Royal visit to Rhyl
By Sported | 12th May 2021
Last Thursday, one of the groups in the Sported network, Brighter Futures Rhyl, in Denbighsire welcomed a very special visitor to come and see how they have been adapting over the last year to support the community.
The community centre, which was set up to support local children, young people, families and older generations, was put forward by the Steve Morgan Foundation for the visit and was chosen by The Duke of Cambridge out of 38 groups.
The Prince visited for over an hour spending time with staff and viewing all aspects of what they deliver. Brighter Futures has a range of provisions including Men’s and Women’s Sheds, a toddler group and a youth group which includes sports and a meal. The special visitor brought much excitement to the group.
“We thought it was a joke at first and didn’t believe it, then we were really nervous until he arrived and got settled. It was exciting and terrifying at the same time, we were all very humbled and still can’t actually believe it”
-Shane Owen – Brighter Futures Group Leader
During lockdown, the community centre has provided support throughout, with virtual sessions, sending activity and food packs to homes, whilst continuing to renovate the building.
The facility used to house the community centre used to be a pub but was taken over in 2019 and the team have been transforming it into the facility it is today.
Sported has supported the group along the way in a number of different ways, but most recently reviewing their business plan to apply for funding to purchase the building.
On hearing there is a Men’s Sheds group on Anglesey, the duke said he was keen to return following his time with the RAF on the island.
“I was really honoured to have been invited to support Brighter Futures on such an important occasion for them, they absolutely deserved this as testament to their extremely hard work over many years to support their local community. They did an excellent job on the day and it was great to see how well Prince William engaged with the young people and the group leaders.“
Debra Barklin – Development Officer at Sported