Pictured (L/R) are Chef Caroline Young, Cllr Eryl Williams, Llyr Jones Derwydd (Wind Farm committee) and Helen Williams Cadwyn Clwyd

A vibrant village enterprise delivering food and groceries to isolated and vulnerable people in the west of rural Denbighshire through the Covid-19 pandemic has received over £20,000 to boost its services.

Clawddnewydd, between Ruthin and Cerrigydrudion, boasts a shop and a pub, the Glan Llyn, run by local people and they have introduced new outreach services during the current crisis.

They are being helped by a grant from the Brenig Wind Community Benefit Fund which distributes £150,000 a year to community projects in the area through Corwen-based rural regeneration agency Cadwyn Clwyd.

Through lockdown while the pub has been closed its kitchen hasn’t and cook Carolyn Young and her team have been busy preparing hot takeaway meals including those distributed free to vulnerable and isolated people in the community.

The Glan Llyn and the village shop, up the road at the community centre, are staffed by paid teams augmented by volunteers and grocery delivery services have also been organised and a prescription service from Plas Meddyg surgery in Ruthin.

Denbighshire County Councillor Eryl Williams, Chairman of Antur Cae Cymro Village Association, said:

“The community shop and the pub link very well together and they have been working very hard to help people in this rural area get through the pandemic.

“We are providing up to 35 deliveries of boxes of groceries, most of them sourced locally from the likes of the Bakehouse in Ruthin, a butcher in Denbigh and other local suppliers, and we have even delivered newspapers as well.

“Denbighshire County Council have helped with the drivers of the local school minibuses making the deliveries for us.”

The cash from the Brenig Wind Ltd grant will be used to upgrade the services at the Glan Llyn and the shop and will include new linked cash tills, a new cooler for the pub cellar to store real ales properly, a widescreen TV and funding for a planning application for a new toilet block at the pub together with a Co-ordinator for the Shop and Pub.

The Brenig Fund is driven by the 16 wind turbines that are turning on Mynydd Hiraethog around Llyn Brenig and which came on stream 18 months ago to generate enough power for over thirty thousand homes a year.

Helen Williams, of Cadwyn Clwyd, said:

“The project being run from Clawddnewydd is an excellent example of a community coming together to provide and safeguard services in this rural area.

“The Brenig fund is intended to provide benefits to the communities hosting and living with and around the windfarm in Denbighshire and to date £200,000 has been distributed to a range of organisations from village halls to a sailing club.

“It is important that as many people as possible are aware of the opportunities because this a huge opportunity for the communities in and around the Brenig area and we have set up a grants panel of local people drawn from the area to make the decisions on funding.”

The Brenig Wind Ltd Fund Panel is chaired by Llyr Jones, who farms just up the road near Llanfihangel GM, and he said:

“The fund is worth £150,000 a year over 25 years which adds up to fantastic opportunity for the people of these communities that are living with the wind turbines.

“As a committee we meet up to three times a year to review the applications and I believe it’s a very fair system which is about value for money for the people and especially the children of these rural communities.

“We are also looking for these projects to bring local communities together in the way we have seen happen in Clawddnewydd with the shop and the pub and the way people are working together to provide meals and other services.”

David Heelan, of Brenig Wind Ltd said:

‘We are delighted to be able to support local enterprises such as the Glan Llyn which is doing great work in helping the vulnerable and isolated people in the community during a difficult period. Community benefits and assistance are central to the company and we look forward to working with and supporting more local enterprises and groups going forward.”

For more information about Brenig Wind Ltd funds, contact Cadwyn Clwyd on 01490 340500, email: admin@cadwynclwyd.co.uk