PEOPLE in Rhayader who had “fallen out of love” with their local park pitched in to show it a bit of tender loving care earlier this month.

The last time a public appeal went out to help spruce up Waun Capel Park, just four volunteers turned up. This time, however, 40 people showed up in a show of force, leading to the park undergoing a mini transformation.

Waun Capel Park is a picturesque spot but has been chastised recently for being outdated. The children’s play equipment is in need of replacing, fencing and hedges are in need of repair and litter and dog waste have become problematic.

County Times: Locals turned out in force to help clean up Waun Capel Park Locals turned out in force to help clean up Waun Capel Park (Image: Paul Roberts)

Paul Roberts decided he wanted to do something about it, so put out an appeal on Facebook in the hope that some of the people complaining about the demise of the park would donate some time to help clean it up.

Paul said he was “overwhelmed” by the amount of people that showed up for the community clean-up day, on Saturday, September 16.

“The Waun Capel Park Trust put out an appeal a while ago for volunteers to help come clean up the park… four people showed up,” said Paul.

“Subsequently, over time, people had quite rightly bemoaned the state of the park. With each damaged piece of play equipment removed but not replaced and with a fence in a terrible state of repair, the park becomes overgrown, aging and uncared for.

“A few of us, including members of Rhayader Town Council, our county councillor and a few volunteers, got together with the trust and agreed we would try to raise funds to get a new park.

“But, how do you apply for funding when it appears the community have fallen out of love with their park?

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“So, we decided to have an impromptu volunteer clean up with only three days’ notice. I was overwhelmed; over 40 people turned up and got to cleaning with gusto.

“The improvement was beautiful to behold and, just as importantly, new people got to know each other and many people signed up to be future volunteers.

“There were even more people who couldn’t make it who responded and offered to help out in the future, either with fundraising or cleaning.”

The declining state of the play park and surrounding area had provoked debate among residents on social media over recent months, with many pointing out that other local parks are thriving, including a brand-new venue in Llanyre, which was revamped thanks to a grant and the hard work of villagers.

Rhayader ingeniously began marketing itself as ‘the Outdoors Capital of Wales’ in the summer of 2021, yet one complaint said the state of the Waun Capel Park play area would “drive anyone indoors”.

County Times: Locals turned out in force to help clean up Waun Capel Park Locals turned out in force to help clean up Waun Capel Park (Image: Paul Roberts)

“The picture you see (of all the volunteers) tells you that the Rhayader community do love their park and will work together to rejuvenate it,” added Paul.

“A lot of hard work in a short amount of time led to a transformation that was really satisfying.

“Yes, there is more to do, but I’m quite looking forward to it and meeting up with everyone again.”

If you want to help during further clean-up days, or with the development of Waun Capel Park in general, volunteer forms and questionnaires are available to complete at The Arches and Rhayader Leisure Centre.

You can also help Paul and Co with fundraising by donating to their Waun Capel Parc JustGiving page, at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/WaunCapelParc, which is hoping to raise £10,000.