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Development History

Development History

The idea of Menter Fachwen came about jointly between a group of friends living in Fachwen on the edge of Snowdonia. The four; Mary Jones, Karen Wood, Dick Jones and Simon Higgins were all interested in developing an enterprise for their local area and all believed that people with disabilities should have equal chances to participate.

Dick and Si presented the idea to people from the area in 1988 with the support of Hywel Evans a key figure in the development of Antur Waunfawr in the next valley. Very quickly people joined a steering group and as the project established they became Company Directors.
The group bought Bryn Peris a derelict cottage and 2 acres of land in Fachwen and in 1989 Si along with Cliff Jones, Phil Jones and Len Jones started work on its restoration. For Cliff, Phil and Len this was their first chance to get stuck into real work.


In 1996, Menter bought Ty Llundain in the centre of Cwm y Glo. Again this building was in a derlict condition and work started to put in a main office base, a cafe and in 2001 an IT suite.

In 2002, Menter developed its 'Green Works' operations in the Old Station site in Cwm y Glo and set up its joinery and horticulture base on the site.

In 2005 the Community Arts and Crafts unit was set up at the Caban in Brynrefail.
2006 saw the completion of E.B's Coffee Shop and bakery in the centre of Deiniolen.

The latest development is to work in partnership with Asha Bhavan in Kottayam, Kerala, India. Initially the plan is to support the appointment of a Development Officer (October 2006) and to then work together to develop joint ventures.