In July, it was announced that Caerphilly town’s annual fireworks display would not be going ahead this year due to uncertainty around the coronavirus pandemic.

The decision was made by councillors on Caerphilly Town Council.

It was decided that the money which would have been spent on the fireworks, as well as other cancelled events such as the Christmas lights switch-on and Christmas lantern parade, would be better spent on other projects in the community.

This month, Caerphilly Town Mayor, Cllr Mike Prew, donated town council funds, which would have gone towards holding the cancelled events, to two charities based in the town – Autistic Minds and Sense Cymru.

Autistic Minds has a hub on Market Street, Caerphilly town, which offers support groups and advice sessions for autistic people, as well as support with job applications, social skills and more.

The charity also offers employment opportunities within its ranks for autistic people, with 60% of its staff having autism.

The other charity, Sense Cymru, has a daycare centre for adults with complex disabilities on Caerphilly Business Park.

Both Autistic Minds and Sense Cymru are Cllr Prew’s chosen charities during his term as mayor, with both receiving cheques for £2,500.

It is custom for mayors, whether it be a town council mayor or the County Borough mayor, to support and raise money for a charitable cause during their time as mayor.

During the town council-funded events, a bucket collection is usually held to raise funds for the mayor’s chosen charities. But with the events cancelled, the charities would have missed out on this funding, had the recent donations not been made.

Cllr Prew told Caerphilly Observer: “Usually the biggest donation we collect is at our fireworks display, but sadly because of Covid we had to cancel again this year, so whereas we chuck X amount up in the air for the fireworks, we have agreed as a council to donate £2,500 to each of my two chosen charities for this year.

“Usually we do collections and we raise funds through that. Again sadly because Covid has cancelled the fireworks we can’t do that so it’s just a straight donation to the two charities.”

After receiving the donation, Sarah Cutting, Head of Charitable Services at Autistic Minds, said: “It’s been really hard through the pandemic, because we haven’t been able to do as much fundraising as we would normally.

“This money will go towards the Caerphilly hub. It’ll help us run our support groups, our social groups and our skills groups.”

Sense Cymru open day

An open day will be held at Sense Cymru’s Caerphilly base on Saturday, November 20 to showcase the work carried out.

The event will run between 10am and 4pm, with people able to learn more about the charity and its impact on the community, as well as job and volunteering opportunities.

For more information about the open day, contact recruitment@sense.org.uk