Clubs

Website/Gwefan: www.friendsoftcs.com
E-mail/E-bost: friendsoftcs@aol.com

The very successfully Parc Bryn Bach Running Club meet every Thursday evening at 18:30 at the park all abilities catered for. The club train in different groups to accommodate all. The club race at all distances and support all athletic events at the park including the prestigious British Triathlon.
Further information can be found by calling club secretary Clive Cooksey on 01495 722700.

The Tredegar Camera Club has been in existence since the early 1980's, and always warmly receives new members.
Please click on the program below for a full details of all the activities for  late winter 2007/2008.

Kidz R Us

It is a non-profitable organisation, which provides over 170 Tredegar children between the ages of 3 and 19 with weekly dance, singing and drama lessons. It is fast becoming the most popular children’s group in the area. All of the weekly contributions the children pay are fed back into the society and used to develop its resources. The teachers are all professional and work with the children to enable them to regularly perform shows, concerts and pantomimes for the public. They also use the talents they develop to do a lot of fund-raising for other local groups and charities. They have recently secured an opportunity to perform at the Edinburgh Festival in 2006.

Kidz-R-Us have been lucky enough to purchase Park Place Chapel in Georgetown, Tredegar as their own building. Not only will this be the new home for Kidz-R-Us, but they hope with a bit of vision that it will become a Performing Arts centre for all the Children of Tredegar.

Dance and drama classes meet on a Saturday between 10am and 3pm depending on age...turn up at any time for a visit!

or ring 01495 724532 on a Saturday between 10am and 3pm

Singing lessons: Wednesday 6-7pm (7-10yr old), 7-8pm (11yrs-adult)

THE HEADS OF THE VALLEYS GATEWAY CLUB

This club is for Adults with learnig disabilities in the Blaenau Gwent area.
We were formed in September 1988, and at present we have a Membership of 38
with a group of 12 Volunteer Members.  We provide a free bus for Ebbw Vale area and Cover the whole of Tredegar.  Buses start picking up from 5.45pm from Peacehaven, Tredegar then it makes 2 journies touring the town to collect members and volunteers.
We meet every Thursday evening from 6.30  to  8.45pm, at Georgetown Community Center, James Street, Tredegar.  People with a Learning Disability and other related problems come along for a great evening out.  We help members to get more out of their leisure time, instead of just sitting in front of a T.V. (boring).
Every last Thursday in the month we either go to the cinema or go for a meal out.  We have a savings club for Members and the Volunteers.
We have a motto in our club it is Nothing is impossible, I will try.
We are looking for Volunteers, persons over the ae of 16,  ( due to our Volunteers work and family committments, we need more volunteers) Anyone who is currently or in the future who might be taking the care course at Ebbw Vale college might find this  club a great help with their course work  I can assure you that this club is fun, and   everyone is very friendly.
We are a registered Charity.   The Volunteers have an evening our (a meal and a laugh and a joke, as we only all meet at the gateway club, there is a need to be able to meet-up under lass stressful conditions.    I believe that this is why our Gateway Volunteers have been with us for so long,  Myself and one other Volunteer has been with the club from the start, and others have been there for at least 8 or more years.  We must be doing something right.

If you think that you might be able to spare a few hours a week, come along.
or youcan contact  Club Secretary  Joan Price on mobile no. 07812425722   She will be only to pleased to answer your questions about volunteering at our Gateway Club.      

Thanks for reading this and I hope we will be seeing some of you at the Gateway Club soon. 

We are looking to reform a youth band in the town for concert work and to take part in local youth competitions throughout the year . Any players under 18 are welcome to come along and have a blow with us (or play percussion).

We currently have 16 members and are hoping to have 25-30 under-18 ' s to compete in local competitions starting from next year.

Anybody interested should phone Matt on (01495) 303089 or come to the band-room on:-

Mondays 5.30pm - percussion

Mondays 6.00pm - Advanced class

Thursdays 6.15pm - Learner class

Website: www.tredegar.co.uk/littletheatre/

The Society was founded in 1945 by a small group of drama enthusiasts, with rehearsals held in a room at the rear of the Castle Hotel, under the control of the first producer, John Morris.

Initial performances were held at the Workman’s Hall, but soon it was decided to enter drama festivals which were held annually at up to thirty different venues across South Wales.

The first play to travel was “Dangerous Corner” by J. B. Priestly, but with Bert Burrows’ production of “Frieda” by Ronald Miller, the Society became a major winner on the circuit. The most successful play being “Anna Christie” by Eugene O’Neil, with many best acting awards won by Shirley Wring and Ray Yabsley.

Then in 1956, the players felt a need for a home of their own, and nine members made personal loans of £180 each for the purchase of the derelict pub, “The Freemasons’ Vaults” in Coronation Street.

For the next six years, members shared the work of refurbishing the building, whilst continuing to travel to drama festivals. Their prize monies augmented grants from Tredegar Urban District and Monmouthshire Councils and one for £700 from the Caoustie Gulbenkian Foundation.

Eventually on 30th October 1962, The Little Theatre opened with a performance of “Serious Charge” by Philip King. To quote Philip Price, our chairman at that time
“It is the duty of each one of us to preserve the culture of the past, create new horizons in the present and contribute same to the coming generations.”

An example of this was the formation of our Youth group by Sharon James, developed by Pamela Cheung and continuing under the guidance of Mary Evans.

In 1983, the pantomime “Red Riding Hood” was produced by the versatile Gwyneth Jones of Ebbw Vale, which established the tradition of our annual Christmas shows, which were overseen by Basil Jones, one of the nine members who had financially supported the purchase of “The Vaults”

In the ensuing years, the theatre has seen a diversity of productions, including plays, serious, romantic, comic and farcical. Music Hall and vaiety shows have been enthusiastically received by our loyal audiences.

In 1990 we were delighted to accept an invitation to perform at Theatre Canada’s Festival 90 held in Regina Saskatchewan, by the host chairman Margaret Woodward, who had developed her interest in drama, as a girl in Tredegar.
We elected to perform “Family Planning” by Frank Vickery, the Welsh playwright, who has since become an active patron of the society.

Another highlight was our successful application in 1996, to the Art’s Council of Wales for a grant to upgrade the theatre with new seating, electrics, a balcony bar, hearing loop system and wheelchair access.

The society continues to provide live theatre in the spirit of its original objectives set out in 1945. Its future depends on the support of the people of north Gwent and the active and continued participation of successive enthusiasts.

We meet in St John Ambulance Hall, Tredegar on Sunday evening between 4pm and 7pm.

Casualties Union (CU) was founded by Eric Claxton on 22nd November, 1942, to provide an organization that would look after the interests of volunteers who were trained as casualties.

In early 1942 rescue operations were looked upon as unskilled pick and shovel work, just digging out bodies from piles of rubble. To counteract this a course was set up for Local Authority Rescue Services where acting, made-up casualties were introduced to demonstrate as vividly as possible the need for skill in reaching injured people, assessing and tending to their wounds and handling them gently, but with sufficient firmness.

In November 1942, it was decided to offer the opportunity of training as a casualty to the Surrey Civil Defence Service.  Some 350 attended the inaugural meeting, 120 of whom became involved in the birth of Casualties Union. 

Early in 1943, the SCCDRS took over training Civil Defence Rescue Leaders from neighbouring counties, as well as military personnel from both the British and Canadian armies. In early 1944, the SCCDRS moved exclusively to training members of the Allied Armies.   During the war all members of the CU were also members of the Civil Defence, but after the dissolution of the Civil Defence and subsequently the  SCCDRS in 1945 the necessity of the CU was questioned.  However, medical advisers pressed the CU to continue in order to serve the needs of peace-time first aid training. Unfortunately, those members who looked upon casualty duties as simply part of their war-time Civil Defence work, resigned.  But this left a dedicated nucleus of about 100 volunteers who continued to develop their techniques for use in peace-time accident training. 

It was no easy task to project the concept of Casualties Union among the voluntary aid societies in a country where all were weary with the privations of five years of wartime conditions. But the idea had been born and was cherished by those who had made it
their special care.  The principles of training the acting/reacting casualty needed  to be carried forward and a satisfactory method was devised. It was, and still is, essential that the standards of realism established at its foundation should mark the continuing development of the Casualties Union.

The C.U. depends for its funds on the financial support given by its members, friends and organizations that use its services.  Funds are spent on training, dissemination of information and research into casualty simulation techniques. 

Donations, both large and small, are most welcome.

1st Tredegar Brownies and Guides meet on Wednesday evening - Brownies 5- 6:30 pm, Guides - 6:45- 8:15 pm, Rainbows meet on Thursday nights 6-7 pm. Helpers are always wanted, please contact 01495 717120