Jane Hutt MS visits the Grange Pavilion

Jane Hutt MS, Minister for Social Justice, visited Grange Pavilion on Thursday 9^th December for a tour of the facilities and hear about the details of the redevelopment prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Grange Pavilion Community Centre opened earlier this year and was built to provide residents with their own indoor and outdoor space to support community-led projects that have blossomed in Grangetown.

Ali Abdi, Chair of Grange Pavilion CIO and Community Gateway (CG) Partnership Manager, led the tour and introduced the Minister to Dr Mhairi McVicar (CG Project Lead), Corey Smith (CG Project Manager, Nirushan Sudarsan (Youth Forum Leader), Zara Ali (Hideout Café owner) and Aliyah Jama (Grange Pavilion staff).

Jane was pleased to hear that a Community Facilities grant awarded in 2019 was used to pay for the steel beams in the roof as she was shown around the different areas that are available to hire in the building. Nirushan was pleased to meet the Minister once again, having previously carried out an internship with her, and she was very interested to find out how his studies were progressing and his involvement in leading the activities of Grange Pavilion Youth Forum. Zara provided an update on the Hideout Café on how community cohesion is her main passion with future plans involving games nights and a repair café. Corey and Mhairi provided a Community Gateway update which included a successful funding application to recruit a Grange Gardens Park Ranger and further planning to bring more University activities to Grange Pavilion in 2022.

Academic Lead for the Community Gateway Project Dr Mhairi McVicar said:

"It was a real pleasure to welcome the Minister for Social Justice Jane Hutt to the Grange Pavilion and to be able to demonstrate the real impact of the Community Facilities Grant. This capital grant helped to Grange Pavilion CIO to achieve their ambitions of creating a quality community-led space, and the way in which it is coming to life - including with the Hideout Cafe, Grange Pavilion Youth Forum, local staffing, adult learning, and family activities - were all in full swing during the visit. This Welsh Government funding played such a huge part in making this all possible."

To end of the visit, Jane and her colleagues enjoyed a hot drink with some delicious cakes from the Hideout café.

To find out more about the Grange Pavilion and how the space is being used please visit the Grange Pavilion website.