A new café, nursery and meeting spaces for voluntary groups form part of a Heart of the Community project aimed at transforming an historic Gorseinon church and hall.
The church hall at St Catherine’s Church on Princess Street will soon be redesigned, thanks to the Parish of Casllwchwr and Gorseinon successfully applying to Swansea Council for investment as part of the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund.
Once complete, it’s anticipated the new multi-purpose community space will be able to host over 50 activities and services for people of all ages.
The project is expected to create numerous jobs, while also making the church hall more accessible and energy efficient.
It follows extensive consultation with the nearby community, including community leaders, existing church user groups, foodbanks and congregation visitors. Questionnaires were also delivered to local people’s homes and made available at local supermarkets, post offices and GP surgeries.
Other features of the project would include an improved performance space in the church hall for the use of local schools and other groups.
The project would build on the success of a huge number of activities and events which already take place in the church hall. These include a foodbank, a pop-up café and activities like short matt bowls and sports activities for children of all ages.
Cllr Robert Francis-Davies, Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration and Tourism, said: “St Catherine’s Church in Gorseinon is a terrific example of an organisation that does so much good for the local community.
“The venue already hosts so many services and activities that bring the community together and help tackle issues like loneliness, social isolation and mental health, but this grant funding will enable the church to do so much more.
“As a council, we want to make sure our allocation of Shared Prosperity Fund money from the UK Government benefits as many people as possible in Swansea.
“The church hall repurposing project will meet that goal in the Gorseinon area by enabling more services and activities, while also creating jobs and more volunteering opportunities for local people.”
St Catherine’s Church in Gorseinon was built between 1911 and 1913.
Reverend Dr Adrian Morgan, Vicar of the Parish of Casllwchwr and Gorseinon, said: “Our mission is to help transform people’s lives, renewing a sense of community by eliminating poverty, loneliness and isolation; and by creating opportunities for people to meet with others, to volunteer, lean new skills, gain new qualifications and work locally. After an extensive listening exercise, our Heart of the Community project seeks to realise what people have asked us to do.
“This grant is a crucial step in achieving the ambitions of the project. It will enable us to improve the many services that we already offer our community, and it will also allow us to do much more. We look forward to working with Swansea Council to make our community a better place, and to enable local people to thrive and flourish.
“We’re fortunate to be working with numerous local community groups and with other partners from across the region to deliver the project, and are engaging with other funders to ensure that every phase of the project will soon be completed, opening up this fabulous space for community use because we want it to benefit everyone.”
Many other projects throughout Swansea are also being funded by Swansea Council through the UK Government’s Shared Prosperity Fund. These include reconfiguration works at Morriston’s Tabernacle
Chapel, the Goleudy Hub in the Maritime Quarter to help tackle isolation there, and an extension of the FIT Jacks programme run by the Swansea City AFC Foundation.
