The Canddo Project is a community wellbeing group set in the beautiful grounds of Panteg House in Griffithstown. Here, people can meet in nature, learn new skills such as DIY, woodworking, crafting and gardening, and make new friends at their weekly warm hub.
It’s also helping to tackle loneliness and promote positive mental health. Canddo’s Men’s Shed offers a safe space for men to talk openly with other men about their feelings over a cuppa, chat and some DIY.
Russell Jones, one of the directors of the project, successfully bid for £1000 from our Pitch4Pounds scheme last year. The money has enabled him to buy a range of tools to use in DIY and woodworking sessions.
We also arranged for Canddo to receive £300 worth of tools, which we purchased from Travis Perkins using our social value fund. The fund supports community projects, sustainability efforts and initiatives that improve well-being – everything that Canddo is about.
Russell said, “We are so grateful to Bron Afon for the Pitch4Pounds funding and to Travis Perkins for their generous donation, which will be put to good use by people who come to us to learn new practical skills or to brush up on what they know already.
“We’ve also set up a lending library of tools – We Canddo a LOT – for the benefit of all the community.”
Miriam Evans is also a director at Canddo and has been working in a “social garden” on the site.
She said, “People come here to find peace, work with their hands and get back to nature. They have told us how great it’s been for their wellbeing, with a real sense of being in the moment.”
One person who has taken part in gardening sessions at Canddo said, “It’s calm here and good for my mental stuff.”
You can tell that this strong sense of community and togetherness is working really well.
We wish Canddo all the very best and will keep in touch to find out how they are getting on.
Do you have any DIY, gardening or household tools you no longer need?
Don’t throw them away – see if you can give them a new home at Canddo! Check out their Facebook page for more info.
You can also find out about their Library of Things here: Canddo library of things
Leave a Reply