Never Judge a House by it’s Cover, Llanbradach Halfway Housing.

Is a documenarty based on how a close knit community came together to help projects that they first thought brought a dark cloud over there small vilage.

The Brad is a close knit community and has suffered some devasting events, too three young girls who have been abused in the past 18 months and not forgetting the murder of Gwen Parry, all of which were innocent people. A Llanbradach resident said ” You don’t hear of crimes like these in larger towns so why are these incidents happening in such a small, quite village”.

After the recent sex attack on an 11 year old girl from Llanbradach caused fears for the villagers and wanted questions answered about two particular houses situated in Llanbradach.

One resident Sally Reardon, created a facebook page to get the awearness and support from other villagers to get these houses shut down. Within a week the page was a hit and having 670 members joining the group and leaving their thoughts and comments on the matter. The Council beame awear of this facebook page and called for a meeting to clear these questions and concerns that the Llanbradach community had.

The meeting was chaired by Colin Mann and there were representatives present from both Jubilee House and Garth Owen, as well as Local Police Officers.
Colin Mann opened the meeting by thanking everyone for coming and introduced the representatives and the police.
First to speak was Supt. John Burley. He started by giving us an update on the recent attack in Llanbradach Park. He stated that on 6pm on the day of the assault, a man was arrested and detained in custody. He is now at the stage of Commital Proceedings and he will remain in custody until the case is taken to Crown Court. He stated that although a man has been arrested, it is still vitally important that anybody who has any information about the attack.
He went on to thank the passer by who raised the alarm and said that it made a huge difference to identifying the attacker and also that it prevented anything further happening. He stated that there is no connection whatsoever between this attack and either of the projects in Llanbradach.

Next to speak was Mr Greg Thomas who is the Head Of Services at Gofal Cymru. He said that he was very pleased to be at the meeting and understands the concerns regarding Jubilee House. He told us that Gofal Cymru has been in existance for 20 years, providing support to people within communities covering South West and South East Wales. He said that there are 4 self contained flats in Jubilee House, these flats are offered to people who need support in getting back into the community. The people that live in these flats are there for approximately 2 years. He said that Social Services and Health Professionals assess the people who live there and ensure that they are well enough to live without staff presence on site 24/7. He went on to tell us that out of the 13 people who have ever lived at Jubilee House, 12 of them were from Llanbradach. He said that he is very happy to work with the community and to help them understand what Jubilee House is about.

Colin Mann then introduced Ms Frances Beecher who is the Chief Executive of Llamau. Ms Beecher said that Llamau (steps Progression), has over 23 years experience in providing services for people who become homeless. Garth Owen was taken over by Llamau 10 years ago as it needed 24hr manning. Garth Owen provides temporary accommodation for young people with support needs. She said that there are a maximum of 6 people living there at any one time. She gave some examples of people who had lived there over the past year who had all gone on to gain qualifications or employment and who had succeeded in making something of themselves. She said that the majority of the people who stay in Garth Owen are from the local community and that they have either been in care or been made homeless. Llamau tries to replace the family they have lost for whatever reason and to give them support and encouragement to go further and to do well in their lives. She said that if anyone has any concerns regarding Garth Owen that there is always someone to contact who will listen. She said that Llamau fully accepts that the people of Llanbradach have the right to live their lives without disturbances from Garth Owen and that any bad behaviour is totally unacceptable. She finished by saying that Garth Owen provides the community with something, it provides young people with a place to live and to be given support. It is not a problem, but a solution.

After this, Colin Mann opened the meeting to questions. A lot of questions were aimed at the police officers who answered as best they could and encouraged us all to attend the PACT meetings from now on so that we can raise any issues we may have with them directly.

Everybody who attended took something from this meeting and the majority of people who attended, left feeling a lot more positive than they had when they arrived. Different people are entitled to have their own views.A lot of villagers felt alot happier now that they fully understand how the 2 projects work.  And had no idea that Jubilee House and Garth Owen only helped local people. The community then descided instead of being agianst the two houses they were going to support them as they were a part of their village.

To Be Continued…….