A POWYS playgroup is taking over a charity shop for a week later this month in a bid to boost funds to help develop its new premises.

Rhayader Under-5s pre-school will occupy the Cefnllys Charity Shop in Llandrindod Wells for a week from Saturday, April 22, where they will be selling clothes, toys, books and more in a bid to raise funds to develop their new home, which was opened last September.

“From 1pm on April 22, Rhayader Under-5s will be running Cefnllys Charity Shop in Llandrindod for a week,” the group announced in a post on its Facebook page.

“This will be an awesome opportunity to raise money for our setting, but we need your help. If you have any clothes, toys, books or anything else that we could fill our shop with then please gather them together and bring them along to the shop during the week we are there.

OTHER NEWS:

“If you've got some goodies but can't transport them to Llandrindod please bring to Rhayader Under 5s on Friday, April 21. Any questions please message us.”

The opening of the new premises last September was a huge relief for organisers at the pre-school, who had been fighting for four years to find a permanent home. They had been looking for one following the initial sale and subsequent fire at Dolgerddon Hall in July 2018.

Ever since, they had endured years of uncertainty and moving between temporary accommodation, before work finally began on their own home in May last year. The new purpose-built building was finished a few months later and opened in September.

County Times:

Since the sale of Dolgerddon, Rhayader Under-5s had been temporarily housed in Rhayader Primary School and then moved into the cricket pavilion in September 2019 for what was supposed to be a 6-month emergency period until a new building was built on the school site for them.

However, due to a significant rise in pupil numbers at the primary school, the planned building work never materialised and, instead, Cylch Rhaeadr had a new building built for them in the summer of 2021, while the under-5s were left in the cricket pavilion. 

Want to stay up to date with all the latest stories from Powys? Click here to sign up for our morning and daily email newsletters and click on the + for the ‘Morning Briefing’ and the 'Daily Catch-Up'.

The group’s committee were told by Powys County Council that they would have to remain in their temporary building permanently due to funding issues, despite the fact the space was not deemed adequate or suitable for a pre-school setting. 

The committee and former Rhayader county councillor, Kelvyn Curry, fought the decision and their determination finally paid off when a 24-place setting was finally given the green light.

R G Stones started work on the new building on May 19 and completed it in time to start the new academic year.