On tour: The band kicked off their anniversary celebrations with a mini tour to Waterford in Southern Ireland.

A MAGNIFICENT £5600 of donations has been received in the first month of a Facebook campaign to save the Slash Pond Boardwalk in Broad Haven. 

Residents, business and holiday home owners have united to save the Slash Pond Boardwalk from demolition by the Havens Community Council. The Boardwalk was created by volunteers in 2003 with funding from Cydcoed. A former culm pit which filled with water created the pond. The gently sloping edges are encircled by reed beds, meadow grassland and native trees. The boardwalk itself meanders along the north edge with seating areas to admire the views, watch swifts flying over the water and listen to bird song of willow warblers. This superb Boardwalk, forms part of one of Pembrokeshires’ most delightful walks to school and is popular with dog walkers, naturalists and birdwatchers. The Havens Community Council, experiencing difficulty in continuing to fund and maintain the boardwalk, had the area closed to the public for over eight months and then agreed they had no choice but to remove the boardwalk. The social networking campaign was successful in reaching those interested in keeping the boardwalk. “I couldn’t believe that the walk was about to disappear because there was an apparent lack of interest in it,” said Linda Reohorn. “So we launched a Facebook event and 27 people attended a meeting on May 12, clearly people were actually very fond of the boardwalk.” “Splitting into two ‘interest’ groups, one group focused on marketing the new brand ‘support the boardwalk’, raising funds to buy the materials to begin repairs; the other, evaluated the repairs required to get it open once again.” Repair work was scheduled for Saturday, May 24. “It was fantastic,” said volunteer Ben Dare. “A huge crowd of people arrived and conquered the weeds, cutback the overgrown trees, brushed away the moss, and repaired the rotten boards and bannisters. There was a great community spirit, good laughs, coffee, homemade chocolate cakes and cookies!” The Boardwalk was re-opened to the public on June 10. The group’s treasurer, Karen Riggs said, “I think the group is so successful because we involved all the relevant people. The membership consists of local business people, residents and holiday home owners as well as the landowners, representatives from the Baptist Church, National Parks, Keep Wales Tidy, Havens Community Council and local community development organisation PLANED. Other agencies such as PAVS have been especially useful in helping the group to become insured.” “We are still not ‘out of the woods’ yet, having a lot of fundraising to achieve, but despite some saying the boardwalk was halfway to being condemned , we like to think of it as being halfway to renovation.” The group continues to fund raise with various events and the donations will be used as match funding for grant applications. The plan is to replace the boards with new sustainable decking planks and widen the appeal of the boardwalk and the way in which it can continue to ‘connect the community’; its uses for education, people with disabilities and local groups. Other ideas include a community orchard and pontoons for children to learn to fish, pond dip etc.