DESPITE receiving a Green Flag Community Award, supporters of a thriving Gwent park are not content to rest on their laurels and have continued to make improvements with the help of local children.

Students at Blackwood Comprehensive School’s Youth Club have begun to plant a butterfly garden at the Cefn Fforest Eco Park - which won a Green Flag Award in October - with permission from the Friends of Cefn Fforest Eco Park committee.

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The students had previously asked if they could help with projects in the park, to the delight of the committee.

The butterfly garden had been awarded to the group by Keep Wales Tidy and it was thought that there would be delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, with many of the committee members shielding.

But with authorisation from Caerphilly County Borough Council, parents and a strict set of guidelines to follow, the youngsters got to work in all weathers on Saturday afternoons, completing the garden in just a few short weeks.

Secretary of Friends of Cefn Fforest Eco Park, Chris Edwards said: “These youngsters have really taken ownership of the park and have so many ideas.

“They have done an amazing job building our garden and planting seeds, bulbs, shrubs and trees.”

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This is not the end of the youngsters’ involvement in the park however, and work has already begun on their next project.

“Now they want to enhance the entrance to the park by painting a huge mural on the boundary wall,” said Mrs Edwards.

“They have suggested that the mural depicts the history of the park and the village of Cefn Fforest. Plans are under way to fulfil this project and we have already started fundraising for it.

“If the finished project is done as well as the butterfly garden, then it will certainly attract more visitors.

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“The mural will be there for the future, as the youngsters are certainly the future guardians of the park.

“We as a committee want to publicly thank the children and staff for their interest, support and hard work, and look forward to working with them, advising them and most of all listening to them and their needs.”