Janis, from Cynon Valley Organic Adventures (CVOA), told us about the fantastic work they do and the impact Storm Bert had on the organisation.

What is Cynon Valley Organic Adventures?

The site was taken over in 2018, and after work in clearing the land for use, CVOA was born. The site was overgrown and hadn’t been touched in 7 years, with brambles covering the entire grounds. Having never gardened before and without a penny to start the project, with no grants in the first year, Janis turned the plot of land into a college. She now teaches environmental sustainability, climate change, outdoor learning for teacher training, as well as arts and crafts. Their main focus is on teaching young people who don’t thrive in mainstream education, providing them employability placements to help get them into work. They also have two lovely pigs Oreo and Caramel, chickens, a gift shop with hand crafted items, and their homegrown veg available to purchase to keep the organisation sustainable. 

CVOA has successfully achieved self-sustainability, now owning the site, rather than renting and have built a sustainable future for generations to take over the organisation. They have created a network of partners, with lots of shared skills and resources in the third sector. They have worked with a variety of partners in the past 6 years, to support the community, including Careers Wales, ITEC, ACT, Interlink RCT, Transport for Wales, Cardiff University, RCT council, and secondary schools.

When CVOA was established, it became the first place to do wellbeing places through schools, providing a place for young people to learn skills outside of a conventional classroom. Their college has become such a success in RCT, that they are now expanding to a second site in Powys replicating the same project. 

How have Interlink RCT’s small grants helped you?

CVOA have received support from Interlink in the past in the form of grants which helped them purchase equipment that allows you to hear the frequency of the plants through music and has funded their new cooking and crafts sessions. 

Most recently, they were hit hard by the recent flooding caused by Storm Bert which left their site 4ft deep in water, reaching halfway up the walls of their Christmas grotto. They had water damage to their cabin, which meant many items had to be replaced, and their vegetables and growing gardens were left destroyed. They applied for Interlink’s Community Flood Fund to replace their learning resources, which took the pressure off, so they did not have to struggle to replace everything themselves and have now been able to open their Christmas grotto in time for their event. 

“I think that RCT is very lucky to have a supportive third sector network, because all of the organisations work closely together, which enables us to provide long-term support and provision to young people”