Robert Lloyd - a Sir Gar Blog of random news . . . and some Clecs!

Plans to deliver a 10-pin bowling alley and other community facilities in Carmarthen are gathering pace. On target to open next summer, the Towy Community Church Xcel project at Johnstown will deliver a 12-lane 10-pin bowling alley and family play area. Included in the first phase of the scheme in the rapidly transforming former St Ivel’s factory is a food bank and furniture recycling project. The community church has attracted significant funding through fundraising, securing grants and a commercial mortgage and loan from Carmarthenshire County Council to cover the first phase of this major regeneration scheme. Checking on the progress of the project, county leader Cllr Kevin Madge said: “With all the bleak news of threats on leisure centres and leisure services generally in these financially constrained times, it is wonderful to see an exciting project like this being delivered that is going to be so popular with families and young people. “I can see Johnstown is going to be a M...

Carmarthen has scored a full strike after landing close to £800,000 to develop a bowling alley and community centre at the former St Ivel factory in Johnstown. The Towy Community Church, supported by Carmarthenshire County Council, has been successful in its bid for funding from the Community Asset Transfer Programme (CAT) – a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund and Welsh Assembly Government. It means the ambitious Xcel Bowl project can now get underway, providing yet another first-class leisure facility for Carmarthen. Alongside the 12-lane bowling alley, the first phase of the development will also include a food bank and a furniture recycling facility to benefit local families experiencing hardship, projects that will be funded by the profits from the bowling business. Towy Community Church leader Mark Bennett said: “We are thrilled to be able to go ahead with a project that will bring sustainable long term benefits to local people.” The second phase of the project will includ...