More than 150 youngsters from across the Clydach Vale area will be helped after a £10,000 donation from Pennant Walters has led to the community rugby club getting the keys to a new minibus.

Cambrian Coltz, which runs teams catering for age groups 7-14, successfully applied for funding from local energy company, Pennant Walters, and has now purchased the 17-seater minibus which will be used to transport disadvantaged youngsters to games further afield.

The money has also allowed the Club to purchase new kit for all teams so they can now face their opposition in style.

Steve Picton, founder of Cambrian Coltz, explains; “We set up the Club over eight years ago to give youngsters the opportunity to play rugby locally. From then we’ve grown and now have over 150 kids at the Club all eager for a game of rugby. The success of the Club means that we now have requests to play teams further afield and, unfortunately, with not all parents having the luxury of being able to drive or have access to a car, young kids were missing out.”

The minibus will allow the Club to transport people to and from games and will also be used for group activities to boost morale and community relationships.

Steve added: “A minibus has been on our wish-list for many years and so, when we found out that we were successful in applying through Pennant Walters Community Fund, we were over the moon. On behalf of everyone involved in the Club I would like to thank Pennant Walters for realising the benefits such a vehicle will bring to the lives of some of our enthusiastic young members. As a Club we are all proud to wear the Pennant Walters name on our kit and hope it’ll stand us in good stead for the remainder of the season.”

The funding was provided by Pennant Walters, part of the Walters Group, through a fund linked to its 9 turbine 22MW Mynydd Bwllfa Windfarm near Aberdare in Rhondda Cynon Taf, which became operational in summer 2015.