Heol-y-Cyw Digital Hub

The project is a pilot study that aims to bring broadband into Heol Y Cyw Welfare Hall and make it a digital hub for the community.  This hub will offer digital inclusion through providing training and innovative approaches to home schooling and home working.

Turning our Welfare Hall into a digital hub is a unique pilot project in rural Bridgend. We are unaware of anyone else doing anything similar.  In fact, it is the physical remoteness of Heol Y Cyw that creates the need for the provision of hyper-local digital services within the community.

The hall is a good size and currently used for dance classes and community groups.  It is central in the village. By installing broadband and WiFi the hall will become a modern digital resource that all the residents of the village can access.

Most of rural Bridgend should be able to access a community building by walking or cycling. The project aims to be an exemplar for those communities to show them how a community building can be turned into a digital hub. The report on the project will be publicly available and will be used as a case study and example of good practice from the Thriving Rural Community Fund. 

Through the report other communities can learn from the mistakes and successes of the project. They will learn what activities work and which don’t. The project will demonstrate new innovative ways to engage with resident’s that are home schooling and working from home, and hope others will benefit from the sharing of that learning.