FORGESIDE Community Centre has been given a fresh new look thanks to an army of volunteers.

Not for profit housing service, United Welsh, teamed up with Forgeside Community Group, FACT, and Dulux Refresh, who donated 40 gallons of paint.

More than 30 volunteers from the local community, Torfaen council and Celtic Horizons turned out and spent nearly six hours working on the centre last week.

The community centre hadn’t been painted for many years and was looking tired.

But volunteers worked to make it bright, fresh and welcoming.

United Welsh’s Wendy Doel, who led the project, said: “Forgeside has lost quite a number of things in recent years. There’s no local shop, no school, and there are issues with the bus route.

“We wanted to help the people of Forgeside improve their surroundings and this is just the start.”

Local resident Fay McCrystal is a member of the Forgeside community group FACT.

She got involved on the day, along with her two year old son, Dante,

She said: “I just wanted to lend a hand and make the community centre look a lot better.”

“Hopefully it’ll attract more people to come and join in and get involved.”

Torfaen council officer Andrew Neville added: “It’s a really great community project that’s initiated from the community and United Welsh.

“It’s all about improving the area where people live, engendering respect and pride, and building on the community spirit that’s here already.”