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Glynneath Training Centre, Oddfellows St
Glynneath
Neath
SA11 5DB
Tel: 01639 721772
Buffet Film Night We have a Buffet Film night this Wednesday (16th April 2008) at 6:30. Elizabeth is the name of the film which costs £4.00 for members and £5.50 for non members. Attention all poets and would be poets ... A bursary has been set up for up to £1,000 in memory of the late author, Terry Hetherington. If you are aged between 16-23 and you are interested in receiving financial help towards:
Please contact the Glynneath Training Centre in the first instance, on 01639 721772 or email glynneathtc@supanet.com for further details.
Glynneath Community to the Rescue Carol Williams whose son Matthew goes to the special school in Bryncoch were running a work experience trip to Bermuda. After raising funds for 2 years British Airways increased the cost of the flight. Glynneath Training Centre decided to help by organising a raffle. Carol went to local businesses and asked them for donations. All local businesses donated. In addition to the raffle Alan Frost (GTC's photography tutor) offered to hold a full day Photo session and donate half the proceeds from the day to the fund. Funds raised were as follows: Nissin Showa UK Ltd car components company, Matthews fathers employers, £125.00 Alan Frost £360.00 Raffle £178.00 Total £663.00 Click here to see the photo gallery Centre Managers Meet the Queen. Jan and Pauline had a very special Valentines Day, for once their husbands remembered and bought them matching state of the art frying pans. To make things even more memorable they were invited to Buckingham Palace in recognition of their contribution to business. Their recent award (Enterprising Britain - Wales winners) caught the eye of her Majesty which resulted in the invite along with 199 other business women from throughout the UK. They chatted with most of the female Royal Household including Camilla, Princess Ann, Sophie and of course the Queen. They enjoyed a memorable day and were even shown the throne room (well they had had a couple of glasses of wine to be fair). Once again well done Pauline & Jan, (what did you think of those pans??).
Enterprising Britain 2006 Welsh Winner is The Glynneath Training Centre.The Welsh winner of the Enterprising Britain 2006 competition, the Glynneath Training Centre (GTC), was recognised for its success as an emerging Social Enterprise in the Neath Valley. The GTC has changed the lives of hundreds of local people by providing them with low-cost, high quality education and training for all adult members of the community. Its schemes, courses and, most of all, support has greatly contributed to the much-needed regeneration of the valley. The whole Centre has been renovated, demonstrating its dedication to changing lives and regenerating the community. It has its own nursery, which provides high quality affordable childcare facilities in order to increase participation in both training opportunities and the workplace. It also has a Healthy Eating Cyber Café with its own allotments that provide organically grown produce for the café. Both the nursery and the café have added a new dimension to the centre, making it easier to access and helping more members of the community to improve their skills. Managers Pauline Morgan & Jan MacCullum, summed up their achievements by saying: "Our success in the Enterprising Britain 2006 competition reflects our achievements encouraging Social Enterprise over the past nineteen years. The increase in entrepreneurial activity is living proof of the quality, support and encouragement that the Centre provides to the people of Neath Valley. We're delighted to have been chosen as the Welsh winner." Andrew Davies, Minister for Enterprise, Innovation and Networks, Welsh Assembly Government, said: "We are delighted to name The Glynneath Training Centre as Wales' most enterprising place. The Centre is a shining example of the Welsh entrepreneurial spirit. Wales has long been a centre of enterprise and has a rich history of entrepreneurs and endeavours such as The Glynneath Training Centre is helping us to preserve this important part of our economy and culture." |
Centre Managers Win Prestigious Award. The Winners of this year's prestigious Swansea Bay Woman of the Year Awards were announced last week at a glittery ceremony, hosted by Sara Edwards.
Pauline Morgan and Jan McCallum firstly scooped the Community Category award, before going on to take the overall title of Swansea Bay Woman of the Year 2105. They were presented with title award in recognition of outstanding work and commitment to the community and for being inspirational figures to women across Swansea Bay. For the last 19 years, Pauline and Jan have jointly run the Glynneath Training Centre. The Centre has grown from a building with poor facilities and only 40 enrolments to a Community resource employing 21 people and offering a full day care nursery, a cyber cafe with associated allotments, a purpose built Arts Centre and over 600 enrolments in an academic year. The Centre also offers many other services for local people. Jan and Pauline commented that "The evening gave us mixed feelings - we were emotional, nervous, excited and proud that we had won such a prestigious award, especially since the competition was so high. In fact we were astounded to win. All in all it was a wonderful evening we will never forget". "Receiving this award means that at last our organisation, an emerging Social Other category winners included Sue Jones of Llandoidy Cheesemakers (for Business); Heather Pudner from the Department of Adult Continuing Education at Swansea University (for Education & Training); Tania Francis (for Woman Returner) and Dawn Lyle of iCreate (for Young Entrepreneur). Paul Newman from event sponsors JCP Solicitors stated, "The awards last week demonstrated the depth of talent and entrepreneurship in the Swansea Bay area. This year's event raised the bar for events of this kind in Swansea. Extremely entertaining speakers and excellent organisation combined to create a highly enjoyable atmosphere. JCP Solicitors are delighted to be associated with such a worthy and inspirational occasion and would like to take this opportunity to congratulate the individual category winners and the overall winners". A Very Well Done To Both Of You!
Click Here to See The Allotment So - its been well over two years now since the training centre allotment project started here so what’s been going on recently? Well, the answer is quite a lot. Early last year we took on four new plots, so last year turned out to be quite busy as we endeavoured to create order out of chaos and progress towards the aim of supplying the cafe with a range of fruit and vegetables. We have had consistent support from regular volunteers, as well as a full time assistant, Stuart who started with us earlier this year. As well as supplying vegetables we have planted a range of fruit bushes (Strawberries, Rhubarb, Raspberries and Jostaberries), which should supply some variety to the cafe next year when established. The summer’s crops have been generally good, Onions (red and white) in particular have been very good quality. I took the opportunity to enter these in the Horticultural Society show and was surprised and pleased to come first in the globe onion category. We also scooped first in the courgette category and second in the heaviest marrow section. If anyone would like a large marrow please just ask! There are also quite a few courgettes left over. Other successful crops this year have included potatoes, beetroot, garlic, runner beans, peas squashes and lettuces. Winter crops included, red cabbage, kale, leeks, parsnips and parsley. Work in progress includes laying out new paths to improve accessibility and building compost bins. The poly tunnel has been tremendously useful to supply salads over the winter as well as tomatoes over the summer. The rainwater harvesting system installed last year has been a great success and has saved a great deal of mains water. I would like to improve it further, perhaps introducing further filtration and some form of automation and improving the irrigation system. Back at the centre the new workshop, completed last year, has been put to good use as the venue for a weekly “green woodwork” session using mainly green (unseasoned) timber. This has been very popular with local residents and tremendously enjoyable for all concerned. The participants have brought a variety of experience along and some impressive carpentry skills have been in evidence. We are limited by space to four or five in the workshop at one time. I hope to continue to run this workshop from October to May this year. Chris Day GTC Glynneath Writers Circle Book
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