We spoke to Alan Humphreys this week who runs Avant Theatre Company along with Rachel Pedley-Miller and is on the BID's Marketing & Promotion committee , Alan has been working as the Community and Outreach Development Officer for the YMCA on their memories project. We spoke about what to expect in the upcoming exhibition, and Alan's thoughts on Pontypridd and the Business Improvement District.

Can you tell us about the upcoming exhibition in the YMCA

The project team has been going through the archives left in the YMCA, and we've discovered lots of photos and spent a lot of time digitalising the images to create a huge database of all the key memories and events in the town. My role as the Community and Outreach Development Officer was to go out and find people who have used YMCA in the past, we are delighted that there will be 10 major stories which will be exhibited at the Lido.

The exhibition involves stories from across Pontypridd, are there any that we should be looking out for?

One person we spoke to was part of the boxing club at YMCA, said that boxing helped him discover values and learn discipline, the YMCA wasn't sure originally if contact sport would work, this man's trainer would go to end of the earth once driving all those involved up to Bargoed in a small car to participate in a boxing match. We also spoke in depth with Elizabeth Williams - a former chairperson and another who's uncle was invovled when the boys club was formed, there was also a lady who referred to going to the YMCA in the 1980's - so there was stories from different periods.

We selected four short stories and took them to Coed-Y-Lan Primary School and asked the children to draw pictures of the story, which were then animated using a animation company from Caerphilly, these will be on display at the exhibition. There will be another video from a local filmmaker who will share memories of Pontypridd.

From my point of view it’s great to see what Pontypridd was like, and now seeing it with new eyes. It's great to see the importance of the YMCA as it was a key place for people to go – many of the people met their partners there. Hopefully there will be a lot of interest in the exhibition. I will be very interested to see what was in there when I was growing up.

It’s exciting to see the new YMCA will be developed after previous uncertainty, people in the town are very hopeful to see what it is going to become.

What are your hopes for the YMCA and Pontypridd for the future?

I personally feel more involved in Pontypridd than I ever have been. Pontypridd could become a very exciting area with the Taff Vale & YMCA developments. It’s really exciting to see new jobs coming to the area. From the arts and YMCA’s view – people will use Pontypridd in the future because it’s in such a strategic location, it would be great to encourage arts venues and societies to work together rather than be competitive and to have cooperation. It's good to see that the Muni is putting a focus as a music venue, and hopefully they will keep getting more and more exciting acts for people to see. It's great to see Pontypridd have many new businesses including the Soul Spice in the Market - it's important that we don't get stuck in the old ways, I'm very hopeful for Pontypridd.

What do you like about Pontypridd, and what would you change?

Pontypridd has a lot of options and a lot to offer, the town centre can be improved – however you’ve got several national stores and all the major banks and there are plenty of pubs. There are areas that could be cleaned and modernised.

It would be good to see businesses be more technologically advanced, by having the option of contactless payment, and it would be very exciting to see an advertising screen in town to help advertise whats going on in the area. The biggest key is communication, the challenge is making sure everyone knows what is going on. The Your Pontypridd BID website could become the key element in making sure people are informed, it’s a wider issue in the county – there’s a lack of a central point where you can access the key information.

The app would be an excellent idea if the BID proceed with the idea in the future. The Lido has become a very key to the attraction in Pontypridd, it’s excellent value for money and the park remains an important part of the town. I would like to see if the theatre above the market could be refurbished, it would be a huge project but it would be excellent to bring it back to the community.

Did you know anything about Business Improvement Districts before Your Pontypridd?

I was not aware of BIDS before Your Pontypridd. The first I heard of it was when I spoke to Terry Chinn from Clwb Y Bont. I think the purpose of BIDS is to help restore towns and cities that may have been affected by a lack of funding, in theory it’s a great idea as it gives the business community a voice, it’s interesting to see what BIDS prioritise in terms of what projects they do. The most important thing is that the arts community can contribute – older views and politics sometimes get in the way of the best ideas. The more stuff that happens, the more people become involved.

What do you think of Your Pontypridd and it’s impact so far?

I believe the parking offer is great. Its refreshing to see somebody else trying to do something in the town, who can do implement different ideas. It would be good if events and promotion could go hand in hand, any way to advertise the Your Pontypridd brand needs to be considered, and be as creative as possible. The BID are key to changing the perception at the University, making Pontypridd a place to visit, hopefully the Student Card will attract students. I would like to see free train travel between Pontypridd and Treforest to encourage students to travel into the town. The fact that the conversations can be had about ideas without interruption is a great thing, and will help restore Pontypridd’s reputation. In general I think it’s positive, as it encourages different ideas and gets many different people involved.

How do you see YMCA and the arts and creative sectors and BID working together in future?

It's great for the YMCA & the arts community to engage to be able to feed into ideas, it’s always good to have local artists performing in events, promotion is very important – the venues linking together would be good. Its key to have quality, but to also consider the local people and groups who could be involved, it’s important to build communication with the BID. The YMCA has a long way to go until the final stages of the development, the BID can play a key role in promoting that and helping them when the YMCA building relaunches.

Many thanks to Alan for speaking with us,

Alan and Rachel run the Avant Theatre Company based in the Rhondda and have several upcoming projects working with RCT Theatres including a live soap opera & hip hop dance project. Avant have also been working on a project in the Museum – gathering stories about life in the Rhondda during World War I.

For more information visit - https://www.avant.cymru/

The Pontypridd YMCA Memories Exhibition will be held at Pontypridd Lido Visitors Centre, between the 16th and 29th of September, between 10am - 4pm! For more information about the YMCA and their refurbishment of their current building visit - https://pontypriddymca.co.uk/ - you can also like them on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/PontyYMCA or follow them on Twitter https://twitter.com/pontyymca