Community house to get a fresh look

Apr 24 2008 by Catherine Evans, Rhymney Valley Express

A COMMUNITY house in Argoed is set to be given a makeover – thanks to a Communities First grant.

Markham Community House and Community Centre received £5,000 to help replace flooring in the kitchen, reception and dining area.

The house provides leisure, recreational and general social welfare facilities for the use of everyone in the community.

It also provides a learning facility to a wide range of people of all ages and a youth programme aimed at tackling anti-social behaviour.

A record number of applications were sent to the Communities First Trust Fund this year, following the Welsh Assembly Government announcement it would provide an extra £1m for the fund.

The scheme was set up to distribute small amounts of money to community groups quickly and easily by reducing the application and evaluation paperwork to a minimum.

The Wales Council for Voluntary Action (WCVA) hands out the grants on behalf of Communities First and received an unprecedented 1,000 applications in the month before the February closing date.

“This compares with the average of 100 applications a month received over the past year,” said WCVA Grants Manager Tessa White.

“So we processed around the same number of applications in a month between the closing date and mid-March that we usually process in one year.”