Tag: St Nicholas

On December 20th 2022, a community meeting was held at St Nicholas Village Hall / Neuadd-y-Pentref Tremarchog, with around 30 residents from across the Pencaer Community (which includes the St Nicholas and Llanwnda wards). The purpose of the meeting was to generate ideas so that a bid could be submitted to Pembrokeshire County Council’s Enhancing Pembrokeshire Grant, which makes funds available through the second homes tax for community initiatives.

The meeting outlined the grant criteria and process, and then attendees were invited to share thoughts on the following topics, before the meeting concluded with the prioritisation of two possible grant bids to pursue. Oh, and as it was just before Christmas, mulled wine and mince pies were served.

What are the Community Strengths?

• Coastal path & beaches
• The landscape, and an area of outstanding beauty which attracts tourism
• Footpaths and bridleways (some of which need maintenance)
• Landmarks – French landing site, lighthouse
• Natural world – Garn Fawr (Dark Sky site), Strumble Head and the bird observation point
• Local history & folk tales
• It’s on the pilgrim route and national cycle route
• St Nicholas Village Hall
• Events at St Nicholas Hall – Henner WI (1x month), previously writers workshops, life drawing classes, jubilee events etc
• Facilities at the Hall – has radar keyed disability toilet, wi-fi, audio-visual facilities,well equipped kitchen
• Churches and Chapels
• Tregwynt Woollen Mill – provides jobs, has cafe
• Tregwynt Ballroom – can be booked e.g. yoga, concerts
• Pontiago Garage
• Pwll Deri Youth Hostel
• Farming which provides local employment
• The people – wide cross section of personalities
• Broadband is good in St Nicholas Village
• The Strumble Shuttle
• A defibrilator in St Nicholas
• Promximity to Fishguard and Goodwick

What Could be Better?

• Bringing the community together more often
• Less individual isolation
• Cost of living support
• Concerns over access to healthcare; more first responders
• Communication – sharing information – online (e.g. Facebook) & offline (e.g. noticeboards and a community magazine similar to Llais Rhian)
• Pencaer website – currently has a history focus; could increase awareness & add current information
• St Nicholas Village Hall has huge potential but needs some work and a longer term plan
• Housing availability and local permanent population decline
• Village traffic safety – big tractors driving through
• No bus shelter in St Nicholas (although there is a bus stop)
• Sewage treatment concerns
• Infrastructure resilience, e.g. Broadband outside of St Nicholas and mobile signal
• Environmental support

Ideas for Community Projects

• Coastal paths – improve accessibility for people who are not so mobile e.g. add handrails at steep parts
• Conduct a bird & insect survey – could expand into art project to broaden appeal
• Markers at key places in the community – information boards that explain their significance; art/photo/writing
• Communication – link up around the whole Pencaer area (residents look mainly towards Fishguard, not St Davids)
• Revamp local noticeboards & optimise locations
• Improve local communication e.g. website, FaceBook, Instagram
• Would like to replicate the Llanrhian Llais Rhian community magazine
• Needs a person to coordinate all the communication
• Revamp Village Hall – damp treatment; repainting; install hearing loop; improve quality of heating; battery storage linked to solar panels
• Use this opportunity to increase usage of St Nicholas Village Hall
• More events & activities e.g. clubs, whist drives, guest speakers, musical performances, art exhibitions and clasees etc.  Need to fund/pay workshop leaders
• Create wildlife corridors
• Inland footpaths – many overgrown; improve access & signage
• Nameplates to record & preserve traditional local names for places/rivers etc
• Create a pool of community electric bikes – for local residents to use & visitors to borrow
• Have social nights in the Hall
• Establish community sports – with a social focus e.g. table tennis, bowls, cricket.  Currently no obvious outdoor space for this & no playgrounds/swings.  Residents go to Fishguard/Goodwick for more serious/competitive sports.
• Community sport/exercise – plans were in place for ‘fun run’ event pre-Covid, could be revived & updated.  Group cycling outings.
• Community energy initiatives
• More electric car charging points
• AIRES – community camper van locations
• St Nicholas ‘nifty fifty’ event

Main Project Ideas to be pursued

Following the presentation of ideas, and given the timescales and potential budget available, two outline projects were agreed in principle.

St Nicholas Village Hall

Building improvement and maintenance work to St Nicholas Village Hall to help encourage further community use, maximise community engagement through increased events, and provide fresh impetus post-Covid to strengthen community cohesion and wellbeing.

Pencaer Connected Community

Explore employing a part-time community link officer tasked with building relationships across the community, developing and implementing a communications strategy, and the creation, publication and distribution of a community magazine. This will help create connection, belonging and improve wellbeing across the area. It will also be complimentary to increasing uptake of the use of St Nicholas Village Hall.

Next steps

Following the meeting, and subject to further discussion with the relevant stakeholders, the intention is to submit two bids to the Enhancing Pembrokeshire grant in January 2023. Thank you to all who attended and contributed their time, ideas, enthusiasm, bottles of mulled wine and mince pies.