This was an important year in the development of Dŵr Anafon. In July 2018 it received £30,000 from Ynni Anafon Energy and for the first time was in a position to consider a wide range of applications for grants of varying amounts.

The charity began the year with nine trustees, with meetings being chaired by Nick Rushbrooke and, in his absence Roger Williams. Chris Parry was Treasurer. Jacqui Bugden was Secretary until January 2019 when she was followed by Christine Hume. During the year Dylan Evans resigned due to work commitments and Carwyn Jones joined. The remaining trustees during the year were Liz Gatehouse, Rita Roberts, Wynn Griffiths and Sheila Pedigrew. The trustees all agreed to continue in post for the year 2019 – 2020.

In the year 2018 – 2019 eight grant applications were received. Four of these were granted funds and the projects went ahead successfully. One application was withdrawn by the applicant, one deferred pending further information and two rejected with alternative suggestions offered. In addition, on two occasions a small amount of emergency funding was given to a family or individual in crisis.

One project Dŵr Anafon was pleased to support was the setting up in Abergwyngregyn of a Tai Chi group who meet weekly with instruction by a professional teacher. Part funding of the first course encouraged people who had no experience of Tai Chi, and were not sure whether it was for them, to join. The group comprised both men and women, with a range of ages, the majority being over 60. The success of the first course led to the course continuing, with less funding provided by Dŵr Anafon and more of the cost being met by individuals.

The Abergwyngregyn Memorial Tablet to those who died in the First World War could not be viewed by the public as it was inside a church that is in private hands.   Expert advice was that it needed to be kept under cover and there was no suitable building in the village, so Snowdonia National Park gave permission to build a stone and slate lychgate at the entrance to the graveyard to house the memorial.  Abergwyngregyn Regeneration Company (ARC) were very grateful to Dŵr Anafon, therefore, for the grant it provided to build the lychgate, enabling the village to save and preserve part of Aber’s heritage.

Aware that the age of many of the houses in Abergwyngregyn meant that they were far from energy efficient, the trustees of Dŵr Anafon provided funds for a project that brought Peter Draper, an expert in the field, from Cardiff to Aber. The grant provided for seven representative homes to have the advantage of a personal survey from Peter and a later presentation at an open meeting for all villagers to help them understand their homes and solutions to problems.

Dŵr Anafon looks forward to supporting further projects that benefit the community of Aber and, as from January 2020, community groups and individuals from Llanfairfechan.