Llanhilleth Miners Institute is a community hub in Llanhilleth, the community engage frequently with the building through a range of opportunities and activities, from our Café, Heritage Bakery, Community Cookery Courses, Children’s Activity Centre, Volunteering and the Events/Social side of the building too.

We work in partnership with the community and a range of external organisations to develop and provide a range of opportunities, projects and services which aim to support the health and well-being of local people and the educational, cultural and recreational needs of our communities, spanning all age ranges and abilities.

As a Social Enterprise, we also host commercial activities and the income generated goes towards supporting our community activities, including our community café.  We are also licensed to hold weddings and civil ceremonies and are a successful conference centre.

Volunteers play a huge part in the life of Llanhilleth Institute – as Trustees of the organisation and as a valuable team supporting all aspects of our work.  The time and support our volunteers give helps us continue providing our services and keep the doors open for our local community and their contribution is hugely valued.

All our volunteers receive a full induction, so that we can tailor our opportunities to an individual’s interests as much as possible.  Once engaged on our Volunteering programme, ongoing support, guidance and mentoring is provided by our Volunteer Coordinator.

We launched our free Advice and Support Helpline in January 2021 as a direct result of feedback from a community consultation we conducted following the Covid lockdowns.

Local residents who live in Llanhilleth, Brynithel, Swffryd, Aberbeeg or Six Bells can call our free helpline and discuss issues they are struggling with such as cost of living, benefits, form-filling, housing issues, debt, domestic or substance abuse or loneliness.

Llanhilleth Miners Institute remains a lasting tribute to the miners, their vision, their dreams and ambitions.

Training and support

We support our volunteers in gaining any relevant qualifications, from Customer Service, First Aid (Level 1, 2 and 3), Food Hygiene and Safety Level 2, Safeguarding Level 2, Allergen Awareness, etc.

If there is training a volunteer would like, we will endeavour to find a course either we can purchase or for them to go to a Learning Action Centre to do, or another organisation. I have previously referred volunteers to other organisations to receive their COSHH Training, Manual Handling, etc.

We also offer DBS checks for all individuals working with the community or vulnerable groups of people.

We also offer Catering and Hospitality training on an informal basis, with the use of Bar Work Training, Event Set up Training, Catering dishes training, etc. We can customise these based on the individual and groups interested in taking part and use this as a way of engaging with new volunteers too.

Each volunteer is given a 1-to-1 induction and training session when joining the Institute and will receive ongoing support as they continue to volunteer.

We also enjoy Mindfulness training, courses and experiences here to better their experience with us.

Facilities and resources

We have conference and meeting rooms available; we have our Main (Ithel) Hall available for large functions and events (e.g. weddings, concerts, pantomimes, we recently hosted the GAVO Awards for volunteers in Blaenau Gwent). This is we also host our Monthly Luncheon Clubs for the older community to engage with. We have a great sound system, bar available, stage for performances, all tables, chairs, etc. that would be needed for events.

Other Social Media links;

https://www.instagram.com/llaninstitute/

https://www.linkedin.com/company/llanhilleth-miners-institute

https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC5NHCCpZ80X65PsN2ZSrk3g