For a small town in South Wales, Port Talbot has a remarkable number of acting superstars hailing from its streets, with Michael Sheen, Richard Burton and Sir Anthony Hopkins just a few of the globally known names who were born and raised in the area. But now with its large steel works, Port Talbot’s principal employer teetering on the edge of closure, a CIC, Raspberry Creatives is striving hard to keep uphold the town’s artistic traditions, delivering arts and crafts and performance that build community cohesion, skills, confidence and more. Our Head of Communications Luke Upton this week caught up with Louise Murray who along with Stacey Salter is a Volunteer Director of Raspberry Creatives, to learn more about how their work is increasingly important than ever for the town. They currently have an active fundraiser, so read on about their essential work and donate using the link at the bottom if you can.

Luke Upton (LU): I know how busy you are, so thanks for the time today. Could we start by giving our readers a little introduction to the work of Raspberry Creatives CIC and the community in which you serve?

Louise Murray (LM): No worries Luke, Raspberry Creatives Community Events ( @Raspberrybazaa1 ) is a Community Interest Company (CIC) Limited by Guarantee with an asset lock and charitable aims. We are based in Port Talbot and work throughout the South Wales Valleys in communities which are among the 15% most deprived as measured by the Welsh Government’s Multiple Indices of Deprivation Index. Our charitable aims are to provide activities which benefit the people of the South Wales Valleys particularly those who face multiple barriers to accessing creative activities.

We do this by delivering a wide range of arts and crafts, performance, circus, play and social activities in community venues and open spaces. We use these creative activities to build community, improve wellbeing, increase skills and confidence and encourage an appreciation of our diverse communities, history, heritage and environment. We are particularly interested in promoting community cohesion, including marginalised groups, encouraging positive parenting and inter-generational learning, and providing positive creative experiences for future generations. We pro-actively seek out partnerships with statutory services, other community groups, support services and community venues as we believe that sharing resources, learning and working together is the best way to build strong communities and increase access to services for all.

The communities of the South Wales Valleys have long faced multiple barriers and social problems, from the decline of the coal industry to austerity service cuts, Covid-19 lockdowns and the cost-of-living crisis. This is now to be further added to by the loss of 3,000 jobs at our main employer Tata Steel in 2024. In 2003 a Welsh Government Report concluded that the Valleys were ‘a distressed area unique in Great Britain for the depth and concentration of its problems’. Unfortunately, since then the situation has worsened further with the closure of many services such as branch libraries, play schemes, youth clubs and community buildings such as the Miner’s Welfare Halls.

Cuts to public transport have left many of the rural communities isolated with very little in the way of services. The Covid-19 lockdowns saw the demise of many local businesses and a rise in unemployment as well as increasing social isolation and a mental health crisis, with services unable to cope with demand. In recent years, the cost-of-living crisis has seen families living in poverty with reliance on food banks, clothing banks and emergency support services increasing rapidly. To add 3,000 job losses to this situation will impact everyone in the community and there is currently a lot of anxiety about the future.

LU: What does the extreme uncertainty about the future of the Tata Steel plant do for the people you help support?

LM: Currently the whole community is on edge and uncertain about the future of the town. Everyone we speak to talks about the closure of the blast furnaces and the subsequent loss of jobs. The ramifications are so wide ranging, not only directly for the employees affected but for their families, local businesses, local services and the whole community. School leavers would normally be considering an apprenticeship at Tata Steel or studying towards a qualification which would equip them for a career in the steel industry, but this is an area now unavailable to them. We collaborate with many local organisations including Workways who help people facing barriers to work.

With so many steel work employees retraining and looking for work, not only are such services overloaded but the search for jobs is so much harder for everyone. This has a knock-on effect on local businesses as people are worried about making ends meet and less money is going into the local economy. We already have lots of empty shops and businesses are closing on a regular basis. We are seeing an increase in anti-social behaviour in the town centre and businesses withdraw and venues close. All of this has a detrimental effect on the mental health of everyone in the community.

One of the ways we want to help is to use arts and social activities to hold on to the rich history and culture of the area, to maintain some Pride in Place and social cohesion - if we lose that then our community will go under. We must give people hope and make sure that everyone feels there is somewhere they can go for support, fellowship and help when they need it. One of our big tasks is to ensure that parents are supported through this difficult time so that future generations can get the best possible start and our town can thrive again.

LU: You have an appeal currently open for a community Artspace, can you tell some more about and what donations would support?

LM: The ArtSpace is at heart a community space, based in an old town centre nightclub which has been closed up for over a year. We are bringing decades of living, working and listening to the local community to this project and involving as many local people, groups and services as possible. We aim to respond to the changing needs of our community and fill gaps in services through collaborating in innovative ways. We are using social media, in person meetings, surveys and feedback to ensure that the services we offer are what people really want and need and all build towards our goal of being a support net for everyone who needs it. We are currently developing our programme of events in anticipation of opening. We have lots of plans - Dungeons and Dragons and games nights are already getting booked up, with lots of people telling us that the social aspect of being able to meet like-minded people is vital to their wellbeing.

We are collaborating with WISA - Welsh Inclusion Sports Association to host a weekly social night for their football players with learning disabilities. We are starting a drop in craft club in collaboration with a crochet teacher who runs a club in the valleys and has people wanting the same in the town centre. We will be running our free playscheme and family activity sessions. Just today, we met with staff from Swansea University to discuss collaborating on an art project which will preserve memories and heritage of the Steel Works, hopefully resulting in a published book. We will be hosting exhibitions of local artists work, craft fairs and local business fairs. We have applied for funding to be a 'Warm Hub' space where anyone struggling with fuel poverty can come and enjoy a hot drink, warmth, company and activities. We are planning drop-in play sessions for non-resident parents so that families have somewhere warm, welcoming and free to play and spend time together.  We are in the process of setting up collaborations to be able to make available surplus food and clothing to those who need it through our Community Share Shelves, and we will provide a borrow service of books, puzzles, play equipment etc. To make this happen we need funds to carry out repairs, renovations and buy furniture and equipment as well as to meet our overheads.

LU: How important is the support you’ve received from Localgiving and National Grid?

LM: Our Community Matters Fund grant from National Grid and Localgiving in 2023 for our Active Families project was vital to our growth as an organisation, it has really allowed us to reach so many more people and brought us into contact with the people who need us most. The feedback we had from the project was amazing and really cemented for us that our approach to community work is so desperately needed in our area. Parents told us that being able to take part in activities as a family was so beneficial to their relationships. Just being able to relax and have fun together, along with the fact that the activities were free and inclusive, opened wellbeing classes up to people who had insurmountable barriers such as childcare, poverty and anxiety. So thank you very much!

We have been awarded funding from Playworks via our local authority to deliver a Playscheme in 10 venues around Neath Port Talbot and so many of the 100 or so families who have registered so far came through our Active Families project. We are so pleased that we are able to continue our work with these families and their support means so much to us. We can't wait to welcome them into our new town centre venue for more fun and community! One of our most requested activities is Bollywood Dance after our teacher Sarita brought her wonderful warm, inclusive dance fitness classes to our Active Families sessions. We will definitely be hosting Sarita again at our new venue and reaching more people through dance.

LU: You’ve done a fantastic job in recent years, in some challenging circumstances is there one thing in particular that makes you especially proud? 

LM: The thing we love the most is that we know our previous projects, including your Active Families grant, have resulted in some long term friend groups in the communities we have worked in. We here from people who regularly meet up with friends they met at our sessions and some of those are now involved in their local PTAs, Community Councils etc. This is real success for us - we aim to ignite that spark in people who may have previously been isolated, bringing them together through fun activities and helping to build the confidence needed to nurture stronger communities.

LU: Brilliant, funding aside, what would most help you grow?

LM:  Volunteers! We are volunteers ourselves as Directors and we always need more pairs of hands! Whether as a one off to help us decorate or put-up shelves or regular volunteers who want to come and serve coffee, provide a welcome for people, fundraise or teach arts and crafts, we really have roles for everyone. We are a community organisation, run by the community for the community and we believe everyone has skills to share and a role to play.

LU: Thank you for sharing your story, you are doing some important work which I think will only become more important as Port Talbot faces an uncertain future. Please see below for fundraiser.

------> Support the Artspace fundraiser by clicking here – even a small amount can make a big difference.