New Neath community comes together to celebrate Summer at Coed Darcy

Communities across St Modwen’s developments in Wales came together last weekend to mark the start of the Summer and to celebrate the Jubilee.

Over 300 residents gathered across Glan Llyn in Newport and Coed Darcy in Neath Port Talbot for the events, which were organised by developer, St. Modwen.

The Mayor of Newport, Councillor Martyn Kellaway, opened the event at Glan Llyn, where residents enjoyed a community picnic in the Western Park, bringing snacks such as finger sandwiches and summer cakes.

The community took part in fun activities throughout the day, trying their hands at classic British games such as Jenga, Connect 4 and giant snakes and ladders and enjoyed a performance by a live DJ, while children were entertained by a balloon artist and a Butterfly stilt-walker.

Many residents wore fancy dress and enjoyed having their faces painted as part of the festivities.

Residents across both events also took part in pudding competitions, where bakers from across the communities presented their best sweet creations and competed to win a top prize of a £75 Lakeland voucher – donated by St. Modwen.

At Coed Darcy, the community came together for a picnic-style party in the park, and took part in activities including giant games and colouring in the Queen’s crown on the activity table.

Local rock’n’roll band, the Rockerleles, provided entertainment throughout, including sing-alongs to many rock’n’roll favourites to the delight of the guests, along with balloon shows from local balloon-artist Gizmo.

St. Modwen is the master developer behind Glan Llyn, which is transforming the former Llanwern Steelworks into a high quality and sustainable community development set within a landscape brimming with nature. The development will deliver three new lakes, as well as extensive parkland across more than 80 acres, providing vital habitats for species native to the nearby Wentlooge Levels, including waterfowl, reed-bed nesters and woodland animals.

Over 850 homes have been delivered to date at Glan Llyn, alongside community facilities including a primary school, pub, and a park. There are also footpaths and cycle routes throughout the development, enabling schoolchildren and residents to enjoy the nature on their doorstep.

Previously the Llandarcy Oil Refinery, Coed Darcy is another former industrial site being transformed by St. Modwen into a thriving new community, with 300 homes delivered to date. This year, St. Modwen has brought forward a new masterplan for Coed Darcy, which would deliver up to 2,000 new sustainable and low-carbon homes, extensive green spaces, a school, community facilities and active travel networks across the development.

Lucinda Clason-Thomas, resident portfolio manager at St. Modwen, said: “It has been wonderful to see residents across our developments come together to celebrate this momentous national event and see in the start of summer together. Following the success of our spring events earlier this year, where 26 trees were planted across both sites, it was great to see the communities at Glan Llyn and Coed Darcy enjoy the spaces they’ve helped us to enhance.”