With the support of Brechfa windfarm, Calon Tysul leisure centre in Llandysul, have set up activities for people ages 60+ as well as teenagers with the aim to help people socialise, keep active and prevent loneliness.

Following a decision by the council 4/5 years ago, to close the leisure centre which ran alongside the community-run swimming pool, this was then taken over by the community and rebranded as Calon Tysul. The swimming pool, which was built in the 1970’s, by locals who raised funding and recruited everyone they could to help build the brick building, is part of a film project. This involved research into the history of the building and the Llandysul community.  The new Calon Tysul is continuing the message, helping those in the community by offering a safe and welcoming space to exercise, work and meet people.

The Calon Lân programme encourages people across Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion to engage in physical activities such as swimming, yoga, gymnastics and other fitness. There is also the opportunity to learn first aid and lifesaving skills through special courses at the centre as well as craft workshops and more.

Matt Adams is manager of Calon Tysul and explains how the programme started:

“We wanted to offer activities for two groups which we felt we weren’t reaching, teenager and over 60’s. We put in a grant application to Brechfa windfarm and received 3 years of funding for this project.”

Matt adds that the effect of Covid meant they hadn’t set out what they achieved to, but thankfully the windfarm allowed them to continue receiving the second year of funding even though they were unable to operate. This will continue until next summer when the aim is for the project to continue, being self-sustainable.

The project has attracted people from across Carmarthenshire as well as Ceredigion and Matt explains that their bilingual approach may have something to do with this.

“We have a swim school for children which sees 50 classes a week. This has grown from 50 kids to 300 now. All but 3 of our classes our held through the medium of Welsh.”

Llandysul, being a rural area in the heart of the Welsh community, sees a majority of first language Welsh speakers in its vicinity. As Matt notes, being comfortable in the way the classes are delivered will help with confidence.

“Our lessons start from baby age in our bubbles classes, to the 2–3-year-old splash programme and then independent classes from aged 4. Delivering our classes in their first language can really help the confidence as they are splashing around in the pool.”

There are just a handful of leisure centres across West Wales that offer classes through the Welsh medium, and most only offer a few classes.

Some of the specialist sessions, on offer through the Calon Lân programme, are the walking football for over 50’s, chair aerobics and low intensity circuits for those less mobile to keep active.

Matt adds,

“These are led by specialist instructors who are sympathetic to their needs.”

There are also free swimming sessions for 0-17 year olds in the school holidays, and Llandysul Paddlers young guns – teaching young people paddling skills in the swimming pool with Llandysul paddle coaches.

Their slogan Calon Lân, Calon Iach, Calon Tysul literally means Pure heart, healthy heart, heart of Llandysul. It was designed by Eisteddfod winner Tudur Dylan Jones.

Calon Lân, of course is the central lyric to the Welsh Hymn written by Daniel James and composed by John Hughes which has been performed across the nation by Katherine Jenkins, and often at national events such as Rugby matches and large group gatherings.

Matt adds,

“The slogan is all about what we do. We want to improve people’s well being. It’s also about the way we interact with our customers, openly and friendly. It’s at the centre of what we do.”

As Calon Tysul is an independent charity, they are not subsidised and receive a small amount of money from the community council to help with running costs. They rely on income from people using the facilities and taking part in the activities on offer.

Matt notes that the community have been very supportive, particularly during the lockdown, when they were unable to offer activities and memberships were unused.

“We wrote to our regular subscribers and members to offer them the option to cancel their memberships or to donate part of their memberships to us. More than half of our members continued to make payments as donation over the 9 months we were closed.”

They were also keen to use their own free time, during working from home and then being furloughed, to help others and give back to the community.

“Our 5 contracted staff worked with local organisations such as the foodbank and Dolen Teifi (the welsh bus scheme) to coordinate people to volunteer to help people. We had people giving cards out offering help to anyone that needed it in the area.”

 He adds,

“We couldn’t provide our usual service but wanted to show that we were still there to help in whatever way we could. It was lovely to see such community spirit.”

They are keen to spread the word that everyone is welcome and the introduction of their pop-up café encourages groups to spend time with others after their sessions.

“We haven’t got a café at the centre, so we have used our meeting space to create a pop-up café for those to use after their sessions. For many, as well as fitness and well being it’s also the social aspect that they come for. We have seen many people stay after their classes and spend an hour or so. Obviously, we have to limit numbers now due to Covid restrictions.”

In future, Matt and the team at Calon Tysul hope to continue their great work and help to build on community health, well being and engagement. Matt notes how important the facility is to their rural community

“It’s extremely important to have Calon Tysul in a rural area.  People are used to travelling to towns / cities for shopping etc, but I think it is essential that local services such as leisure centres, community hubs, libraries exist in smaller towns and villages like ours.  For some people, there are quite a lot of barriers to participation (travel, health, money, lack of confidence), so it makes it much easier if there are good facilities and a warm welcome in a local facility with supportive staff on their doorstep.

This is not to mention the reduction in traffic and carbon production by getting people to walk or cycle to a facility nearby rather than driving for 30 minutes to Carmarthen.  We’re also linking in with Dolen Teifi who run a fleet of community vehicles to help people who live further out be able to get to our centre more easily.”

He also notes the huge benefits for the mental health of people attending the centre for various activities.

“It’s definitely helped people in terms of mental health, loneliness and general well-being.  Lots of our users are over 60 and tell us that the activities are suitable for their abilities and that the friendly instructors that we have are really positive.

One lady, Liz Jones from Croeslan, recently told us that following her husband’s passing a few years ago, Calon Tysul has become a really important part of her life and she has made lots of new friends by attending classes here.  She was also told by her doctor that she recovered from a recent neck injury much quicker than expected, as she had improved her fitness by attending classes with us.

We also have a new 16-year-old member of staff who says that having access to the pool has really helped her with her mental health and her interest in swimming has led to attending training courses for lifeguarding and swim teaching.  She has begun to work with us in the evenings and weekends as a lifeguard and swim teacher.”

Find out more by visiting their website.

There is a viewing available of the Plethu Film coming up on the 4/12/21.  Three screenings are taking place at different venues during the day. More information about the Plethu project via the Facebook page.

People can book in to see the screenings of the five Plethu short films via the booking website and searching for ‘Plethu’.

The five films were produced by five different community groups in Llandysul; Calon Tysul, Llandysul Paddlers, Ffynnon Church, Plantos, Yr Ardd.

The project was funded by Arts Council Wales and was coordinated by a film-maker, Lleucu Meinir, Ffynnon and Calon Tysul.

[Images credit: Lleucu Meinir]