News Release

Tower Community Day declared a hit by visitors

Tower Regeneration Ltd recently won the ‘Best Environmental Partnership Initiative’ award at the RCT 2014 ‘Love Where You Live’ event, with the independent judging panel praising the extensive environmental work being carried out at the Tower surface mine near .

Fresh from their awards success, staff at Tower hosted a special Community Day on the site of a planned Environmental Resource Centre that will form part of the Tower restoration and community legacy plan.

The Resource Centre will be available to schools for educational visits and will also be open to the general public – but before the Centre is built, the Tower team wanted to find out from schools and community groups exactly what they wanted to see at the Centre.

The Tower Community Day was split into two halves: the morning was exclusively for children from Penderyn and Primary Schools, while the afternoon was given over to visits from local community groups.

Jointly organised by Lee Williams, Hargreaves Surface Mining’s Environmental Manager and Sara Billinghurst from RCT Homes, the day proved to be highly successful, with a host of activities on offer, including:

• Wild flower ‘seed-bombing’ • An assault challenge • A bug hunt • Tower Colliery storytelling • Beat the buzzer game • Pond dipping

The Rhondda Cynon Taf Street Care Services team presented an environmental awareness display: in addition, volunteers from the British Institute for Geological Conservation created a special geology adventure, and members of the -Gwent Archaeological Trust staged an archaeology adventure, all of which proved popular with visitors.

Reflecting on the day, Environmental Manager Lee Williams said: “When we first began work at Tower we promised local residents that we would involve them in our plans. Our Community day has been a resounding success, made possible by our own staff volunteers and volunteers from RCT Homes. They made sure our visitors had an entertaining – as well as an educational – time!

“When built, our Environmental Centre will be a true community resource – and the comments and suggestions we have received from local residents and schools will help determine its range of facilities. We welcome more suggestions from local organisations as we develop our plans; if you want to know more about this project or get involved, please call us on 01685 810048”.

Councillor Ann Cummings, RCT Cabinet Member for Environment, Leisure and Sport said: “I would like to congratulate everyone involved with the organisation of the Community Day, which proved a huge success with the young pupils. It was pleasing to see the involvement and support from other organisations, including RCT’s Street Care Team, in providing an action-packed day that included pond dipping, seed bombing and fossil hunting.

“Tower should be commended for encouraging the local community to be part of their plans for the Resource Centre; it will provide a perfect venue for workshops, events and courses on wildlife and environmental subjects”. COPY ENDS

More information: www.towerregeneration.co.uk for information about Tower Surface Mine

See also: www.hsgplc.co.uk for information about Hargreaves Services plc

NOTES FOR EDITORS

Tower Surface Mine at Hirwaun is a joint venture between Tower Colliery Ltd and Hargreaves Services plc.

The mine is set to extract around 6 million tonnes of over an operating period of around 7 years.

The Tower project has a firm commitment to environmental and ecological improvements: these include the building of an Environmental Resource Centre designed to be available to schools for educational visits and also open to the general public.

Other improvements at Tower will include opening up the old tip and pond area to give local youngsters the opportunity to go fishing, with the associated footpaths constructed using recycled tyres.

Ecological work has included preserving a statutory designated site, the Blaen Cynon Special Area of Conservation, protection for the Marsh Fritillary butterfly, and the eventual opening up of access onto Hirwaun Common.

Tower regeneration has established the Tower Fund for the benefit of the local community. For every tonne of coal extracted at Tower, 44p is earmarked for community projects. To date, the Tower Fund has distributed £160,000 to 91 local projects.

Examples of responses to visitor questionnaires:

Q: Is there anything we’ve forgotten?

A: ‘Nothing: it was perfect already’ (Ellie from Penderyn)

Q: What did you enjoy most today?

A: ‘When we had to build the skeleton. I also met a friend’ (Poppy from Rhigos)

Pupils were asked to rate their happiness level:

24 were happy; 22 were excited; 1 was grumpy!

Q: ‘Would you come back to play here’:

30 said ‘I hope so’; 13 said ‘Yes’; 4 said ‘Maybe’

Q: ‘What activity would you most like’:

14 said ‘fossils’; 12 said ‘a play park’; 10 said ‘fishing’; 6 said ‘cycling’; 5 said ‘picnics’.