Well, what can I say about the year we have all had! challenging is one word for it however in a way it has also been rewarding? You may find that strange to hear, however we have seen our community come together in a way that it probably has not since the 2nd World War.
I always knew that Resolven was a special place but when we decided to launch a community helpline at the start of the pandemic to ensure that no-one was left on their own without being able to get shopping or medication etc: we were overwhelmed by the number of residents that came forward to offer their help with distributing the leaflets and putting themselves forward as volunteers to help others in the community. I would like to personally thank Alun Morgan who manned the telephone helpline with me and Greg Williams, who provided us with the unique telephone number that we were able to use. Such is the strength of our community, neighbours looked out for each other, and the helpline was not inundated with calls, however we were there for those that needed us.
Seeing the community come together as I have said, was rewarding but we cannot get away from the fact that we lost a lot of our villagers to this cruel disease, especially during the second wave, and as I stated in a previous meeting, we will remember them all in some way, and this is something I would like to ensure happens as soon as it can in the new council year.
Although being in lock down for a large part of the year, we have still been able to keep the council, running even if we did have a few technical issues with using technology! I would like to thank Cheryl for all the hard work she has continued to do for us during this difficult time, and for ensuring that she always had our safety in mind when making her decisions.
The park is very much at the heart of our community, and it is lovely to see it so well used by young and old alike. It was terrible to see it closed during had 1st lock down but we had to ensure the safety of all. When it was safe to re-open, we did and even during this year we have been able to make improvements such as the disabled path and new surface under the swings. I would like to thank Aylwin for all the hard work he puts into the park, with the support of the parks committee and volunteers, also for the ongoing work he is doing to ensure we not only have the wind farm in Melin Court, but that we also maintain between us and Clyne and Melin Court Community Council, control of the funds that will hopefully be generated.
I am still relatively new to the Councillor role and I would like to take this opportunity to thank Trefor for being my font of all knowledge, to whom I can go and say “Tref can I do this?” to which I must confess he normally says, “best not”.
Another sadness we also suffered was the sad passing of Councillor Rob Roberts who was a very committed Councillor who would always do the best for Abergarwed.
I would like to thank all the council for the continuing help and support you give to our Community, and all this done on a voluntary basis.
I wish you all well for the upcoming year and look forward to working with you to continue delivering the best for Resolven making it a great place to live.
