a Community Makeover Competition, run by Dulux. We’ll be sharing all the details in the coming weeks — and we might just need a little help from you! Keep an eye on our updates to find out how you can get involved in this exciting project which may involve a visit or two from the Dulux dog.

We’d also like to extend a huge thank you to our dedicated litter champions, who continue to make our community cleaner and brighter. One local gent alone collected 28 bags of rubbish in just three weeks — an incredible achievement that deserves recognition. Because of his hard work (and others like him), that’s 28 bags of rubbish no longer cluttering our streets.

If you’d like to help, make a difference too, whether as an individual or part of a group, please get in touch with our office. We can supply litter pickers and bags, kindly provided by Keep Wales Tidy.

Talking about helping make our  Community better the Council recently helped fund the creation of new floral planters in Heol yr Orsaf which will be managed by the local residents. We particularly want to thank Craig who has led this project from the start.

Let’s welcome spring together — with cleaner streets, community pride, and plenty of local fun!

3^rd March will see the launch of the pilot section of the Welsh forest Trail. Starting for Porthkerry going to Penydarren going through or past as many National Forest sites as they can this aims to be the start of a long-distance trail going all the way to North Wales. We are delighted that the trail will pass through Pontyclun (we do have 4 National Forest Woodlands after all) and hope that this will help us grow our visitor numbers and help our shops, cafes and bars.

Interestingly this takes the number of long distance walks we have “visiting us” to 4 – the River Ely trail starts here on its way to Cardiff and the Penhrys Pilgrimage and Valeways Millenium trails both pop into Pontyclun.

In other news the Llantrisant Folk Club host Song and Music Night every Wednesday at Pontyclun Athletic Club, along with some special guests:

Wed Mar 4: Geoff Lakeman. It's St David's Day and St Piran's Day this week, so Cornish musician and singer Geoff comes to join the celebrations. 
Wed Mar 25: Dana Robinson. From Vermont USA, Dana returns with his authentic sounds of America. 
Wed Apr 8: Steve Turner. Consummate concertina and mandolin player, stretching the boundaries of the tradition.

Wed Apr 22: Sarah McQuaid. Stunningly gorgeous songs.