THE communities of Hermon, Glogue and Llanfyrnach celebrated the completion of their new community resource centre on Saturday, September 28. Over hundred members of the community gathered at Canolfan Hermon for the ceremony to open the redeveloped facility on the site of the old village school.

The last headmistress of Hermon School Maureen George, who is herself a former pupil of the school, was asked to officially open the premises by releasing a display of bright balloons bearing the logo of the centre.

Local MP Stephen Crabb introduced Maureen George and paid tribute to the determination and community spirit of the village in seeing the school transformed into an outstanding facility for local people and visitors following its closure in 2006. The Architect for the project was Trevor Hopkins of Trevor Hopkins Associates Ltd, a cardigan based practice.

The occasion was celebrated with a full afternoon of activities for children and adults including a Grand Ball with live music by Sound Awake in the evening.

Commenting on the event, local MP Stephen Crabb said:

“I was delighted to be asked to say a few words at the opening ceremony today and be part of a fantastic community event. What the community has achieved at Canolfan Hermon is remarkable. When the school was closed in 2006 it could have been the end of the story. But it wasn’t.”

“Local people got together, they raised funds through a community share offer to purchase the site, and secured additional grant funding to see their vision become reality. Now Hermon has a fantastic multi-purpose low carbon facility that is already being used by a range of local organisations and small businesses. The community in Hermon can be really proud of what it has achieved."

The site will now be marketing the 250 capacity hall with three conference rooms, kitchen and office rooms.

Several weddings and parties have already been booked with a string of charities using the site to fundraise for their causes.

Cris Tomos a local community volunteer who helped secure the grant funding for the project commented, " It is great to see the final phase of the Canolfan Hermon project materialise into a sustainable community Enterprise" Cris added " The site has a great offering of courses, interest groups and community engagement opportunities to address social and economic challenges faced by people living in a our rural area."