forum.ferndale-wales.co.uk

I have just received the following information from Ferndale :-

The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors Wales Awards 2012 was won by "THE GLYNRHEDYN".

Buildings in Tenby; Anglesey; Cardiff; Caerphily; Builth and Port Talbot were entered as well.

"The RICS Wales Awards seek to show case the most inspirational and innovative developments from across the country, and this year's entries have clearly achieved in fulfilling this aim. The GLYNRHEDYN is now a thriving local business and community hub, as well as a remarkably beautiful building, which we believe will stand the test of time. It is truly a Welsh project, and we are delighted to award it WELSH PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2012.

This project will now be put forward to the UK Finals in London in October.

So my congratulations to all at Ferndale Life Ltd for this wonderful achievement.

Forum readers will be saddened that the Rhondda Life project has financial problems and the Receivers are in. No doubt the full story will emerge in due course but it seems that there are some lessons to be learned.

http://www.walesonline.co.uk/topics/rhondda-life/

Dave

Dave, some-one mentioned this to me in London a fortnight ago, and I didn't take too much notice. I was told that the rugby Club wasn't going to play next season?
Four/Five pubs where I live have been closed and turned into flats, another has become a dentist training place. My heart goes out to all at ferndale for achieving what they did, but money is always a major problem in this day and age.

Forum readers might wish to see the latest updates on the Rhondda Life Project which sadly failed as a business venture despite a large grant from the Welsh Assembly Government.
Blaenboy and I attended the opening in June 2011..............who would have thought that this would follow?

This link to the BBC Wales Today will be available for about a week. The item is 14 minutes into the programme if you drag the slider.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0 ... 3_08_2012/

This link is the Rhondda Leader Article.
http://www.walesonline.co.uk/news/south ... -31536277/

Dave

Dave, it is very sad that this has happened. Based on the years I worked as a 'book-keeper/accounts clerk', it always made me wonder where people thought the money came from. Financial planning/budgetary forecasts were not always adhered to in a lot of companies, and the justification for any expenditure was hardly used. I am not saying this happened in Ferndale, it is just a bit of my past life catching up with me. I hope everyone involved can resolve this problem because the project is what Ferndale needs.

Alun Clement sent me this today and wishes it to be put in the public domain.

Government probe clears Wales regeneration body of wrongdoing
By John Geoghegan Friday, 17 August 2012 [/b]
A south Wales social enterprise has been cleared over allegations that it misused public funds, according to the Welsh government.
No evidence of wrongdoing at Rhondda Life
• by Martin Shipton, Rhondda Leader
• Aug 16 2012
NO EVIDENCE of wrongdoing has been found at a troubled community project which has received more than £1.8m in public funding, it has been confirmed.
The government has confirmed that an investigation it carried out with the Wales Audit Office into Rhondda Life Ltd, based in the Welsh valleys, has found "no evidence of wrongdoing".
The Wales Audit Office, Wales Government Internal Audit recently carried out a review of financial systems in RLL [Rhondda Life Ltd] in response to allegations which had been made to the Wales Audit Office. Plaid Cymru said it had asked the auditor general for Wales to investigate.
No evidence of wrongdoing was found. A spokesperson said discussions were continuing to "secure the future use of the building for the benefit of the community".

Thursday, 16 August 2012
Leighton Andrews Assembly Member for Rhondda
Rhondda Life
Maybe the doom-merchants and mud-slingers will back off now that the audit report confirms that there has been no wrong-doing at Rhondda Life.
I met representatives of Rhondda Life, the Morlais, the Rugby and Cricket Clubs last night. It is evident that we will not have enough information to share about the future of the Glynrhedyn building until September, so I have decided to put back the public meeting till then, by which time I hope that RL, the Welsh Government and the brewery will have met to follow up the Government's letter to RL and its proposal for continuing community involvement. In the meantime, if anyone has any questions, feel free to email me on Leighton.andrews@wales.gov.uk. I expect now to hold the public meeting in the week beginning 10 September, obviously in a Ferndale venue.

Regards Dave

Dave, you beat me to it, I found it when I logged on to my emails just now.

My heart goes out to Alun and the rest of his team.

Brian

Alun Clement has sent me another email in which he expresses his personal feelings regarding the Rhondda Life problems. This gives a wider perspective on the issue and one can share his frustration. Alun has agreed to my posting his words on this Forum as below.
Let us hope that the Project can be salvaged to the benefit of the whole community.

Regards Dave

RHONDDA LIFE

You will not believe the unlawful wrong doings going on with WAG,the Brewery and other seriously damaging incidents that we are not allowed to make public yet.

I'm so upset and bitter to what has been said over these past 18 months in the press, on TV and by locals. All we have tried to do is create employment for local people to spend their money locally, bring new social facilities to the area and in time attract visitors with the heritage, culture and sports facilities that are being proposed. Any surplus made from this project would be injected back into the community for groups or individuals to use for employment or recreational purposes etc.

You have to start somewhere and phase one is a sports bar for local organisations to use as their base, the Sir Stanley Baker lounge is a comfortable setting for all to use and bring visitors in to spend money along with the restaurant, which is another income generating part of the business.

The Phase TWO plans have been sitting on a shelf because an anonymous letter / letters were sent into the WAG. ( CAN'T SAY ANYMORE AT MOM) It's to include a museum of Welsh Rugby and Rhondda's sporting past, along with an auditorium which can be used for a multitude of activities. We've been working very closely with Panasonic in putting this project together, which would? have been the first of its kind in the UK.

Phase three is a twenty bedroom hotel, but unfortunately I fear for all of this project because of the historic debt which has been in the hands of the WAG and RCT, who repeatedly made promises but have now gone back on their word.

There are other projects which include Greenwood Park, Darran Park and the river from the bridge down alongside the junior school.

Time will tell when everything is made public but this project could be dead and buried by then. There are lots more to come out.

From a very frustrated Alun - all the best

PLEASE FEEL FREE TO PASS THIS INFO ON

Forum readers will be sad to read the Western Mail article about the latest development in this failed venture. Blaenboy and I both attended the opening of the Sir Stanley Baker Lounge in June 2011.

£1.2m publicly-funded building erected as part of doomed Rhondda Life regeneration project is put up for sale - for just £295,000

If you copy and paste the above line into Google you can read the full story.

Dave

Thank you Dave, what a revelation! There was nothing wrong with the original plan, Ferndale certainly needed such a project and the end result as I saw when I was there was well worth the struggle to get it off the ground. However, such projects create major challenges for those in charge and require a lot of support from all angles.
Please let me know what happens, just in case I miss the write-ups in the Western Mail.

Iechydd

Brian