School pupils now benefitting from game changing sport and community facilities at their school have welcomed partners who funded the £7.5m scheme.
Swansea Council leader Rob Stewart officially opened the new indoor sports barn, refurbished leisure centre and community rooms at Cefn Hengoed Community School and Leisure Centre this week.
Pupils joined in and proudly showed guests around the transformation that has taken place, the latest in a long-list of investments in school and community sporting facilities made by the council.
As well as the sports barn with indoor 3G pitch at Cefn Hengoed, there is a brand new state-of-the-art gym, a refurbished sports hall, a new fitness studio and a new leisure centre reception area complete with café.
The new community hub has strengthened links between the school, residents and families.
It is already being used for a weekly drop-in clinic offering free legal advice. Other plans include a digital library and base for the East Side Food Bank and questionnaires have gone out to local charities and residents asking them for their ideas for other uses.
Funding has come from Swansea Council, Welsh Government, the Football Foundation, Freedom Leisure and Sports Wales, and is supported by partners including the Swansea City AFC Foundation, the Football Association of Wales, the WRU and Cefn Hengoed Community School.
Cllr Stewart said: “‘These new facilities are absolutely fantastic and I’m really proud that we’ve been able to deliver the largest ever investment in sports facilities in the Eastside of Swansea.
“They are already improving incredibly popular with girls and boys football teams, as well as many other grassroots sports clubs, making the most of the new indoor sports barn with many evening and weekend sessions fully booked when not in use by the school.
“The use of the leisure centre has also more than doubled with a hugely improved offering and extended opening times.
“Swansea Council is committed to providing the best sport and leisure facilities we can and I’d like to thank all the partners who came together and worked with us to help us achieve this state-of-the-art development at Cefn Hengoed.”
Welsh Government Cabinet Secretary for Education Lynne Neagle said: “Supporting the health and wellbeing of children and young people is vital.
“I am delighted that, with the help of Welsh Government funding, new sport and leisure facilities have been developed. These new facilities are a great step in helping improve the wellbeing of the whole community.”
Carl Bale, headteacher at Cefn Hengoed Community School said: “The new facilities have been transformational for the staff and pupils.
“Children have enjoyed using the new indoor 3G pitch, with a measurable impact on the health and wellbeing of our learners.”
Swansea Council’s Cabinet Member for Investment, Regeneration, Events and Tourism, Robert Francis Davies: “These new facilities are up there with anything else in Wales and are just the latest in our commitment to improve sports facilities in all our communities
“Swansea Council has already helped to deliver all-weather pitches at Penyrheol, Morriston, Pentrehafod, Pontarddulais, Olchfa and Dylan Thomas secondary schools, we have supported the new all-weather pitch and improved sports facilities at Underhill Park in Mumbles and we have recently committed to a similar scheme for the Penlan area.”
