CYMDEITHAS TREWYDDEL (MOYLEGROVE COMMUNITY)

Cymdeithass Trewyddel is the village committee established by common consent to provide a resident's voice to represent the views and aspirations of the community in furthering its community interests, fostering community spirit and supporting any joint representations to authority.

In an age of what can be sudden and rapidly changing environmental, social, economic and demographic forces, any community - even one as small as Moylegrove - needs to have an organised voice if it is to keep up with, take advantage of or protect itself from the shifting patterns of the circumstances that affect its well-being.

Suffering from a shrinking population due to the economic forces that have affected small rural communities throughout the country, with no longer any community essential such as a pub, shop or post office, the village was faced with the loss of it's final heartbeat, that of the school. So it was that in 2002, the community organised itself with the creation of Cymdeithas Trewyddel - (C.T.) to fight against the school's proposed closure. In this endeavour, as with so many other small villages around the country, it was doomed to be unsuccessful and the school was eventually closed in July 2003. C.T. however, survived as a representative voice and began to take on further responsibilities as the need for an organised body to represent the community grew. For grant qualification purposes it became a registered charity bound by the rules of a constitution established by the Charity Commissioners. It has a bank account established for village funds raised for the benefit of the village with annual reporting accountability to the Charity Commissioners, thereby ensuring its affairs to be a matter of public record.

It is made up of ten annually elected full members who are the registered trustees of the charity for the duration of their elected term. The Committee has three registered officers, Chairman, Secretary and Treasurer, it has no powers and can wield only goodwill
and consensus.

The Committee meets six times a year at bi-monthly intervals and minutes are posted on the village notice board in the car park and hopefully in the near future on this website. Meetings are open and copies of the minutes available upon request to anyone who may be interested. An AGM is held in May when the annual term of office ends and a new one begins. New blood is always welcome.
What does it do?
Pretty much anything required of it connected to the welfare of the village. It is for instance responsible for having organised and seen through the long winded legal processes - (three years in total) - associated with the acquisition of title to the school as a community asset and construction of an appropriate trust after which it became the principle trustee.

Following two years work alongside Broadband Wales - the Assembly's body responsible for coverage of the most difficult reception areas in Wales - through a concentrated and persistent effort of representation including attempts to establish our own private system, Moylegrove became the first of the country's 35 black spots to be Broadband enabled - a huge boon to local businesses. Amongst other things it won a village speed limit and winter opening for the walkers to the facilities in the car park and it keeps a watching environmental eye on Ceibwr Bay - our village beach - for the National Trust as the number of visitors continues to grow.

Cymdeithass Trewyddel maintains a close working relationship with the two principal community support groups - PAVS (Pembrokeshire Association of Voluntary Services) and PLANED (Pembrokeshire Local Action Network for Enterprise & Development). Grant money was successfully applied for through PAVS to originally set up the much admired village newsletter and the acquisition and subsequent renewal of computer equipment to publish it, a job carried out by a dedicated editorial team of volunteers. Modest funds were also acquired to buy furniture for the school. The acquisition of grant money is an on-going process as the need for it arises and funds for rural applications become available from either the Assembly, the EU or other relevant sources.

Why We Need Your continuing Support
The funds raised from all village events and raffles go towards covering the running costs and maintenance of the school as an essential village amenity for us all to use.

With the volunteer help of willing villagers, C.T. organises such annual events as the Raft Race, the Beach BBQ, the village Car Treasure Hunt, Bonfire Night - which has grown into an area attraction and now needs the services of a pyro-technician - Christmas carol singing in the Bethel Chapel followed by wine and mince pies at the car park gathering and Father Christmas with presents for the kids. It also now organises the growing number of social events held in the school and if we could find the necessary folk to organise it we would happily resurrect the tradition of the village carnival.
Significantly, it provides an under-used forum to discuss, debate, air or publicise concerns, suggestions, problems, disputes, and ideas. It is hoped this forum will grow now the school has become village property. It exists for the benefit of everybody and welcomes involvement. More recently it was responsible for commissioning the PLANED village survey to assess opinion on a community direction and to help us qualify for further possible grant money.
Through Cymdeithas Trewyddel, Moylegrove is able to show that it does have a voice, a heart and a structural core and we hope the foregoing gives a sense of what the community is about. Thankfully there are still some willing folk quietly working to keep our community spirit going and trying to foster awareness that the real essence of any community is involvement, without which it would be difficult to survive as a unit.
To Moylegrove residents we say, with your continued support we aim to keep this community alive and if we are to achieve this, your involvement in community activities is vital. For the moment, as a small community Moylegrove punches above its weight and we need to keep it that way. No one has yet come up with a solution to the nation-wide problem of properties in beautiful places falling into the hands of holiday home buyers and the de-personalisation and withering of small communities that results.
For Moylegrove the most positive way to combat the process is to actively support the community events that we can and do promote and encourage holiday home owners to do the same. Your visible support makes our efforts worthwhile, maintains our enthusiasm and that of those who help us and is both welcome and significant in keeping the village heart beating. After all, the more attractive and vibrant our community the more likely we are to attract permanent residents to live here.
To visitors we say, you are very welcome and we aim to make your stay as pleasant and rewarding as possible. We hope you will join in the activities we promote, enjoy the peace and tranquility of the area and respect the quality of our environment.