Stroke Group Secures Funding Until The End Of The Year

A stroke group that was threatened with closure has secured £5,000 to run until the end of the year.

The Stroke Association runs the Community Integration Service in Llandysul (recently renamed Back to Life) in Carmarthenshire every Wednesday.

It provides social events, activities and outings plus personal action plans and regular reviews for people who have suffered stroke and their carers.

Set up with lottery money in September 2004, the group ran out of this funding in 2007 and since then, it has been financed through fundraising and donations.

In May, the funding ran out completely and group leader Chris Wheeler-Jones became a volunteer to prevent the group from shutting straight away. The Association found additional money from the Jane Hodge Foundation to keep the group going until the end of July. And now the group has secured £5,000 funding from the Ray Gravell Trust to run until the end of December 2009.

Regional Assembly member Joyce Watson has highlighted this issue in the Assembly as well visiting the group earlier this year. She has also asked Social Justice Minister Brian Gibbons to address the issue of long-term funding.

She said: "It is good news that this much-needed group can keep going for another few months but the problem is that the group could close in the long-term and this is something that needs to be addressed."

The club meets at the youth hall in Wesley Road, Llandysul every Wednesday from 1.15pm.
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