Mel Witherden's Web Site



How we did it

caption popup|In 1986 the Village Publishing local history publishing project won a Prince of Wales Award for its contribution to understanding our environment. Cwmbran Community Press was a challenging maverick enterprise, and we didn’t need a certificate from Prince Charles to know we were doing a good job. But it was still good to get this photo to prove it happened.
In 1986 the Village Publishing local history publishing project won a Prince of Wales Award for its contribution to understanding our environment. Cwmbran Community Press was a challenging maverick enterprise, and we didn’t need a certificate from Prince Charles to know we were doing a good job. But it was still good to get this photo to prove it happened.

Unlike many other consultancies, the services provided by our sister charity Community Projects Centre were rooted in first hand practical experience. We didn’t only understand how to do things wrong and how to get them right, we knew what it was like to be there for 13 years getting our hands dirty and confronting the day-to-day challenges of running a complex volunteering project and at the same time earning a living to keep the business afloat. 

More than a career

I’ve worked with community organisations and charities as a volunteer, paid employee, board member and advisor for well over 40 years. I was learning my trade as a local journalist in 1974 when I was first invited to join the volunteer team producing the community newspaper Cwmbran Checkpoint in the vibrant South Wales new town. 

The challenges, possibilities and excitement of voluntary work hooked me instantly, and I never been far from it since. When I “retired” in 2017 I received another irresistible invitation – to join the board of Action for Caerau and Ely (ACE) in Cardiff one of Wales’ leading local regeneration charities. I’m currently their Chair. 

caption popup|Paid print workers Rick and Adrian in the Cwmbran Community Press Print Room rolling out an edition of Checkpoint. Rick, who started as a school leaver on a government scheme and Adrian who went on to run the Print Room at County hall were among around a dozen unemployed young people who learned to become proficient printers on our two offset litho machines.
Paid print workers Rick and Adrian in the Cwmbran Community Press Print Room rolling out an edition of Checkpoint. Rick, who started as a school leaver on a government scheme and Adrian who went on to run the Print Room at County hall were among around a dozen unemployed young people who learned to become proficient printers on our two offset litho machines.
Cwmbran Community Press

From 1974 to 1989, I worked with the support of a fantastic team of colleagues to turn a modest community newspaper project which was originally dependent on grant funding into a self-supporting volunteer-led printing and publishing venture. Village Publishing book production was launched in 1982 and continued independently for a number of years after CCP closed, producing a total of over 30 local history and community interest publications. 

Our repertoire also included a second hand book shop, support for other community groups, campaigning and a smattering of politics. CCP wasn’t a massive organisation. It grew to employ half a dozen self-funded paid staff, five of six trainees on government schemes and thirty or so volunteers.

We were misguidedly disparaged in our day for running trading activities (taboo at the time for a community project), for “using” volunteers, for threatening unionised employment, and for standing up to bullying local authorities. 

It’s how community enterprise got started

caption popup|The street-level face of Community Projects Centre and Cwmbran Community Press in 1988. Our famous Red Door led to a warren of rooms on three floors housing a second hand book shop, the Cwmbran Checkpoint community newspaper, printing, dark room and finishing facilities, the Village Publishing book publishing venture and a Community Information Project.
The street-level face of Community Projects Centre and Cwmbran Community Press in 1988. Our famous Red Door led to a warren of rooms on three floors housing a second hand book shop, the Cwmbran Checkpoint community newspaper, printing, dark room and finishing facilities, the Village Publishing book publishing venture and a Community Information Project.

But CCP’s importance was that it paved the way for many for approaches to volunteering which are now common-place – and provided the first successful example of community-based trading which creates real jobs, trains unemployed and vulnerable people, delivers valuable services to local communities, and doesn’t have to be dependent on government or charity funding. It was the prototype of a model which today many people are struggling to achieve, and which cash-strapped government organisations have for years been forcing on the local voluntary sector. 

 Those were exhilarating times, and we learned a lot through our successes and our many mistakes. It survived for 15 years in all, a pretty good run in our line of work.

The role of Community Projects Centre

Fortunately it didn’t all stop in 1989. Our sister charity Community Projects Centre (CPC), which set up the community newspaper in the first place, was reborn as consultancy service to community groups, charities and local authorities. As CPC’s lead consultant I was able to share the insights from our practical experience with many scores of younger organisations and thousands of committee members, paid staff and volunteers throughout Wales and beyond. This work continued for another quarter of a century. 

Our longevity also allowed us to learn from the experience of the organisations we were working with and carry out new research. It turns out that there are many other ways to get it wrong than we discovered in CCP, and that achieving sustainability through social enterprise activity is very much harder than most people are prepared to admit. 

caption popup|Volunteers at a Checkpoint editorial meeting. On the left with his back to the camera is a young Kevin Brennan, now Cardiff West MP and then our Volunteer Organiser in one of his first paid jobs.
Volunteers at a Checkpoint editorial meeting. On the left with his back to the camera is a young Kevin Brennan, now Cardiff West MP and then our Volunteer Organiser in one of his first paid jobs.

Our original success may have been a long time ago, but the need for sound guidance, support and training is as pressing now as it ever was – as is the need for enthusiastic community entrepreneurs to listen to the advice that’s available and stop believing they can always learn from their own mistakes.


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