Ammanford children help create garden

Green-fingered children living on an Ammanford housing estate have rolled up their sleeves to create a vibrant community garden.
The children, who live in Heol Hayden, are working on a fruit, vegetable and herb garden to improve their estate and create a project which will bring all ages of the community together.
The project is being funded by the council’s Environmental Works Project and WAG’s Tidy Towns, each contributing to the £8,528 total cost.
Children have been involved with the design of the garden, and have also carried out litter picks to prepare the site ahead of the work. They have been helped by the council’s Future Jobs Fund employees.
One of the children, Shaun Gladman, said: “The fruit and vegetable garden will help us get more active and teach us new skills. It will be nice for everyone to do something together and for us to have something to do. Without the Environmental Works Project we would never have had the idea to improve our estate.
“The youth workers are also helping us too in creating a better environment to live in, as they are going to take us to workshops in Glanamman to build bird boxes to put in the garden and surrounding area.”
Another child, Jade Williams, added: “I am really excited about the garden – it’s nice to have something to do outside, rather than sitting in the house on the computer all day.
“We have formed a residents group, both an adult and children’s one. It has been nice for people to ask us what we want for a change.”
The Environmental Works Project is part of the council’s Carmarthenshire Homes Standard, a £200million programme that is improving every one of its 9,200 homes by 2014/15. The EWP delivers environmental improvements identified by communities for the benefit of tenants.
The Welsh Assembly Government-funded Tidy Towns project supports people to improve the quality of their local environment and assists volunteers to undertake a range of environmental improvement projects, including litter picks, path maintenance, improving disabled access, developing community gardens and habitat management, with small grants available to cover project costs.
Cllr Hugh Evans, executive board member for housing services, said: “It is wonderful to see this community coming together to improve the area and to create a garden that will be used and nurtured for years to come.”

Children pictured at the site where they are creating a community garden.

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